Why are Fitness Goals Important? Motivating yourself to stay fit

When you go to a gym or a fitness center you might be asked why you are there or what it is that you want to achieve through exercises. These questions are asked to understand your fitness goals. With this understanding, personal trainers or gym instructors can create a diet or workout schedule for you.

Based on whether you want to lose weight or you want to put on weight like some athletes, your diet and workout schedule will be different. Fitness facilities that use gym management software add a personalized workout and diet schedule of each of their members and communicate it to them via smartphone application of the software.

But why are fitness goals so important? Is it necessary for you to have a fitness goal to exercise? How do you set up fitness goals? And how do you stick to them?

If you are having these questions, then keep reading because we are going to discuss why fitness goals are important and how you can use them to motivate yourself.

What are fitness goals and why are they important?

Fitness goals are goals for your physical fitness that you want to achieve for yourself to stay healthy, good-looking, and strong. These goals could be about losing weight, maintaining strength, building muscles, or simply relaxing your body and mind.

If you tell your gym instructor or trainer what you want to achieve from exercising, then more often than not, they will set up some goals for you and help you decide on the exercises and diet chart that can push you towards your goals. However, if you do not have a personal trainer or gym instructor, you may have to set up your fitness goals on your own.

Here are some benefits of setting up fitness goals.

It gives you a direction

Have you ever gone to the gym and wondered what to do next? Or have randomly started an exercise just because the equipment was free? If that is you then having fitness goals will help you maintain a schedule for your exercises.

When you have a goal in mind you will know which instruments to work with and what exercises to practice. This will reduce the aimless wandering on the gym floor.

Having a goal will allow you to exercise more efficiently and, in turn, you will be able to achieve your goals faster.

It can help you mark your progress

Keeping a track of your progress with respect to your fitness goal will help you understand how far you have come and how closer you are to achieving your goal.

Without a goal, you may not have the focus needed to bring changes to your body. So,  when you have a goal, your exercises will focus on achieving that goal.

To track your progress, you can simply click your photograph on day 1 and click one at the end of every week or month. That way you will be able to notice the changes in your body and see how it is getting closer to your desired look.

Goals will motivate you to exercise

Continuing on from the previous point, having a fitness goal will help you motivate yourself to continue exercising. When you see the difference in your appearance for the better, you will get motivated to keep going on to reach your goal and past it to set a new goal.

How to set up fitness goals?

A lot of times, setting the wrong goals or keeping the expectation too high can be a recipe for disappointment. Setting the right goals is important for you to be able to stick to them for a long time.

In this section, we will be looking for things to keep in mind while setting up your fitness goals so that you can achieve them and motivate yourself further.

●       Be specific and realistic

So you want to lose weight but that is not enough to understand which exercises are more necessary than others. So, be more specific about your goal. Say you want to reduce 3 kg and want to burn off the belly fat then you will be able to focus on exercises that give you those benefits. Along with that, you need to also set realistic goals that you can achieve.

●       Create sub-goals

A goal too big may sound far-fetched after the days pass by and that can significantly affect your motivation. So, break down your goals into steps or set small goals. This way your goals seem more achievable. When your goals seem within your reach, you will tend to stay motivated to exercise every day.

●       Make them measurable

Like we said previously, specify what you want. Having a measurable goal allows you to see progress through your fitness journey. It can simply be through a weighing scale, photographs taken over time, or a gym app for members that keeps the tab of your progress.

Measuring your progress allows you to see just how much closer you are to your goal.

●       Time it realistically

Timing your goals up will help you to stay on track. And realistically timing them is very important. Put a shorter time limit and you may overexert yourself and a longer time limit may distract you from your goal.

So, understand your limits and set your time limit to achieve your goal.

Your gym trainer can help you set the right goals when they know what you want to achieve through working out. Find a gym near you if you haven’t joined one yet and ask your trainer about how to break down your goal into smaller, more easily attainable sub-goals.

How do you ensure to stick with these fitness goals?

Creating fitness goals is different from sticking to them are two different things. That is why most of the new year resolutions fail. Many people enthusiastically make fitness goals in the beginning and as time passes sticking to these goals seems harder and harder.

Finding the intrinsic motivation to keep working out towards your fitness goals is very important. However, it is not always possible to find it because the human brain is wired to settle into a comfortable routine instead of pushing itself harder to become better.

This is where external motivation becomes necessary.

Prepare yourself

Let’s begin with knowing what you are going to do and why you are doing it. Preparing your brain to focus on the exercise is necessary because, without the correct mindset, even the most interesting exercise would feel like a drag.

So, make up your mind before entering the gym floor and then give it your all to get the most out of every workout.

Take a picture

Photographs are a great way to track your progress as well as motivate yourself. Click a picture before starting your first workout and then every week or month keep taking pictures.

Unlike your mirror, your photos will show you the difference in your looks. As you progress towards your desired goal you will find yourself more motivated to keep going on.

Have a positive attitude towards exercising

A lot of people think of exercise as something they need to do to stay fit. However, looking at exercises as something you have to do is the wrong attitude and may, later on, make exercising a drag.

Exercising is a self-care practice that you get to do to keep yourself healthy and happy just like getting a head massage, manicure, or reading a book. The time you spend exercising is the time you give to yourself. So, with that attitude, take up exercising as something you would like to do for your body and mind instead of a chore that you cannot get rid of.

Reward yourself

If you are unable to extract a positive attitude for exercising then rewarding might help. Make a deal with yourself that if you can reach your goal within the time limit, then you will reward yourself.

For example, if you reach your goal in time, then you can go to a movie or a game parlor. You can make this a thing to trick your brain for the dopamine release because of achieving a reward every time you achieve one of your sub-goals.

FAQs

What are fitness goals?

Fitness goals are specific milestones that you set to get fitter and healthier. These goals help you stay on track to achieve a healthier lifestyle and direct you towards specific exercises to achieve them.

What are fitness goals examples?

Normally, the goals would include losing weight, getting stronger, building muscles, gaining weight, and similar kinds.

When you set it up for workouts, they would become more specific like losing 2 kg weight in 2 months, gaining 3 kg healthy weight in 2 months, etc.

How do I choose a fitness goal?

Understand what part of your body do you want to become healthier, better. Is it your stamina? your muscles, your belly, legs, arms, or any other. Talk to your gym instructor and find out how it can become better, and together create a plan of action to do exercise and practice a healthy diet to reach that goal within the time limit.

EndNote

If you go to a gym or a fitness facility, the gym instructor there can help you set up attainable goals with the right time limit. Furthermore, the gym management software in the gym will help the instructor create relevant goals based on the medical and health data you provide them.

The software also offers a gym management mobile application for members with which you can track your progress and manage your gym activity all from your smartphone.

If your gym still is not using gym management software then here is why it should.

Let us know your thoughts on the topic in the comments section below. And if you found it useful then share it with your friends and family on social media.