Working Out With a Goal

Answer 1

The types of goals that you set will depend on the types of exercises that you are doing. You want to set these goals, however, and not just start exercising with the hope that you will get in better shape and no real plan. If you do not have goals, you will not push yourself. Exercising is half a physical process and half a mental process. Without this drive to get better and be all that you can be, you will become stagnant and will not work out very hard at all. You need to harness your competitive nature, even if you are just competing against goals that you set for yourself.

If you are running, set your goal with time. Pick a distance that you want to go. Many people who are just starting out will pick a round number such as one mile. People who want to run races will often choose three and one tenth miles -- this is the distance that is run in a standard 5K race. That distance should stay the same every time you run, but you should always try to shave your time down a little bit. Clock yourself the first time out and then never let yourself fall short of that mark. This will make it so that you really run and do not just jog along when you should be working hard.

If you are lifting weights, it is a good idea to set your goal so that it increases every time you complete the next level. Pretend you are lifting one hundred pounds on the bench press. You will want to be doing three sets of ten. The first time that you do it, you might only get ten, seven, and then four. That is all right, but your goal should be to get to ten, ten, and ten. If you accomplish this, you should add five pounds -- two and a half to each side -- to the bench press. If your goals are always increasing, your muscle mass will as well.

As you can see, goals are very needed with exercise because they make you work hard. If you are on an athletic team, that is what the coach is there to do. If you are working out by yourself, however, you need these goals to take the place of the coach to make sure that you are always trying hard.

Answer 2

Sometimes and you go to the gym and seem like you're running on the same endless treadmill, even if you are not literally on the treadmill, doing the same things over and over again in search results that are going to be long-term. While there is nothing-wrong long-term results, after all that's what you're here for, they can be a little bit frustrating. It can be really hard to get up, get dressed, and get the gym at five in the morning for something you're going to see in six months or two years from now. That's why you needed short-term goal.

But how do you set the good short-term goal? Well when it comes a short-term goals there're a few basic guidelines can adhere to that will help us create good goals. That way we find a goal that is neither too frustrating nor too easy. After all we don't want to add to my new short term goals that you can't achieve. Nor do you want to create goals that give you a false sense of encouragement every time you step on treadmill. We want goals that are achievable in terms of time, say weeks or months, and on’s that help you work toward your long-term goals.

When I started my weight loss journey at more than 350 pounds, the long-term goals were a long way away when I began. In order to cope with that, and the near insurmountable feeling of the amount of weight that I had to lose, I set short-term goals. In order to deal with that I broke a down to more reasonable increments. I had about 200 pounds to lose I wanted to get healthy. In order to do that and to do it safely I had to lose about 10 pounds a month. That meant that my goal the short term was 10 pounds a month for 20 months, almost 2 years. 10 pounds a month sounds, and feels, a lot more manageable than 200 pounds. Now comes the other side, reward. After all if you've achieved the goal you should reward yourself in some way. Ideally not with food. Set aside some reasonable amount from your monthly budget. It can be as low as say 20 bucks. And use that cash to treat yourself to something nice at the end of the month if you've achieved your goal. Some good $20 treats include checking a movie with her friends, getting a nice manicure, picking up an iTunes card to download some amazing new songs, or anything else that makes you happy.

If you really want to motivate yourself at the reward, then if you don't meet you goal the money goes to someone else. Someone you really don't like. If for example you are a staunch Democrat, failing to meet the goal could mean a donation to the RNC. That's enough make most of us put that ice cream sundae down and get on a treadmill.

Now it is your turn. I want you think of your long-term goal, break up into smaller more manageable increments, and figure out what kind of reward you would give yourself. Now make it part of the plan.