Have you set your Health And Fitness GOALS? Be accountable to yourself...

Do you think that professional athletes just decide that they want to be in the hall of fame a week out from retirement?

Or do you think that maybe they work on various areas of their game by setting goals around what they need to improve so they can be the best at what they do?

Let’s assume that it’s the latter, while you might not necessarily be aiming for gold at the 2012 Olympics or eyeing off the competition for this year’s Dally M awards GOAL SETTING is a simple and effective tool that can be used to track, measure and record your progress as well as give you some extra motivation and sense of achievement.

A great way to start out with your goal setting is to set SMART goals;

Specific – Who? What? Why? When? Where?

For example – I (who) want to increase my bench press by 10kgs (What) because I want to increase my strength (Why) for the start of the next football season, which is the 1^st of March (When). The Where is obviously @ New Dimensions health club!

Measurable – Having specific measurements in your goals is essential! If you don’t know exactly what you want to achieve you’ll never know when you achieve it!

For example – increasing the weight you bench press by 10 kilos by the 1^st March. Specific exercise, specific increase and specific date.

Attainable – This is a mindset. You must truly believe that whatever goals you set for yourself, that within the timeframe you have set they can be achieved.

Realistic – If you set unrealistic goals, you are just setting yourself up to fail. Some results are just physically impossible in certain periods of time. You are NOT going to lose 20kgs in 2 weeks, so don’t set yourself up for disappointment by aiming for that.

Timed – Without an end date, you have nothing to work towards in terms of a timeframe. Are you really going to be satisfied if it takes 10 years to increase your bench press by 10kgs? Because without setting a time frame you have achieved your goal, it’s just taken 9 and a half years longer than it should have.

Once you have set goals for yourself, you should also think about any potential obstacles you may come across and how you will overcome these obstacles.

Finally, you need to make sure that once you have achieved your original goals, you go back to square one and start the process all over again!