Wednesday 2 August 2017

Smart fitness goals

How to set SMART workout goals and succeed? Many people start a workout and then get bored and drop out.Some of us keep moving from one new workout modality to another without any success.Some of us just follow the bandwagon and blindly follow the new fad without getting any results.Research has proven that 70 percent of people who start an exercise program drop out.The drop out rates are high mainly because the motivation wanes off.Motivation is got to do with goals,having clear cut goal.Workout goals are great tools to keep the motivation up,hold you to account and also to know if the workout is dynamic enough to give you results.                        Before you embark on your new fitness Regime.Set a SMART goal for yourself.                 Follow these guidelines to setting SMART goals and you will be surprised at what you can do:
  1. Specific. Your goal should be clear and easy to understand. 
    • A common goal, “get healthy,” is too general. There are so many ways to get healthy. How do you want to do it? Is it losing weight? Start exercising? Stop smoking? Break it down and it will be easier to manage.                                                           Being specific means I will lose weight.This is a weight loss goal.                                              2.
Measurable. A goal to “lose weight” is not enough. How will you track your progress and how you will know when you have reached your goal.Give your goal a number,means how much weight will you lose?                                               3.Attainable. Before you can add a number, you have to know how high or low you want to go. It’s good to ‘shoot for the stars’, but don’t be too extreme. Likewise, a goal that is too easy is also not very motivating. Only you know your limits.        Let’s take our goal above. What percentage is attainable for you? Research suggests that a 5-10% weight loss is attainable for most overweight people. 
    • A measurable, attainable goal could be, “I will lose 7% of my body weight.”       4.Relevant. Set goals that are important to where you are in your life right now. Don’t set a goal that someone else is pressuring you to attain-that isn’t very motivating.                Does it seem relevant to you? If so, let’s keep going. If you are not concerned about weight loss or this is not a good time in your life to focus on that, choose something that IS motivating to you.     5.Time-bound. Include an end-point. Knowing that you have a deadline motivates you to get started.Since healthy weight loss is about 1-2 pounds per week, set your deadline accordingly. For our example we can use 3 months. “I will lose 7% of my body weight in 3 months.”
  Now that you have a SMART goal set.Have Smart action plan stated.eg-I will workout 5 days a week or I will not eat junk food or I will homemade meals rathering than ordering out.     Be a Smart exerciser and Attain your goals!!

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