Ask yourself a question: If you go to the gym right now without any reason or goal, where would you even start? Confused, right?
According to studies, 42% of people stick to their routine and achieve their goals compared to those who don’t have a clear goal.
When you have a clear goal, it means you have a crystal-clear roadmap of where to start, what to do, what the steps and stages will be, and how you can achieve your dream physique. For that reason, having a goal is mandatory. In a community such as a gym, where people often don’t last for three months, do you think you can reach your destination without a specific, pinpoint target? I don’t think so.
After reading this article, you will have a clear concept of how to set a realistic gym goal.
Visualize Your Dream Physique
Just imagine where you want to see yourself. Do you want to get muscular, achieve a sculpted physique, lose fat, or overcome the depression or frustration caused by your boss every day?
Remember, a good physique always keeps a person happy and makes them mentally stronger to handle any situation.
Visualizing is important because it helps pinpoint your target. When someone visualizes, they always consider their budget and lifestyle.
Stand in front of a mirror, observe yourself, and visualize where changes are needed. Think about which areas could benefit from losing a little fat, gaining more muscle, becoming wider, or getting slimmer. This way, you will get a clear idea of how your physique should ideally look. You’ll know exactly how much muscle you need to gain and how much fat you need to lose. It will help you define your ultimate goal.
Achievable
Sometimes, people, especially teenagers, are inspired by social media. They often see guys like Cbum or Ronnie Coleman and think, “What if I had a physique like theirs?”
In reality, they achieve these physiques because it’s their profession. You don’t know how hard they worked, how much money they spent, or how many years it took to reach that level.
Your goal should align with your lifestyle. Be honest with yourself—do you really need to build a muscular body, or is general fitness enough to make you happy? If you want to get muscular, are you ready to invest heavily in supplements?
The moral of the story is to choose a goal that is realistic and achievable within your capacity. Avoid setting goals that are beyond your reach and incompatible with your daily lifestyle, as they will be nearly impossible to achieve.
Set Some Milestones
Milestones help people stay motivated and focused. They make your path much easier. When you break down your entire journey into small steps, it becomes easier to achieve and more manageable.
Sometimes, when people have a long-term vision and start working on it, they eventually begin to wonder, “I’m working, but can I really reach the final destination?” This often leads to laziness, confusion, and frustration.
Achievements make people happy, and happiness boosts motivation. After hitting a milestone, your confidence will skyrocket, and you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment as you notice changes in your body. This small happiness will push you to work toward the next target. In this way, milestones help you stay motivated, focused, and confident in achieving your ultimate goal.
Measure Your Current Condition
Now it’s time to measure how capable you are. Understanding where you currently stand will guide your next steps. For example, suppose you are an obese person who wants to get leaner and achieve an ideal body shape with an ideal weight. This step will show you the phases you need to go through to reach your dream physique.
Some essential measurements to consider include body fat percentage, weight, BMI, and height. Additionally, use a measuring tape to take muscle measurements such as your waist and hip to calculate your waist-to-hip ratio. Measure your chest and note down your current condition. If you’re unsure how to do this, seek help from your trainer.
Fix a Deadline
We don’t want to chase our dreams for a lifetime—it’s totally meaningless. That’s why whatever you’ve set out to achieve needs a deadline. Not only should the ultimate goal have a fixed timeframe, but each milestone should as well. For example, if you decide to get leaner, your target could be: first, lose water weight within one month, then begin your fat loss journey combined with strength training, which may take around 4-6 months. After that, start a bulk-up session and aim to gain 4-5 kg over the next year.
Fixing a deadline is crucial because, without it, how can you measure if you’re on track? If you set a timeframe and, upon reaching it, realize you didn’t achieve the expected results, you can identify the flaws and take corrective action.
Discuss with a Mentor
Talking with your mentor is one of the smartest decisions you can make. They can guide you on how to execute your plan without simply stating that you’ll lose fat. With their experience, they know the stages, steps, and how your body will react at each phase. They can help you in two key ways:
1. Knowledge and Guidance:
Your mentor will advise you on what to do and what to avoid. They’ll guide you on how to achieve the best results, the methods you need to follow, your diet plan, and the necessary calorie intake with proper nutrition (carbs, fats, proteins, multivitamins, and other essential elements) They’ll also provide a workout routine tailored to your needs, detailing how many calories you’ll burn during cardio and strength training sessions, along with expert feedback.
2. Overcoming Obstacles:
Your mentor will prepare you for potential challenges during your journey and teach you how to overcome them without stress. They’ll help you prevent setbacks, avoid plateaus, reduce injury risks, and recover quickly if injuries occur. These are things you may not fully understand until you begin, but their guidance will make a huge difference.
Have an Individual Focus
If you start working on multiple things at once, it’s almost certain you won’t achieve 100% results in any of your targets. This is a common mistake, especially among beginners. When you have an individual focus, you can give your full attention and concentrate on it. Your muscles need a strong mind-muscle connection to maximize hypertrophy.
Fat loss, muscle gain, and strength training are all different goals. While you can work on them simultaneously, you won’t achieve the desired results efficiently, and the process will take much longer.
Track Your Progress
Once you’ve finalized your decision and started your journey, it’s crucial to track your progress. However, remember not to measure yourself too frequently, as it can lead to demotivation since you won’t see results overnight. Track key metrics such as your weight, fat percentage, and hip and chest measurements using a measuring tape. I recommend recording these at least once a month or when you notice significant changes in your physique.
On the other hand, logging your workouts is something you should do daily. Keep track of how much weight you’re lifting and in which exercises, especially if you’re a beginner. Without previous data, how can you compare it to your current condition and know whether you’re progressing or not?
The Bottom Line
Fixing a goal is relatively easy, but the real challenge begins when you start executing. If you don’t have a clear, specific target for where you want to see yourself, things will become chaotic. If you set your goals but don’t break them down into manageable steps, you’ll get distracted, your journey will become unnecessarily long, and there’s a high chance you’ll give up early on.
So, here’s a brief summary of the key points:
- Imagine how you should look.
- But your visualization must be realistic and achievable.
- Break down your entire journey into small pieces and establish some milestones.
- Measure your current physical condition, as it will tell you what you need to do to achieve your dream physique.
- Set a specific deadline for each milestone so you can measure your progress and prevent your fitness journey from becoming unnecessarily long.
- The most important part: don’t forget to seek advice from your trainer. It will help make your journey smoother and help you avoid obstacles you might face in the future.
- Stay highly focused and determined at every step of your fitness journey. Avoid targeting multiple goals at the same time to ensure steady progress.
- Finally, when you start, make sure to track every piece of data. This will help you monitor your progress and, if you’re off track, identify the issues.
