Setting fitness goals for the New Year
As much as I loathe setting myself up for a “new year new me”, I do think it’s always helpful and motivating to have a goal mindset for fitness for the long term. In my 12 years of being a personal trainer, I have seen countless attempts or “challenges” that set people up for failure. Not only do people feel like they are unable to achieve something, but they feel like they are physically incapable of setting out to achieve a goal. This is why anything with an expiration date i.e. “six week six pack challenge” is never a wise idea.
I’m hoping I can give you some examples for goal setting that feels maintainable, realistic and successful for the future. You CAN achieve your fitness goals, but you need to be setting yourself up for a win.
What I want you to do is sit down with a cup of tea, grab a calendar and really think to yourself “What do I want this year to look like? What do I hope to see by December?” After you can see this end of the year version of yourself, let’s break down these goals. For example let’s say we want to put on some muscle, this goal can be worked towards by breaking it down into smaller steps. Hitting your protein goal for January, adding on getting more sleep for February, lifting heavier weight week by week in March, and so on. Do you see how these smaller steps do not completely CONSUME your life? How they don’t require you changing literally everything about your day and eating habits? This is how you change your life, not by enormous changes, but by the little ones. Just like what Bill Murray says in “What about Bob?” - “baby steps to the elevator”.
It’s exactly how you finish a marathon, right? One foot in front of the other.
Another point I want you to think about is, “is this goal personal to ME?” A lot of these challenges not only have small deadlines but they are so broad I wonder who and why people are doing them. What if you don’t want to run a faster mile? What if you don’t want to drink a green smoothie everyday? (Frankly, I don’t want to drink them daily either lol). This is why you need to sit with your own thoughts, what do YOU want. Make this goal and dream yours, not someone else’s.
Also, let’s really take this one step at a time. New to running? Maybe your ultimate goal is a marathon but let’s start with a 5k. Let’s incorporate an hour walk every day. Let’s do the smaller work to build up the confidence and habits to get to the marathon. So many times people take the biggest bite possible and when they have moments of set back, that’s when they give up. But let’s say you’ve built your base of a 5k and 10k and you’re really struggling to get in more miles. You’ve already come so far, you know you’re capable of those 6 miles and that you've done the work to build the base, nothing or no one can take that away. You’ve not only gained strength, but you’ve built self confidence.
Remember that any goal is attainable. Anything is possible and no goal is too big or small, but it’s in the height of the moment of wanting to do something, that we don’t think about the tools to get there. I’ll use the example of fat loss. When we are trying to lose fat, we need a calorie deficit, right? But too often we STARVE to get there at first. We take away all the wonderful food, all the coffee creamer, all the chocolate (oh, the humanity!) instead of making baby steps like: increasing protein, making sure serving sizes are appropriate, drinking more water, getting in more fiber, etc.
I will go into further detail on how you can start thinking about smaller, specific goals but before I leave you I wanted to show you my fitness goals for this year:
Increase muscle mass (this will mean I need to eat more!)
Sleep no less than 7-8 hours a night
35 grams of fiber a day, incorporating more green veggies
Practice push ups and pull ups 4 times a week, even if I only have 5 extra minutes
Focusing on core and pelvic floor health, even if I only have 5 minutes a day
5 minutes of meditation before I get up out of bed in the morning, telling myself positive affirmations
10k steps per day to get some fresh air
Run 3 half marathons and possibly start marathon training again - this will need further reflection
Lift 5 times per week, increasing from my normal 4 days.
Build some bigger GLUTES
What are your fitness goals for 2022? How can I help you brainstorm and come up with more steps to get there?
