January is coming to a close…

We’re coming up to the end of January now and by this point we know whether or not our New Year goals have been maintained or put on the back burner for another year.  It’s not too late if you haven’t set any targets yet be it for day to day changes or important fitness goals. What’s important is that the goals are achievable and realistic! I for one in the past have been a stickler for setting targets that I simply cannot achieve and by doing so contribute to my own certain disappointment and demotivation when the goals fail to materialise.

My goals

This years fitness goal for me is to gain weight, that’s right, add on a few kilos increasing my total weight past the brick wall that is 72kg. I am what you call a ‘hardgainer’, someone that finds it very difficult to gain weight. Coupled with a busy lifestyle, I simply burn too many calories to allow any sort of increase in size and my current weight is one that I have been at for years!

As mentioned previously, targets should be achievable and realistic (to be even more professional about it you could use the SMART acronym!), so for me this means gaining 1kg per month over the year.

For others the goal could be weight loss; if so set a target that’s realistic and break it down over the year so you can tackle the overall goal in set chunks.

Make a plan of how you will achieve the target and stick to it as much as possible. This is the hardest part for most and the part where individuals lose focus, miss a few days or weeks of progress and feel like they’ve ruined all their progress! Don’t let off days put you down.

Lastly, reward yourself when you make progress.  It becomes all too common to beat yourself up about slipping off track, but how about when you’ve edged closer to your goal? Small rewards are great at reaffirming the reason you’re working towards your target.

Rich