All fitness goals should be Specific –  Losing 5kg is a specific goal, so is lifting 100kg or running 5km in 20 minutes, eating better and feeling healthy are not goals, they are wishes.  One trap that people sometimes fall into is setting too many concurrent goals.  It is better to pick 1-2 things and work on them diligently than to be working on 15 things and do them all poorly. Measurable – You must be able to measure your progress, whether that’s your weight or your fitness results make sure you know how you are going to track your progress. Achievable – This means making sure that you have the time, knowledge and facilities to achieve your goal. For example it’s hard to become a world class strength athlete unless you’ve got access to a good gym and coaching so make sure your goals are achievable with the resources you have available. Realistic –  When setting goals you need to look at where you are now and how much you can reasonably expect to improve in a given time frame.  If you are 20kg overweight it’s unrealistic to expect to lose that weight in 4 weeks so perhaps you need to set longer term goals and short term goals.  Time limited – When setting goals I suggest that you set a long term goal for the year and then break down your goal into 3 month short term progress goals.  This will allow you to monitor your progress accurately and keep you focused on what needs to be done. #3 Develop a fitness lifestyle A key step in achieving long term fitness success is to make fitness a part of your lifestyle and not a chore.  If you have got some bad habits like smoking or excessive drinking and partying you may have to rethink your priorities. If you start to socialize with fit, motivated people the chances are that you’ll end up doing more fitness activities than drinking.  If you have friends that try to drag you back into old destructive habits it’s time to get tough with them or get new friends. A critical part of developing a fitness lifestyle is taking up fitness activities outside the gym.  You should use your dedicated fitness training to prepare you for more exciting and interesting activities like mountain biking, adventure racing, team sports or hiking. A new year and a new fitness program is a great opportunity to take up something you’ve always wanted to try and by making these activities part of your life you’ll have more reasons to stick with a fitness plan. #4 Become accountable to someone Once you’ve set your goals it’s time to take action and find someone who can keep you on track as you work towards them. By nature humans are lazy and easily distracted so having someone watch your back and kick your ass (as required) is fairly important for most people.  The simplest way to become accountable is to hire a personal trainer who will dutifully kick you out of bed a couple of times a week however it’s not the only option. Other ways to become accountable include hooking up with a fitness group, group of friends or a workout partner, joining a sports team or entering a charity fitness event. I believe that anyone who wants the best fitness results needs a coach or workout partner to push them along.  Despite being a full time fitness professional even I’ve got a coach so there are no excuses for you! #5 Seek knowledge Once you know what you want to achieve you’ll need to figure out what workouts are going to get you to your goals in the most time efficient manner. These days there are thousands of workouts available to suit just about every situation however sorting through them to work out what’s best for you can be a daunting task. This is where fitness professionals step in.  Not only will your friendly local trainer kick you out of bed on a frosty morning they can also help you put together an effective and time efficient plan for achieving your goals. If you have some experience with fitness training you can seek out new ideas on the internet, in books and on DVD. #6 Review your progress Once you are on your way it’s important to review your goals and your progress every 1-2 weeks so that your fitness remains a top priority and that you can modify your program in order to keep making progress. #7 Have fun! At the end of the day fitness training shouldn’t be a chore, it should be something that you do because you enjoy the benefits you get as well as the training itself.  By following the steps above you’ll begin to develop a fitness lifestyle which will turn fitness into a good habit and make it much more likely that you’ll achieve your desired results. For a personalised plan to improve your fitness contact us at fitness@octogen.com.au and we can design a program for your needs.