Pull through page title

Review training logs

The first thing to start with is to look back at what you’ve managed to achieve last year in your training journal. Is there still room for improvement on last year’s goals? Or do you want to focus on something new instead?

If you’ve not kept a journal, you can still reflect on what you’ve been doing over the last year and ask yourself the same questions.

Get specific

To narrow down the list of goals you might want to improve on, you need to decide what kind of goal you want to work towards.

Do you want to run faster? Squat heavier? Swim farther? If you can pin point the end result, then you can work backwards and start to plan incremental targets to work towards.

An example of a SMART goal for fitness could be that you want to run 5k in 30 minutes. Each week you can set yourself a new time to get under to work towards that goal time.

This goal is specific and measurable, meaning you can work your way up to this each week and make notes on your progress.

Keep it simple

The most important thing is being consistent. If you continually show up to exercise, you’ll make small changes to improve your health. Something is always better than nothing.

While you might have ambitious and strategic fitness goals, try not to get too hung up them. If you miss the mark one week, relax. You can work at it again next time.

Keeping perspective

Whether your exercise routine changed or not last year, it’s important to set realistic fitness goals. Don’t, for example, aim for a new personal push-up record in your first week. While you probably know that already, we wanted to remind you to be careful and not to push yourself too hard.

You might also find as you exercise that your goals change or your priorities change too. This is also totally okay. You can always adapt your goals.

Get into a community

While gyms are closed joining in with online classes is a great way to keep focussed on your goals.

Surrounding yourself, even virtually, with other people who are working towards healthy lifestyle changes can help boost your morale and keep the momentum going, especially now.

Plus joining classes can help you to feel a part of the gym community too as you can connect with other members and the instructors in the comments.

Cheryl Culliford-Whyte Content Contributor, Warwick Sport

Cheryl has interests in all kinds of fitness, keeping healthy and looking after your wellbeing. She enjoys hiking, lifting and healthy baking.

Please note: if you are using the information provided in any Content Core article, please read the terms & conditions.

Latest articles