Fitness motivation can be a tough thing to keep hold of. Deciding to get fit might seem like a good idea at the time, but once it’s done and the initial novelty has worn off, the commitment can slowly diminish. Perhaps the goal you set yourself might suddenly seem unattainable or apathy might be sneaking in.
Generally speaking, although you and many others before you might have set off on this journey of self-improvement with gusto and complete motivation, within a few weeks or months you might find temptations and other priorities might have begun to get in your way.
Losing Fitness Motivation?
You are definitely not alone. Some sort of health-related self-improvement is always being made by people all over the world. However, “getting fit” can look different from person to person, so whilst turning to the experiences of others is a great way of finding inspiration, don’t rely on the results of others to evaluate your own progress.
Being fit also doesn’t have to mean completing a half-marathon at record-setting pace or bench-pressing 100kg. Your goal can be perfectly tailored to your desires, needs, and lifestyle. For example, working on your fitness can look as easy as taking a fifteen-minute walk around the neighbourhood three times a week. There are plenty of ways of incorporating fitness into your daily life. Here are 3 ways to sneak fitness into your day.
Getting your fitness motivation back on track is not hard to do. Often, what deters us is the sheer feat of the challenge before us. We tend only to look at at the whole mountain we need to climb in order to reach our goal. What we should be doing is breaking it down, realising that all we need to do is take one step at a time. Check out these guidelines to construct a goal that is not only achievable and practical, but S.M.A.R.T.
Make Your Goal a S.M.A.R.T. One
S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym that describes a goal’s characteristics. If you follow these attributes, you will be more likely to succeed in achieving your target, one step at a time.
Make your goal: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely.
To define each of the characteristics, we’re going to break down and delve deep in each of the terms in the acronym S.M.A.R.T.
Specific:
Your goal should be defined to the last detail. Make the goal as specific as you can and also practical. For example, “Running More” is an extremely broad goal, and does not follow the “Specific” criteria. “Running 3 miles twice a week” is definitely more specific.
Measurable:
If a goal isn’t measurable, it will be hard to tell when you achieve it. “Running a mile in 5:35” is a measurable goal because it gives you a specific distance and time that can be measured and completed.
Achievable:
Your goal has to have practicality. This doesn’t mean aiming low just to be able to say you achieved it, but look at where your starting point is, and what tools and outlets are at your disposal. From there, you can make a conscious decision of where you want to be – and where you realistically can be. Wanting to be a Gold Medal Hurdler in the Olympics, for example, is ambitious, but not necessarily realistic given your age, how much time you need to train before the Olympics begin, if they’ve already done Qualifiers, etc.
Relevant:
Set a goal that you actually really want. Just because someone is training to run a half-marathon, it doesn’t mean it’s a fit for you, too.
Timely:
Make sure that your timeline or deadline that you set for yourself with your measurable goal is actually doable. Give yourself to build up gradually. Too much, too soon can be a recipe for disaster… and injury.
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