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Fitness Goals: Targets or Standards?

771471_achieve_2.jpgAlthough you may have an overall goal to get fit, remember that fitness is not just a target but something you want to maintain in your life forever.

It’s not as if you want to run a marathon and then retire to couch-potato land forever (well at least I hope not) so fitness goals need to be looked at a little differently from those you might have for your career or finances.

Once you have reached a reasonable level of fitness with your initial goal “to get fit”, you may want to set a goal to reach a higher level or you may just want to set standards for yourself.

You don’t have to strive to get fitter and fitter unless you have really got the fitness bug. But if you don’t challenge yourself regularly, you will lose the level of fitness you have reached.

Standards could be things like

  • I will work on strengthening my muscles for twenty minutes three times a week
  • I will walk at least 30 minutes every day
  • I will practice yoga 5 times a week
  • I will eat 7 portions fruit and vegetables a day
  • I will try a new activity every month
  • I will find a dance class I like and attend twice a week

The difference is that standards type goals never end – though you should review them regularly to make sure they are taking you where you want to be.

Keeping up standards can be just as challenging as working on improving fitness and in some ways you need to be even more motivated to keep this up as you will not be seeing so many dramatic positive changes in how you look and feel.

Maintaining a log can help with motivation – you’ll be able to see in black and white how well you are sticking to your standards when you mark off what you do each day.

April 24, 2008 | Filed Under Fitness Motivation 

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One Response to “Fitness Goals: Targets or Standards?”

  1. Julie on April 24th, 2008

    Thanks for the tip! That is something I will definitely need to keep in mind for the future. I’m 25 pounds away from my goal so hopefully it won’t be too long before my goals turn into standard based goals.

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