Posted on October 23, 2014 by Kate Halsall

As personal trainers, clients often come to us wanting to make a change to their lives and are in a phase of uncertainty of how to get there. Setting goals will give you a vision of where you want to be and help to keep you motivated whilst you’re trying to get there – that’s why they need to be realistic. There’s no point setting yourself something that is so un-achievable that it you wont be able to overcome the hurdles you face on your way. We have a number of ways to help our personal training clients to set realistic goals. And this blog looks at how to set realistic goals so you can achieve your results.

How realistic is what you want?
Are you willing to put the effort in?
Do you understand the work involved to help you reach your goal?
Does it motivate and excite you?
What will that goal achieve?
Can you do it by yourself?

Look at the bigger picture
Where do you ultimately want to be? You need to pick a goal that you WANT, not that you feel you should have or you feel your friends or family think you should be. You need to start with that final destination in mind. But this needs to be a SMART destination. Saying “I want to lose weight for Christmas” doesn’t provide you with a clear target, whereas “I want to lose half a stone for Christmas” does.

Plan & Prep
Setting key milestones means setting targets and planning how you’re going to achieve these. Whether it’s a training or diet plan (remember both are important!), you need something which clearly shows you how you are going to get to those milestones. Focus on those factors which are in your control. It needs to be kept visible so that you are reminded of what it is you’re doing and why it is you’re doing it. If you don’t know how to plan or what prep it is you need, that’s exactly what we are here for!

Constantly Review
Your goals need to be measureable; whether its in stones or kg, cm or inches, mm or percentages, before and after pictures; your goals need to be documented so that you can keep track of your progress. But also be open to slightly changing focus. If you’re not achieving the weight loss goals, look at changing your focus to how often you do certain workouts so you change to look at the actions your taking rather than the progress.

There’s a lot to think about, so start with one goal first, seek help if you need it, and get going!

Further Reading
http://www.mindtools.com/page6.html
http://www.m8north.co.uk/blog/how-to-achieve-fitness-goals/
http://www.ehow.com/how_2287860_set-realistic-goals.html