The Key To Achieving Your Fitness Goals

Think about why you train. 

Maybe you are trying to lose enough belly fat to fit back into those jeans you have been holding onto.

Maybe you are targeting a personal best in your next race.

Whatever it is, you need a goal, and you need a plan to get there. 

Without a real plan to achieve your goal, your training routine can lack direction and purpose, and so you just “go through the motions”.

Eventually, you drop the ball, and a lot of the time, you don’t pick it back up.

You find yourself wallowing in your own self-pity and wondering what you are going to do with yourself. 

The flipside is, whilst it is important to set a goal, it can be damaging to your self-esteem if it’s not a SMART goal. 

You don’t want to set an audacious goal that you have no chance of reaching. At the same time, you don’t want to set a goal that is too easy and adds no value to your life. 

In both cases, the training process becomes a lacklustre experience which, oftentimes, causes you to either quit, or lack any sense of achievement. 

So then how do you approach your fitness goals? In the next few paragraphs, I will tell you. 

How To Be SMART About Your Fitness Goals

To understand what to do, you need to understand what not to do. 

You don’t want to get too caught up in the idea of the end result and neglect the journey it takes to get there. 

You also don’t want to “leave the blinkers on” and focus only on the present moment. 

It’s a balancing act. 

You want to keep your “eyes on the prize”, but recognise each step you need to take to get there, and focus on one step at a time. 

Reason being, it’s much easier to track your progress and it’s more enjoyable.

It allows you to develop a sense of mastery and control, build confidence and trust in yourself, and cultivate mindfulness. 

Simultaneously, you can determine whether your goals are appropriate and whether you need to make any adjustments.

You might find your level of fitness is progressing much more quickly than you thought, so you decide it might be best to move the goalpost a bit further. 

You might find that the fatigue from pushing yourself so hard is oozing into other aspects of your life, and so you bring the goalpost back a bit. 

You catch yourself, but you don’t lose sight of your target. 

You celebrate your successes and learn from your failures.

The constant see-saw ensures that you maintain growth and evolve towards your end-goal. 

But knowing what to do isn’t always straightforward. 

How To Determine The Right Fitness Strategy

It’s a great question you ask, so let me tell you. 

If you set a training routine for yourself, make sure you are diligent and stick to the plan.

Without first doing this, you don’t have a baseline.

Don’t say you are going to do 5 sessions a week, only do 2, then wonder why you aren’t making the gains you set out for. 

But if you find something like this happening, you need to ask yourself why? Are the sessions too difficult? Do you have enough time within your broader schedule? 

This means putting 100% effort and focus towards each session, and for you to be very honest with the feedback you give yourself. 

It also requires a willingness to adapt - to say “Ok, work is going to be intense over the next couple of weeks, I need to factor this in.”

It may be anything, and the truth is that life does get in the way sometimes. 

That is why you should break down your main goal into smaller goals, and create manageable tasks. 

And as you attack each smaller goal, schedule regular time for reflection and planning. 

With experience, you learn what works best for you - what you can and can’t do. But for most of us, it takes time to get there, and you can become stuck. 

There is one key aspect of this process which can be the difference between getting stuck in the mud, or running with the wind. 

And it’s something that is completely under-utilised by most people. 

The most under-rated tactic to achieving your goals quicker is seeking help from a professional coach. 

That’s right, you don’t have to do it alone. 

And why would you, when it has been done before in some way, shape, or form. 

A professional coach will bring their experience to the equation and provide an unbiased perspective. 

They will help you clarify your goals, provide solutions to help overcome any roadblocks, drive accountability, and support you when you need to adapt your training routine.

I hope you found this information useful for helping you find the right balance in your fitness journey.

And if you’re serious about achieving your fitness goals but find yourself stuck, you can also reach out to me for professional guidance by clicking the button below. 

Yours in running and life,

Daniel Lucchini