Train SMARTer Not Harder — The Essence of Training with Intent
With everything we see on social media these days, no wonder it’s nearly impossible to know what will work for you and your fitness goals. Taking one look at your feed can be a bit confusing — right? You see one person squat upside down on a Bosu Ball while another is deadlifting 500lb! It’s safe to say that it can become a bit overwhelming and ultimately confuse us on what we should do for our own fitness routine.
So how do we go from where we are to where we want to be?
That’s the question that takes place every time we set a new goal. We must make a blueprint for that goal in order to achieve it in a realistic setting — but how do we do that? Here lies the tried and true process of SMART goals. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely — all of which play a part in reaching a specific goal. SMART goals can help keep you on track and remind you of your priorities. Think of it as your own personal accountability partner.
Five words to live by:
Specific -
The more detailed you are with your goal, the more fine-tuned your goal will be. Stay away from saying things like “I want to be healthy”. What does being “healthy” mean to you? Maybe it’s losing weight, getting more lean, or being able to do a pull up. You must be more specific in what you want to achieve. Having a great baseline will keep you pointed in the right direction.
Measurable -
This is where you determine how to measure your goal. You want something that is quantifiable here. If weight loss is your goal, find an actual number and go with that. If running and aerobic health is a long term goal, tell yourself that you want to be able to run 5 miles instead of just “running better”. You want to have a definitive result that you can track when you finally reach a goal.
Achievable -
Everyone has a big picture view of what they want but narrowing your scope and focusing on small wins is a better way to achieve the overall end game. Giving yourself more achievable short term wins is a perfect way to stay motivated. If you set a big goal that is not attainable, you might get discouraged and end your journey all together.
Realistic -
Being realistic with yourself and your goal is extremely important. Saying you want to lose 30 pounds in 1 month just isn’t realistic. Being honest with yourself and setting a more practical goal is a great way to stay on task and make your chances of success much more likely.
Timely -
Give yourself a strict deadline. It forces you to have urgency and stay the course. At the same time, you should not stretch your timeline too far ahead. If you want to be able to do a triathlon at the end of the year — that is great. But, for example, if you are a novice in biking, you may want to give yourself a more time- friendly goal to continue being motivated in your training, building your bike strength, and getting you more confident for the long term objective.
The SMART method is a simple yet powerful tool that can be the make or break for your next fitness experience. It’s not always about the trending workout videos you see on social media or the quick fix supplement on Bodybuilding.com. Sometimes, all we really need is to be committed to the process. After all, you can’t get to the masterpiece without going through all the brush strokes that come before it. So, whether you are new to fitness and looking for general guidance or a fitness veteran looking to expand your repertoire and be pushed to your maximum, I urge you to take this simple approach into your next fitness goal and start becoming truly intentional with your training.
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