5 Ways to Crush Your Fitness Goals in 2020
Whether you’re just starting out on an exercise journey or you’ve been training for a while and are seeking to reach new heights, hitting a fitness goal can be a seriously rewarding feeling.
Here’s a fresh look at some ways to help you get there that may even change your life for the better.
1. Set fitness goals
The main thing with choosing a good fitness goal is choosing one that’s actually achievable. Be sure to focus on one goal at a time, choosing something that quantifiable so that you can accurately measure it.
By keeping your goals specific and personal ensures that you’re honing your efforts and really giving your goals everything you’ve got. Here are some examples of specific fitness goals to get you thinking:
A fat loss goal: reach 30% body fat by January 2020
Performance goal: run 10 kilometers in an hour within the next six months
Scheduling goal: attending four fitness classes per week, consistently for the next six weeks
Last, of all, choose something that you enjoy or that has an outcome you’re seriously going to relish. There’s no point slogging away at something you don’t enjoy, and exercise is so much easier when you’re having at least a little bit of fun.
2. Increase fluid intake
It’s more than likely that your fitness goals are going to involve training more. And when you train more, you need to drink more water! We lose many minerals and nutrients through our sweat, and these need to be replaced through the liquids we drink.
There are Nutrient Reference Values advising that adult men should drink at least 2.6 liters of water a day (about 10 cups) and women should drink 2.1 liters of water a day (about eight cups).
However, this will change depending on your levels of activity and how much caffeine you’re consuming. If you’re exercising, then remember to refill your bottle a couple of times after your workout or training session finishes.
3. Find a friend to train with
Working out alone can sometimes get, lonely. While some of us enjoy the solitude when you get to the gym and plug our headphones in, others might find it motivating to workout with a friend who has a common goal. This helps you deal with pre-gym anxiety.
This will motivate you and keep you accountable when it comes to reaching your goals—after all, you’re much less likely to cancel a gym session if there’s already someone there waiting for you.
Enlist the help of your friends when it comes to keeping you up to scratch with your fitness efforts. You could sign up for a run together, try out a new gym together, or just go for a walk instead of having lunch next time you socialize.
4. Get your nutrition on track
Eating a wide variety of foods is absolutely key for both your mental and physical health. The kind of food you eat (and the amount that you eat) will have a direct effect on the way your body feels and works—so if you’re wanting to reach your fitness goals, having a good nutrition profile is vital.
Speak to a nutritionist if you have specific dietary requirements or think you may be intolerant to something. Otherwise, simply maintain a varied and balanced diet of protein, high-quality carbohydrates, and ‘good’ fats, as well as keeping your caloric intake under control for your specific goals.
5. Make it about you
Whenever you get off track or lose motivation for reaching your goals, simply think back to why you started.
Perhaps you could create a vision board that will remind you of your goal, or you could try visualizing yourself achieving it—whether it’s crossing the finish line of that 10-k run or hitting the beach this summer in a swimsuit feeling better than ever.
Finally, just remember that you have the power to curate your own life, so take charge and make it happen.
