New Fitness Goals

In this article:

• Exercise has physical and mental health benefits, and it can support weight loss and maintenance.
• Setting new goals can help you stay motivated and improve fitness as you strive to keep up your physical activity levels for the long term.
• SMART goals can be most productive. Your goals might also help you increase accountability and consistency.
• Goals can be creative and personalized to have the maximum impact on your physical activity routine. Lark can help you manage weight with or without GLP-1s as you log food, get tips for eating healthier, and make small changes that can turn into healthy habits.
  

Whether you want to turn physical activity into a long-term habit, or you’re ready to take fitness to new heights, setting goals can help increase motivation and focus. Here are some ideas for new activity and fitness goals that can help with consistency, weight management, and health.

Tips for Setting Goals

1. Set SMART Goals

Here are the components of SMART goals.

• Specific: Often small, identifiable steps, like signing up for a gym membership
• Measurable: Can be quantifiable, like achieving 300 minutes of physical activity per week
• Achievable: Something possible, like a swimming-related goal instead of a running-related goal if your knees can’t take pounding
• Realistic: Can be attained if you work hard, like going from 0 to10 minutes of activity a day within a month
• Time-bound: Has a deadline

Click here to read more about SMART goals.

2. Be Safe

Safety comes first. Check with your healthcare provider before starting a new exercise program to learn of any restrictions you may have. For example, some individuals with diabetes may not be able to safely do high-impact activities.

Here are examples of other safety measures.

• Include light days in your program. Having long streaks of consecutive days of hard workouts can lead to injury.
• Progress only gradually. Whether it’s walking to running, lifting heavier weights, or increasing the length of time you work out, only progress slowly and listen to your body.
• Be flexible. Be ready to modify your initial goal if needed, such as if the original deadline is too tight, or the original progression turns out to be too fast.

Physical Activity Goals

Here are 10 goals that can boost your physical activity or fitness levels.

1. Participate in a 30-day challenge

A 30-day challenge can help you set a pattern of being physically active while keeping you focused. Here are a few examples.

• Doing a certain number of squats or other exercises each day for 30 days
• Following a specific aerobic or strength-training routine for 30 days
• Seeing how many miles or minutes you can complete in 30 days

You can join challenges online, find a group in your community, or you can do your challenge on your own. If you join a group challenge, be sure not to let others push you harder than is safe for you.

2. Be more consistent

Goals that keep you consistent can help you establish habits, so you keep up the routine for the long term. In addition, consistency can help increase your total activity levels. You might aim to get in 30 minutes of cardio a day for five days a week for a month, for example, or go to a morning spin class three days a week for the next two months.

3. Add a warm-up and cool-down

Warming up and cooling down can reduce injury risk, lengthen your workout, and increase benefits without much burden. They can also enable you to work at a higher intensity during your workout.

A warm-up and cool-down might be 5-10 minutes each. To warm up, you might start with easy marching or another activity. Gradually increase the intensity as your muscles warm and your heart and breathing rates increase.

For your cool-down, you’ll gradually decrease intensity until breathing and heart rate return to normal. You can do some light stretching at the end.

4. Hit a fitness milestone

Well-chosen fitness milestones can help you push yourself safely. Select a goal that will take dedication, but is within reach if you stick to your plan. Here are some examples.

• Run two miles without stopping
• Get moving for an hour
• Complete a mile in 15 minutes

Be sure to adjust your goal as needed to be realistic and not harmful. For example, if you’re not up to running two consecutive miles safely within a month, another option might be to run three half miles, while walking for two minutes in between each one. You can postpone the deadline for your initial goal.

5. Try a new activity

New activities can add variety to your routine, making it more interesting and motivating. They can also work different muscles and improve your overall fitness.

Here are some examples of new activities to try.

• Water aerobics
• Circus training or tightrope walking
• Boot camp or other group fitness classes
• Step aerobics or aerobic dancing
• Any type of sport
• A different machine at the gym

Learning new activities can be challenging, so be sure to give yourself time to adapt. The first few sessions may feel awkward and difficult.

6. Prepare for vacation

Schedule an exciting adventure on your next vacation, and then train for it! Walking further can be a good goal for many people if you want to go on a walking tour, or you want to make sure you can keep up with your travel companions. More adventurous activities may include kayaking, canoeing, hiking, or cycling.

7. Get in shape for an event

Fundraisers and other 5k or 10k run/walks can be great goals. Many events have training programs or plans for participants to follow. They’re often available for people from beginners to advanced athletes.

8. Train for a sport

When you train for a sport, you get exercise from your training regimen, as well as from playing the actual sport. If you have games or competitions once or twice a week, you can think about your other workouts as training sessions. You might incorporate conditioning in the form of aerobic and strength training, as well as sport-specific training like agility or ball-handling drills. It all counts as activity, and working towards becoming a better athlete can make your program feel more interesting and purposeful.

9. Increase your step count

Increasing your daily step count can be a simple goal. Fitness trackers can count steps for you, so all you have to do is set your tracker at the beginning of the day, and then check your step total whenever you want. Counting steps can help motivate you to sit less and move more.

Just be sure you keep in mind that achieving a high step count doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve hit your moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity goals for the day.

10. Log your workouts

Logging your workouts can be motivating as you see what you’ve accomplished. A goal for logging might be to log each workout for a week. Extending your goal can help it become a habit.

Log what you did and how long you did it for. You can note any other details you, like how you felt, who was with you, or what the weather was like.

How Lark Can Help

Staying healthy and maintaining a healthy weight is easier when you are motivated and focused, so it’s important to know how to set and achieve new fitness goals. Lark offers additional tools and support. Your Lark coach is available 24/7 for nutrition and physical activity coaching and tracking. Lark can help you make healthy choices and establish habits that fit into your lifestyle, so you can manage weight and support health with or without GLP-1 medications.

Click here to see if you may be eligible to join Lark today!

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