SMART GOALS
By Matt Crosby
From strongman to marathon runner, bodybuilder to the part time gym goer we find can often find ourselves feeling stuck. No matter what you do you feel your taking one step forward and two steps back, whatever your goal may be sometimes it feels unachievable.
However, you aren’t alone we all at some point have felt this pain, and you need to get a grip of this feeling and send it packing! Your attitude towards your training is just as important as the training itself. If you enjoy your training, if it’s the correct training for what you want to achieve and your diet is on point, then you will see results. It’s going to take patience and determination but YOU WILL GET THERE.
A good approach to achieve what you want is to set goals, however these goals have to be realistic, achievable and measurable. If you set unrealistic goals you will end up feeling like you have let yourself down, a simple approach most personal trainers use is S.M.A.R.T goals. S-specific Setting a specific goal will remove any confusion. If you decide you ‘want to lose weight’ this goal isn’t specific, it’s hard to track when this goal has been achieved and will most likely leave you demotivated. Instead specify how much weight you would want to lose.
M-measurable You must set a goal that is measurable, can you track it? If your goal is to run more this will be hard to track, however if you set a goal that is measurable such as I will run for 30 minutes three times a week this then becomes measurable and then can be adjusted accordingly.
A-achievable This basically speaks for its self, you aren’t going to set a goal that is humanly impossible, it needs to be attainable, it should stretch your abilities but remain possible
R-realistic/relevant Ensure your goal is realistic! Can it actually be done, and is it relevant? If your goal is to improve your 1RM on bench press from 20kg to 25kg in x amount of week’s then training to knock a few seconds of your 5KM run time isn’t relative to your goal
T-time bound Setting yourself a time frame that is achievable for whatever your goal may be is very important and useful, having a time to reach your goal will keep you motivated give you something to work towards and give you a sense of urgency and pressure ensuring you’re going to work harder.