Set exercise goals

Kenneth Gardner, FITNESS CLUB

Goals are essential to improve our exercise programme. Goals motivate change and provide a plan of action. A goal may be to achieve a recommended body weight, lose an average of one pound each week, to check weight first thing each morning or check weight before breakfast every day. Our goals should also target exercise factors such as exercising in the correct target zone for 45 minutes, five times per week.

We should set both short- and long-term goals. Short-term goals will make the task less overwhelming and make the long-term ones easier to achieve. When goals are set by us, we will be more motivated to achieve them than goals set by someone else. We should write our goals and indicate our plan of action to achieve them. Set clear, realistic, measurable goals that are neither too difficult nor too easy to achieve so that we can monitor our progress efficiently.

Establish a timeline when the goal should be achieved, keep track of our progress, do periodic revision of our goals and set new ones to keep us motivated and interested.

sustaining our commitment

We will enjoy more success when we pursue our goals one step at a time and do not stress ourselves unnecessarily to achieve our goals. A mix of activities that we find pleasurable and satisfactory will make us work much harder. We need to enjoy our exercise sessions to sustain our commitment because it is difficult to do anything if it is not pleasurable. We need to see our goals providing us with ideal health, weight, body composition and physique.

In setting our goals, we should anticipate challenges and develop contingencies to address them. If we have to reschedule an exercise session because of an emergency, be flexible and make the necessary adjustments. We can also take a day off and do something different if our routine becomes monotonous or we could do something different that we really enjoy.

This should help us to regain our focus to approach our goals with a positive attitude and do not forget to reward ourselves when we achieve them.

Generally, exercising with a partner or a group of people is more exciting and encouraging. This will make our goals more achievable than going it alone.

When we exercise with others, especially those with similar interests and aspirations, the social interaction provides us with vicarious experiences as we enjoy the camaraderie and social support. This can be a very potent force that will push us to be more resolute in realising our goals. On the other hand, the help of a personal trainer can provide novel exercise routines that we could enjoy doing for a very long time.

Dr Kenneth Gardner is an exercise physiologist at Holiday Hills Research Center; email: yourhealth@gleanerjm.com.