Setting Your Weight Training Goals

Setting your personal weight training goals is paramount to achieving the personal health and fitness results that you desire, to definitively and accurately evaluating your progress, and to retaining a high level of motivation.

As an analogy, beginning a weight training program without setting your personal weight training goals is similar to getting into your car and driving it without a final destination in mind.

While both activities may be enjoyable, without having a well-defined set of weight training goals, both short and long-term, and a clear vision of where you would like to end up, it will be impossible to optimize the progress that you make while performing either.

Many individuals fail to obtain their personal goals, be it fitness goals, professional goals or relationship goals. For example, how many individuals make New Year's resolutions each year only to find that they either never started the resolution or gave up within a short period of time?

While there are several reasons why many individuals fail to achieve their personal goals, defining a well thought out set of measurable goals and a plan which they can execute to obtain their goals are at the top of the list.

In order to be effective at achieving your personal goals, you must allocate the time to create a set of goals that are realistic, measurable and obtainable. In addition, it is necessary to define an action plan that is focused and targeted on obtaining your personal goals.

In other words, defining your personal goals will create the road map you'll follow to pursue them, but physical action, commitment, focus and dedication will be required to actually obtain your goals.

For example, you can define one of your weight training goals as being able to bench press 250 pounds, for a single repetition, on the flat straight bar. While this is a measurable goal, action will be required in order for you to achieve it. This being said, you will now have to dedicate the time to weight training to obtain your bench press goal.

Below is a list of several items to consider when defining and setting your personal weight training goals:

Defining Your Personal Weight Training Goals

1. Set goals that are tailored to your body and reflect exactly what you want to accomplish. If you are new to weight training, it may be a good idea to familiarize yourself with the various forms of weight training equipment and perform several workouts before defining your personal weight training goals.

   This approach will allow you to determine what level of strength you have on each exercise type, expose any prior injuries that may inhibit you from performing certain exercises, and expose you to the commitment required by you going forward.

   For individuals that are new to weight training, failing to perform a few workouts to determine your current level of strength will lead to the possibility of setting goals that are unrealistic.

   For example, setting a goal of being able to press 185 pounds on the flat straight bar bench press within the first week and then determining that you can currently only bench press 100 pounds can lead to frustration and a feeling of failure when you miss your goal.

   For individuals experienced in weight training, setting personal weight training goals will be much simpler as you are already familiar with the equipment, understand the commitment that is required to achieve your personal weight training goals, and are familiar with the rate at which your various muscle groups respond.

   This being said, it is extremely important that you define realistic weight training goals that, while challenging, are achievable within the timeframe that you defined within your set of weight training goals.

2. Ensure that your personal weight training goals are well-defined, specific and measurable. Defining goals that are vague, unmeasurable or lack a timeline will only lead to a lack of focus, frustration, and quite possibly failure. Below is a list of vague goals that lack focus and goals that are well-defined and specific:

   Vague Weight Training Goals

   • To lose weight
   • To increase your strength on the flat straight bar bench press
   • To increase the size of your arms
   • To decrease your waist measurement

   Well Defined Weight Training Goals

   • To lose 12 pounds of excess body weight in 6 weeks
   • To increase your strength on the flat straight bar bench press from 185 pounds to 225 pounds in 3 months
   • To increase the size of your arms from 12.5 inches to 16 inches in 9 months
   • To decrease your waist measurement from 38 inches to 32 inches in 12 weeks
   
   

   As is evident, defining and setting specific weight training goals that are measurable will assist in maintaining focus, motivation, and realizing a sense of accomplishment when achieved.

3. Define and set weight training goals that, while challenging, are obtainable within your specific timeframe. All too often, individuals set their weight training goals within a timeframe that is unrealistic. The end result of setting unrealistic goals is a sense of failure, a lack of motivation and a desire to give up and quit. By setting weight training goals that are realistic and attainable, you will increase your probability of success, maintain greater focus and enjoy a higher level of motivation.

   In addition, setting unrealistic weight training goals can be detrimental to your health and well-being. For example, setting a goal of losing 30 pounds of excess body weight within the first 30 days is not only unrealistic, but unhealthy and potentially life-threatening as well.

4. Define clear timelines for obtaining each of your personal weight training goals. When defining your personal weight training goals, it is best to define both short-term and long-term goals. Short-term goals are often defined as milestones. For example, a long-term goal may be to gain 24 pounds of lean muscle mass in 2 years. Defining realistic short-term goals (milestones) such as gain 1 pound of lean muscle mass per month will allow you to maintain a greater level of focus, and to monitor your progress with greater detail. In addition, achieving your short-term goals will provide motivation to continue towards your long-term goal of gaining 24 pounds of lean muscle mass in 24 months.

   If you find that you are not achieving your short-term goal of gaining 1 pound of lean muscle mass per month, you can modify your dietary intake and your weight training program in real time to increase the probability of achieving your short-term goal. By creating short-term goals that are measurable, you will increase your level of focus and the probability of achieving them as well. In addition, setting a timeline for each short-term goal will create a sense of urgency and commitment.

5. Maintain clear records of your progress as you work towards achieving each of your short and long-term goals. A weight training log is an excellent tool for accomplishing this. For example, if one of your short-term goals is to be able to press 250 pounds on the flat straight bar bench press, log your single repetition maximum in a training log.

   This will allow you to look through your weight training log and monitor your progress toward your short-term goal. You will be able to determine if you are falling behind on your goal and make the necessary modifications to get back on schedule. Finally, a weight training log can provide you with motivation as you visually see that you have obtained your goal and are able to check if off as achieved.

6. Determine a clear step-by-step action plan for achieving each of your short and long-term weight training goals. Defining your weight training goals is related to what you would like to achieve, while the action plan is the actual mechanism that will allow your weight training goals to be obtained. By doing so, you will create a weight training program that is specifically tailored to the obtainment of each of your short and long-term goals. When reviewing your progress, you will be able to modify your action plan if you find that your progress is falling behind.

7. Remember that there are several approaches to achieving your goals. To this end, experimenting with various approaches to obtaining each short and long-term goal will allow you to determine how best your body responds to each approach. In the end, this approach will produce the most effective and time-efficient path to your goal. By continually modifying your weight training workouts, you will force your body to respond by requiring it to adjust to the ever-changing demands that you are placing on it. In weight training terms, this is known as muscle confusion.

   It's important to remember that several of your weight training goals will be interrelated. For example, setting a short-term goal of losing 8 pounds of excess body weight per month can be achieved through several approaches. For instance, you may set a long-term goal to perform an additional weight training circuit (i.e. instead of performing 3 sets of each exercise type within the circuit, perform 4 sets of each exercise type) once per week for the next 36 weeks.

   By doing so, you will increase the number of calories that you burn per week and increase the rate at which you effectively lose weight. As is evident, each of these two goals support one another, and when coupled, create a greater probability of achieving your weight loss goal.

8. Determine how you are going to reward yourself when you achieve one of your short or long-term goals. In some instances, just knowing that you have achieved one of your weight training goals is sufficient. However, assigning a specific reward to a specific goal can be even more motivating. For instance, you may attach a vacation to your long-term goal of losing 40 pounds in 6 months. In the event that you achieve your long-term goal of losing 40 pounds within 6 months, then reward yourself with a vacation to celebrate your achievement. For several of your short-term goals, you may want to attach lesser rewards such as going to a specific restaurant, spending a weekend in a nice hotel, going camping, purchasing a new movie or CD, and so on.

   This approach is simply a way to congratulate yourself for achieving one of your weight training goals, and reinforces your level of commitment and focus. If working out with a partner, you can create a reward in which the first individual to achieve a specific goal is taken to a restaurant of their choice by the other person. In this way, providing yourself with a reward for achieving each of your weight training goals can provide motivation and focus.

Turn Your Goals into Reality

As with any type of goal setting, it is imperative that you take the time to define a clear set of short and long-term goals that are realistic, measurable and achievable. Whether it be quitting smoking, increasing your lean muscle mass or losing weight, defining a clear set of goals will increase your probability of actually obtaining your goal.

In addition, it is important to remember that the setting of your personal weight training goals must be followed up with a defined action plan that is designed to focus on, and achieve, your personal weight training goals. Without action, there will be no obtainment of your personal weight training goals.

For this reason, your personal weight training goals and your specific action plan must be executed in concert, and thereafter, modified when needed as you progress towards obtaining each of your specific weight training goals.

By continually evaluating your progress and modifying your action plan accordingly, you will ensure that each of your weight training goals is achieved within the timeframe that you have specified.