Our goals are as individual as we are.
It may be that you want to be slimmer for a wedding, or be fit enough to run an organised 10km. Each goal is not only personal to you on a mental level, it's also about the stage you are physically at, at the time. You wouldn't set a goal of running a marathon in 6-months time, when you've barely managed 2km in one session, or would you? I've had to help move the boundaries on many a goal wished for by clients because they were unreasonable, unachievable or dangerous!
No matter how much work you are willing to put in, there is no overnight success in fitness and fatloss, it really does take patience and time, something that a lot of people don't have.
I want to tell you about my current goal, the one I am working away on in my mind, it's not totally spoken about yet, it's not confirmed, it's in the process of becoming either a reality, or put away because it's unreasonable.
I am 50 in January. I've done some ridiculous challenges in the past, and immediately, the thought of what I could do on my 'big' birthday, was to run 50 miles on the day. That's over 2 marathons back to back, something I wouldn't have thought twice about in my 30's, but this time I did think twice, and there are two reasons for it.
Firstly, I've had a really bad hamstring tendon injury, this happened in September of 2023. Because of my active lifestyle, it's been difficult to heal, I can no longer run long distance, or on hills, two things that would be part of my 50 miler. So, training for the run would have to be taking place now, and I'm on the verge of getting my leg better. The training and the challenge itself would aggravate an already annoying injury, making more months of recovery, more pain, more physio and a lot of discomfort in a physical job. It would be a stupid thing to do, never stopped me before, I know, but I feel like I've grown up now when it comes to things like this. The mere fact that I'm weighing up the pro's and con's says it all.
The second reason as to why I am challenging the challenge has to do with my change in lifestyle. In the past 3 years I found love, got married, and finally found someone epic to share my life with. And it's not just my husband, because when I married him, I became a step-mum and a daughter-in-law. Family means a lot to my new crew and I feel like they may want to spend time with me, celebrating my birthday too. My own Mum has had years of supporting me on marathons and ultra-marathons, so she knows how I like to spend my time running. She would be content seeing me at the end of the run, or even in the middle if it was possible, but we had years of this together, in fact, 24 years of running marathons and doing other ridiculous challenges. But, I would actually like to spend my celebration time with my husband. It seems like a wonderful choice, and I'm not sure if I could get him to run 50 miles with me!
So, what do I do?
There is an option of just doing 50km instead, a marathon is 42km, so another 8km wouldn't put too much extra pressure on the day, and if I created a route that was as flat as possible, it may be an option.
Not running at all, isn't an option, I'm a runner, I love running, this is how I am, but I can COMPROMISE, and that word is key when setting your goals and taking on a fitness and fatloss journey.
COMPROMISE - When a client comes to me with a goal, they come to me as an individual. There is no 'one size fits all' approach to what I do.
Age, sex, time, availability, disability, special diets, these are all things that change the way I have to work.
Not everyone has a spare hour to train every day, so we have to maximise the time that they do have. Not everyone has the time to food prep healthy options every day, so this needs to be accounted for, and worked around. Some clients have injuries or illness that affect the way they can work out, so an individual programme has to be created. Nothing in my job is generic, everything is tailored to the individual, so when people say to me, 'woah, £50 for a PT session, that's expensive!' it's not. The time I spend on creating individual nutrition and exercise plans based on the person as an individual, their lifestyle, messaging and looking at diet diaries for accountability, all of this is part of that one hour fee. How much do you value your health and fitness, what's it worth to you?
Another compromise is from both of us, when you go away on an all-inclusive holiday, I can't say, 'don't drink alcohol, don't eat that, make sure you use the gym!' It won't work, you will hate me and the journey with me is over, there has to be some give, but do expect that before and after your holiday, your training sessions will be tough!
When you set a goal, do you talk it through with someone? Do you have a voice, or voices of reason to back you up, or give you different options?
A lot of clients come to me with a weight goal, such as, 'I want to lose a stone before such and such.' I don't deal in weight goals, I don't like my clients getting on the scales, it's demoralising. There are other ways to measure your success, such as getting into a dress you used to wear, being able to do up your favourite jeans again, there are other targets that can be met, and most of the time, the weightloss goal becomes a fitness goal anyway. So may people have come to me with a weight goal, and then when they get fitter, firmer and stronger their self-esteem is boosted and they feel great and liek they can take on anything, and invariably those clients go on to run 10km events and even marathons. The weight on the scales is no longer a concern to them, or a burden.
I love fitness goals, 'I want to be able to take part in my kid's sports day' and the next year, 'I want to win the events in my kid's sports day!' and others like, 'I want to be able to do a Park Run'
These are goals that we should be aiming for, achievable, practical goals, not the superficial.
What's your goal?
Is it reasonable?
Is it achievable?
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