SETTING HOLISTIC GOALS

It doesn't matter if you're a fitness enthusiast, a weekend warrior, or just trying to get healthy—everyone should set fitness, health & personal goals. And I'm not just talking about pencilling them in on a calendar and hoping for the best. I'm talking about planning out each step needed to achieve your goals, from what you'll eat and how often you'll work out to what sort of support system you'll put in place. Here's why setting (and reaching) your fitness goals is so important!

Fitness Goals

Setting goals for your fitness is important for a number of reasons. First, they give you something to strive for. Without a goal, it can be easy to become complacent with your fitness level and settle into a workout routine that isn't challenging enough to help you improve.

Second, fitness goals help to motivate you. When you have a specific goal in mind, it's easier to stick to your workout routine and stay motivated even on days when you don't feel like working out.

Finally, fitness goals help to hold you accountable – perhaps the biggest driver in achieving your fitness goals, even more so than motivation. If you’re accountable to someone else, like a personal trainer, or create accountability for yourself by stating your goals to friends and family, you will immediately create a situation in which those goals are more important to achieve. When you have a goal that you're working towards, you're more likely to stay on track and avoid falling off the wagon.

So how do you go about setting fitness goals? First, think about what you want to achieve. Do you want to lose weight, build muscle, improve your cardiovascular health, beat some personal bests or all of the above? Once you have a general idea of what you want to accomplish, start setting specific goals. For instance, if your goal is to lose weight, commit to losing a certain number of pounds within a certain timeframe. If your goal is to build strength, set a goal for how much you want to get to with each lift. Once you have specific goals in mind, start planning out how you're going to achieve them.

If you're having trouble figuring out how to get started, consider hiring a personal trainer or online coach. They can help you develop a plan that's tailored to your specific goals and make sure you're using proper form to avoid injury, as well as adding that layer of accountability that can be so important.

Whenever you set a fitness goal, it's important to have a plan for measuring your progress. This will help you track your progress and ensure that you're actually moving closer to your goal. Numbers are your friend, and that shouldn't be limited to the scales. Setting short-term goals alongside your long-term ones will help you celebrate smaller wins and keep you motivated - everyone loves a success and waiting 12 months for the final product won't give you that dopamine boost to keep you going.

So, break your goal down into more manageable chunks and use those as stepping stones. For weight loss goals, this could be committing to lose 2 pounds a week until you reach your target weight. For strength gain, this could be aiming to add a couple of kilos to your lifts each month. Having these smaller goals will help you stay on track and make the process seem less daunting.

Finally, once you have your goals set and a plan in place, it's important to stick to it. This is where accountability comes in again. Set yourself up for success by surrounding yourself with people who will support your goals, whether that's taking the journey with friends or training with a personal trainer. Find an accountability partner who will help you stay on track when motivation is low.

Nutrition Goals

Just like fitness goals, setting nutrition goals is important for a number of reasons. Good nutrition is essential for overall health and well-being, and it can be easy to fall into bad habits when it comes to what we eat.

Setting nutrition goals will help you make better choices when it comes to the food you eat and give you something to strive for. There are some hard rules when it comes to nutrition that can be important for goal setting - a calorie deficit will see you lose weight and a calorie surplus will see you gain weight. But the science behind that is where you can accelerate your goals. Not all calories are made equal and you should be factoring goals for your macros based on your fitness regime. Less isn't always better when it comes to things like carbs - if you have an intense fitness schedule then you'll need the energy, and so whilst cutting carbs completely might seem like a good idea your workouts will suffer for it.

Bringing in a dietician or nutritionist to help plan your nutrition goals can be a game-changer. They'll be able to assess your current diet and make recommendations for where you can make improvements. They can also help you develop a plan that's tailored to your specific goals - whether that's losing weight, gaining muscle or simply improving your overall health and happiness.