How are you feeling today? If the last few blogs sent you for a loop, I completely understand. The minute I decided that I was worthy of being something other than less of myself, I was floored and confused with how to proceed.
Today I come to you with a path forward. Setting SMART fitness goals is the way.
What are SMART goals?
Specific
Measureable
Achievable
Realistic
Timely
First up - specific.
What exactly do you want to achieve?
If it’s getting stronger, that’s a pretty blanket statement and not really specific.
Something more specific would be “I want to be able to lift x-pounds in my squat”.
Another example - “I want to decrease the symptom of incontinence”. vs “I want to no longer have to wear a pad when I go out for a run because of worry that I will pee myself”.
Being specific allows you to be able to measure it.
Just being stronger isn’t a measurable thing. However, x # of weight lifted, or % more than you could before is something you can measure.
Another example: “Decreasing the frequency of incontinence” is not as specific as “not peeing myself when I jump on a trampoline”. The second statement is much more specific AND measurable.
Although you may want to be stronger and lift x amount of weight, is it realistic? If you’re coming off of an injury and expecting to lift 200lbs in a squat, that goal is going to take a long time to achieve. Same with if you’re newly postpartum and thinking about not peeing when you run and jump. It is achievable, but it’s most likely not going to happen overnight.
Achievable and timely fall into place here in knowing that if you’re coming off injury, realistically you’re going to have to rebuild some foundations and relearn some movement patterns and breathing strategies. This will take some time. So when you look at your goals, you can have those longer term goals (like lifting 200lbs after knee injury and not peeing yourself when you run) but realize that realistically and timely that’s not going to happen tomorrow.
I personally coach my clients to set a long term goal and then we chunk it up into smaller, achievable and timely goals. Having just a long term goal is great but it can be tough to keep up to mentally. Chunking that big goal out to smaller ones allows you to feel successful more regularly, and also allows for you to make edits to that goal if life happens to get in the way.
So let’s revisit the main question - what do you want to achieve as a fitness goal?
If you’re still reeling, and unsure how to proceed, drop me a reply. Let’s get talking and figure out what goal you have that isn’t making you smaller, but is instead allowing you to become an even greater version of yourself.
