Exercising 4-5 times in a week is healthy. But working out with some personal fitness goals is much more efficient. In this post, you will know how to set the right fitness goal for you and how to stay fit throughout the year.
Let’s start.
Setting the Right Fitness Goals
1. Prioritize long term fitness goals over short term goals
Let’s keep it real. Sometimes we want to achieve some short term fitness goals.
Maybe you want to lose 10 pounds within 2 to 3 week for a wedding. Or you want to lose some good amount of body fat before summer.
Now, we often put a lot of unnecessary pressure on us while we set these type of goals. One of the big factors that give us the most stress is – we set a very short time to achieve those goals.
When you make such short term fitness goals you can lose your sight from the bigger picture. If you push too hard you can risque your health and also unfinished goals can hurt your confidence.
It’s ok to have some short term fitness goals but you should never give those more priority than your long term fitness goals.
2. Replace diet & exercise with eat and train
Everyone needs a healthy diet to be successful in their fitness goals. But when we hear about following a diet, we imagine that now we can’t eat our favourite dishes.
Focus on what ingredients you are using to make your food. That’s more important. If its possible try to grow some vegetables and fruits in your backyard.
It’s not for all, but if you have a suitable place to grow them then you can give it a try. If you don’t want to grow your vegetables/fruits or if it’s not possible then try to eat food made from fresh ingredients more often.
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Also, you should think about your physical activities as everyday training. When you think of it as a workout that you need to do, you do it as a task. But when you think it like training it becomes a part of your life.
You are doing the same thing in a better way just by changing your mindset.
3. Be consistent
Be consistent in what you do.
If you go to the gym 3 days a week and do 40 minutes of training. Do the same throughout the month. Don’t try to work out 5 times in a week then taking the next week completely off or hitting the gym only 1 time.
If you want a toned body throughout the year then you need to be consistent. Set a workout routine that you can follow and stick to it religiously. Try and find out what’s comfortable for you.
Is it 3 days, 4 days or 5 days a week. Also, you can experiment with workout time. For most people, 35-45 minutes is a good time to complete their physical training. But you should keep in mind we all are different and have different work time so you need to plan accordingly.
If you are a morning person who doesn’t like long workout sessions. Then you can exercise in the morning for 20 minutes 5 days a week.
If you work from home, a business owner or an entrepreneur who can choose what time they will work out then 11 am can be a good time to work out.
Because when you are up at 7 am and working from 8 or 8.30 am, around 11.30 you search for breaks (can be different for some). That’s why you need to schedule your workout around 11-11.30 am. After you complete your workout, get fresh take a protein shake and get back to work with full focus. If you are in corporate then you have two choices. Workout in the morning or in the evening.
Now if you come exhausted from your office then you might prefer to go straight home. In that case, you need to work out in the morning.
If you like to workout in the evening or your gym near your office but away from home then carry your gym bag in your car and workout after your work to save time and energy.
4. Stick to your workout plan
If you are following a training plan or workout plan then stick to it. Don’t try to skip, do extra or practice exercise that’s not included in your training plan. A good training plan can only work if you follow it to the end.
Also, you can’t expect to get a better result by doing some part of the training plan and skipping some other parts.
You need to focus on all the parts. Many people say that they followed a good plan for 15 days but not seen any serious result. Now you might think the plan is not a good one. But before you do that you need to know about the time frame of the plan.
If it’s a, 70 days or 90 days fitness plan then you can’t expect to see big changes in your body within 15 days.
Long fitness plans focus on building your strength, stamina, flexibility and eating habits at first then they go for serious stuff. You need to keep patience throughout the course.
But if it’s a 27 days or 40 days plan then you need to question it if you are not seeing any good results or changer after two weeks.
5. Focus on building healthy habits than on results
When we start to exercise in the morning/evening, we want to get our results. Some want to lose fat, some want to improve their stamina and some want to burn extra calories in their body. It’s fine. But I think when you focus too much on results and you go for morning jog just to lose weight or to achieve xyz results…then it loses the fun.
Anything you do first in the morning should be fun. And if you start your day with exercise, it also needs to be fun. I’m not saying you should not look for results. I’m saying to focus on building healthy habits which will bring the results you want. Recommended article: Benefits of drinking green tea in the morning
6. Push yourself hard but not too hard
When you are setting some common fitness goals for yourself; you love to write some great goals.
Generally, people plan a lot more than their body can handle. Some people follow their fitness goals for some time and then they lose focus. And some people work out a lot (more than required) and gives their body a lot of stress.
If your fitness goals lead towards such outcomes then it’s not a good fitness goal to follow. It’s ok to push yourself hard but not too hard. Give yourself enough time to adapt and achieve your goals.
7. Be specific about your fitness goals
Sometimes we make a lot of goals and we don’t reach half of the goals we make. It’s because we were not specific about them.
If you want to be healthy and reach your fitness goals then you should be specific about them.
Example:
- Goal 1 – You want to lift more weight in benchpress within a month.
- Goal 2 – I want to lift 15kg more weight in bench press within this month.
Example 2:
Client – I want to reduce 7 kg within one month.
Instructor – Why? What’s the real reason behind?
Client – My brother’s wedding is about within a month and I want to fit in a wedding look that requires me to lose 6-7 kg of weight.
Instructor – Ok. First thing you should focus on being healthy and not setting goals that can stress yourself and your body. If you can get the same results within 2-3 months in a healthy way then why you want to take the risque. Does your wedding look is more important than your health?
8. Improve your immunity system
Another important fitness goal everyone needs to make is to improve their immunity system. Without a good immunity system, you are vulnerable to attack from bacteria, viruses, parasites, and more.
Our body continuously fighting against airborne microorganisms and most of the time it manages to protect our body. When you make a fitness plan to improve your immunity system your body becomes much more capable to protect your body from those threats.
Boosting immunity system can help you to avoid many health problems. But having poor immunity system can make you sick from virus attacks and flu.
9. You also need some rest and 8 hours of sleep
We get bored when we do the same things most of the time. That’s why every week there is Saturday and Sunday to chill out and relax. Sleep is crucial for our body. During sleep, our body heals itself and relaxes. Think – sleep as Saturday & Sunday for our body.
Can you live a life without any holidays? Every day is a workday! I know you will not like that.
You can’t compromise your sleep time. Every night go for eight hours of sleep. Don’t aim for six or seven hours. If you make a plan to have 7 hours of sleep, you will get 6 hours of sleep. If you make a plan to have 6 hours of sleep, you will get 5 hours of sleep.
So, plan for eight hours of sleep to give yourself adequate sleep every night. It will help you to avoid many health problems and to be productive during the day.
10. Try new activities from time to time
Do you remember when you first got into fitness how passionate you were about all those exercises? When we do a thing for a long time, sometimes it loses the excitement.
It loses the fun because everything becomes predictable. So, if you want to keep yourself excited then try new fitness activities from time to time.
You can try to perform a new activity which you don’t do normally once in ten days or a week. Also, you can learn something new for one or two months besides your normal fitness routine. Like kickboxing, judo, swimming, hiking etc. Choose something new that you think will be fun for you. Give it a shot and see where it goes. Also read: Amazing health benefits of cycling
11. Focus on the form while you add more weights
If you do weight training in the gym, you might make a fitness goal to lift 60 kilograms in benchpress or 80 kilograms in a deadlift. It’s actually good. It keeps you motivated and you focus on making yourself stronger.
But few people get the idea wrong. To hit certain weight they don’t maintain proper body posture while exercising.
Cause they love the instant gratification when they have successfully lifted that 60 kilograms of iron plates. But the real question is how much effective the exercise is when you don’t follow proper form. You can’t expect improvement in your body shape when you don’t focus on proper body posture. Also, it can cause bodily injuries.
Especially while doing shoulder exercises with weights you should maintain the right form. Because shoulder joints have high chances of injuries when someone lifts heavyweights with improper form.
Common fitness goals everyone needs to start with
- Drink more water and keep yourself hydrated throughout the day.
- Spend 2 minutes in the morning to drink a glass of warm water with lemon juice.
- Do some body-stretching in the morning after you wake up.
- Avoid sugary drinks (soft drinks) and food that have a high amount of added sugar.
- Include some High-Intensity Interval Training in your workout routine.
- Focus on building lean muscles.
- Eat more greens and fresh fruits.
- Do some outdoor activities like hiking.
- Give your body enough rest after a workout to recover properly.
- Do 15 Pistol Squat With Both Legs.
- Perform 50 Push-Ups with proper form.
5 Best fitness quotes to keep yourself motivated
“Jogging is very beneficial. It’s good for your legs and your feet. It’s also very good for the ground. It makes it feel needed.” – Charles M. Schulz
“Jogging is very beneficial. It’s good for your legs and your feet. It’s also very good for the ground. It makes it feel needed.” – Charles M. Schulz Share on X“A muscle is like a car. If you want it to run well early in the morning, you have to warm it up.” – Florence Griffith Joyner
“A muscle is like a car. If you want it to run well early in the morning, you have to warm it up.” – Florence Griffith Joyner Share on X“Training gives us an outlet for suppressed energies created by stress and thus tones the spirit just as exercise conditions the body.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger
“Training gives us an outlet for suppressed energies created by stress and thus tones the spirit just as exercise conditions the body.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger Share on X“In fitness, there are no short cuts. It involves immense discipline and hard work.” – Mahesh Babu
“In fitness, there are no short cuts. It involves immense discipline and hard work.” – Mahesh Babu Share on X“Fitness starts at home. What you eat is what you will look, just as what you sow is what you reap. Eat good food: eat fruits, vegetables, healthy grains, and don’t go for sweet and trite food.” – Rakul Preet Singh
“Fitness starts at home. What you eat is what you will look, just as what you sow is what you reap. Eat good food: eat fruits, vegetables, healthy grains, and don’t go for sweet and trite food.” – Rakul Preet Singh Share on X
