The reason most people fail to reach a fitness goal may not be a lack of motivation, but the goal itself. Most people write down nonspecific, unattainable goals that have no chance of being achieved, fitness experts said Fortune. These pros shared four steps to take when outlining your fitness plan to set yourself up for success.
Understand where you are in your fitness journey and plan your goals accordingly
It’s important to understand exactly where you are in the stages of the change model, says Neal Pire, a certified health coach and fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine:
- Precontemplationbefore you have identified the change you want to make
- Contemplationwhen you consider making a change
- Preparationwhen you have a plan to change
- Actionwhen you start to change
- Maintenancewhen you sustain the change for six months
Pire says a fit colt probably won’t hold up if you move from the contemplation phase (“I want to lose weight”) straight to the maintenance phase (“I go to the gym five times a week”). If you want to lose 50 pounds but don’t have a plan to do so, Pire says to move from the contemplation phase to the preparation phase by experimenting with different exercises to find the best one for you, or by learning about how exercise helps with weight loss.
“Sometimes it takes a year to move from contemplation to action, but some go through the first three phases and practice already during the week,” he says. “It’s a question of how dedicated they can be right from the start.”
Be specific
Having a nebulous idea of “wanting to lose weight” or “exercising regularly” will likely not lead to goal completion in the desired time frame.
Instead, certified strength and conditioning specialist Connor Agnew suggests following the SMART method (an acronym for goals that are Sspecific, Mmeasurable, Areachable, Rrelevant, e Tlimited time) to come up with resolutions that you can easily follow. Instead of aiming to lose weight, Agnew suggests setting yourself a specific, achievable goal of losing an average of a pound a week.
Get ready for the “humps”
Although experts estimate it takes six weeks to develop a gym habit, Agnew says he’s seen beginners lose motivation within two weeks to a month. , and then that initial month,” he says. “Those are two times where I see a lot of people abandon their goals.”
To account for the two-week and one-month “humps,” Patrick Wilson, fat-loss coach and owner of Realistic Gains, said to attach shorter milestones to your resolutions. If the goal is to lose a certain amount of weight at the end of the year, Wilson said to create smaller benchmarks at two- to three-month intervals to ensure you stay on track.
Be prepared for motivation slumps throughout the year
Remember the three principles of self-determination theory of motivation to account for lapses in motivation, Agnew advises:
Autonomyor have a say in what you are doing. Agnew has found that giving yourself choices is key to ensuring your resolutions stick. If your goal is to meal prep every Sunday, for example, Agnew says preparing two separate meals and having the ability to choose which to eat during the week will be more exciting than eating the same thing every day.
“What I did first was have three lists for the week that I knew I was going to do, and then I looked at them and said, ‘Man, I really don’t want to do squats today. I’m going to bench press instead,'” he says. “I still trained and overall had a higher quality workout because I made those choices.”
Correlativityor sense of belonging. Agnew says that people who have accountability partners, like a friend or loved one, who encourages them or joins them in training, are much more likely to stick to their fitness goals. Accountability partners don’t even have to be close friends, he adds. These can be online communities like those on Reddit or group training clubs like Orangetheory.
Competenceor feel good about what you do. Remember to always be kind to yourself, says Agnew: “Give yourself some grace and understand that you won’t immediately become an expert.”