Goals
Having goals is an important part of training. For the vast majority of us, working out is a means to an end or a certain outcome. We are trying to improve some aspect of or fitness to achieve a better ‘performance.’
Goals should help to guide our progress in a meaningful, measurable, and encouraging way. Good goals aim to improve an athletes physical abilities while simultaneously increasing psychological development and increasing ones self-confidence and self-belief.
If setting ‘good’ goals can provide both physical and psychological benefits, it can be argued that setting ‘bad’ goals may well elicit an opposite, harmful outcome. The importance of understanding how goals can be a positive or a negative influence on your training and fitness and how best to implement them should not be overlooked.
Any goal is a good goal?
Simply setting goals is not enough. Quite often, fitness goals are very ambiguous. We say something like ‘this summer I’m going to get in shape.’ This type of statement initially leaves us excited for our newfound commitment and the potential outcomes that lay ahead, but, there’s some problems.
In order to render a positive effect, goals should be attainable. In order to be clearly attainable, goals must be specific. If our goals are ambiguous, how will we ever know if or when we have achieved them? Or how even to reach them? Not knowing if you’ve reached your goal is just as unproductive as if you never even set one, or worse, leaves us thinking that we’ve not been able to achieve it.
SMART goals
More than just another needless acronym, SMART goal setting gives a good starting point for setting meaningful goals.
Specific: goals should be clear and unambiguous, stating specifically what should be accomplished. The more clear, the better.
Measurable: goals should be measurable in some way as to demonstrate progress.
Attainable: goals should be realistically attainable, allowing for an appropriate degree of challenge and meaningfulness but also serving to reinforce belief in oneself and progress
Relevant: goals should be relevant to an individuals interests, needs, and abilities
Time Bound: goals should contain reasonable guidelines. A goal with no timeframe is not particularly helpful.
Using this framework we can transform an idea or unclear goal into a much more meaningful outcome
Ex.
Undefined goal: Im going to start running and get into better shape this summer
SMART goal: my goal is to run a 25:00 5k in august, I am going to run 3x per week over the next 12 weeks slowly increasing the duration and pace of my efforts.
A goal that is unclear is unattainable. Unattainable goals are not productive and do not serve in anyway to reinforce our training. Be clear, specific, reasonable, and measurable with your goals. Challenge yourself, but remember that we are using goals to drive progress and not to discourage.
Clear goals guide training
Clear goals provide us with many of the answers we need to engage is productive training. The more specific a goal gets, the easier it is to fill in the blanks and prepare effectively. Specific outcomes require specific behaviors.
Unclear goals make training effectively impossible. How would you even begin to progress towards and endpoint that doesn’t exist?
Obviously, your training should always support your short and long term goals. The more clear your goals, the easier it is to find the best path forward.
Use goals as a tool
There is much to be gained from using clear goals effectively and just as much to be lost via their misuse.
A goal can provide a challenge, push us a little harder, and also give us a little encouraging pat on the back to keep us feeling forward momentum.
If you have a crazy, scary, impossible seeming long term goal, great. Hold on to that. But instead of focusing on the daunting task of going from couch potato to olympian, break it down. Start with what is challenging but readily achievable in the near future, reach that first goal, fill your sails with the wind of that first victory and start over.
If you’re goals aren’t achievable and only serve to provide a negative influence to your training, then they aren’t doing you any good. Putting excessive pressure on yourself or feeling stressed about your goals is a good indication that you might want to reexamine.
At all times, goals should be a positive component of your training. If they begin to have a negative influence they are no longer serving as a tool, but a detriment.
Go make a goal
Set goals. Big ones, little ones, clear ones, reasonable ones, and positive ones. Remember that setting goals is a tool that should be used to develop you both psychologically and physically. Tell yourself what you’re going to do, how you’re going to do it and move forward.
