Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals: A Recipe for Success

Hello World,

Today I wanted to talk about goals.  I continually see patrons come in and out of the gym (especially with New Years coming around) with no real direction and I believe that a huge part of the reason is that they have not truly thought about their goals.  Throughout business and fitness I have repeatedly heard about setting SMART goals.  

Make sure that you truly think about your goals and that they pertain to all of the pertaining areas.  

• Specific – Never say “Well I just want to lose a bit of weight.”  How much weight do you want to lose? What do you want your body fat percentage to be?  What do you want to squat?  What ever area that your goal is in, make sure your specific.
• Measurable – How are you going to measure your goals?  Weight? Strength? Speed?
• Attainable – Is it realistic?  Heads up…You are not going to lose 100lbs in 3 weeks just like I am not going to bench press 350 next week.  Be realistic in your goal setting.
• Relevant – Make sure that your fitness goals are relevant to what you truly want.
• Time Bound – I think this is one of the biggest miss steps in fitness goals.  You must give yourself a timeline.  It holds you accountable and accountability is key.  SET A DEADLINE FOR WHEN YOU WANT TO REACH YOUR GOAL…

This is a great way to think when setting those New Years resolutions that are right around the corner!

In the start of 2011 is when I started to work in the fitness industry originally and it was also when I realized I was out of shape terribly (the first time).  I worked at a gym but not as a trainer.  I was spoiled in the sense that I was already there and if I had a question, and I had a lot, I always had trainers around to answer them.  I originally set a goal to drop from 210 down to 180 by the end of summer.  I felt like that was when I was the healthiest and with my build it was very realistic.  Although I had been involved with sports my whole life, I was never really a gym rat and really had no idea what I was doing.  My diet was atrocious and I never worked out going into this experiment.  I was able to clean up my diet a bit and started asking questions as much as possible.  If I could give 1 piece of advice to any new gym member is this: DO NOT BE INTIMATED AND DON’T BE SCARED TO ASK QUESTIONS!  95% of trainers are there because they love their job and they love to help people.  They love answering questions.  I did not reach my original deadline of the end of summer but by Halloween I finally hit my goal and was under 180lbs. 

***I apologize for the awful underwear pic

Fast forward a couple years and I have to admit that I gained about half of it back.  I lost my dedication and got very sloppy.  However, that is also one of the main points that I want to drill into my readers.  Just because you are not where you used to be doesn’t mean you can not make it back.  All you have to do is be dedication, consistent and persistent.  You do not have to be a professional or have the genes of a Greek god to get into shape.  I know that I am not carved from stone but that does not stop me from pushing.  Below is a picture of me that I took today.  Call it a “Before” picture since today I am setting new goals.  I have admittedly dropped off my regular fitness routine since returning from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico this summer (roughly 3 months ago) but I am now ready to be dedicated and turn this around again.

 My two main goals for now:

• I am going to be back down to 175 lbs by April 1st.  I would like to be there sooner but with moving across country and the holidays I felt like it was needed to set a more realistic timeline.
• I am going to enter and finish a 10k by the same date

As this evolves, I will continually update you on my progress and hope that you will also share your goals and progress with me!  I have also been thinking of a year-long mileage challenge for myself.  I used to love cardio and now I just get bored doing it and feel like with a challenge I can push myself harder to reach it.  What would be a fair challenge…run 500 miles a year?

I would love if some of you commented below with your thoughts on everything.  What are your goals?  What do you think would be a good mileage challenge?

Until next time…

-Ryan