You've tried to reach a fitness goal and have fallen short more than once. Maybe you lost interest or motivation, or maybe you just weren't sure how to get started or even what your goal was.

Goals can be used to achieve a particular state of fitness or objective and they are an excellent means to changing lifestyle behaviors. Reaching a goal that involves the performance and health of your body can be very rewarding and at times lifesaving.

Human Performance

Your human performance goal is that objective or standard that you wish to reach, in order to live a healthier life and be able to do whatever it is that would make you happier and healthier. The "do" part is essential in determining your goal. Would you like to walk to the mailbox without tiring? Or carry your groceries without breaking into a sweat? Participate in a 5k walk? Run a marathon? Bench-press your body weight? Learn to squat? Make a habit out of exercise? Be able to carry your children? Consider what you would like to do and that's your human performance goal.

Different Than Traditional Fitness

Fitness goals traditionally include weight loss, or muscle hypertrophy. While these can be the means to achieving a performance goal, they may not be motivating in and of themselves to elicit long lasting behavior changes. That is, looking good is the desired outcome of weight loss or hypertrophy. But "looking good" or "better" or "buff" is based on subjective evaluations. Who says you will be judged in this way, by everyone once you've lost or gained weight. Furthermore, how will you know you've reached this status of '"looking good" and what will keep you motivated to maintain this "looking good" status?

On the other hand, take the goal of an improved blood cholesterol profile. Weight loss may be a necessary step in achieving this goal, along with activity and dietary habit improvements. However, the focus is on improved health and potentially improved longevity to enable you to do what you desire for a longer period of time!

Performance based goals can allow for changes in body composition, health status, and medical profiles, along with total lifestyle changes. They can involve sport performance, daily functioning or even learning new skills. In addition, reaching your goal allows you to feel a real sense of accomplishment in your new found ability or capability. A performance based goal is more easily measured and valued when it is reached.

The Goal Process

1. Identify your goal: What would you like to be able to DO. Your goal should be challenging but not impossible, and something that you look forward to achieving.
2. Start from the beginning: Evaluate your current status in relation to your goal. If you'd like to run a mile in 8 minutes, it would be important to know how fast - if at all - you could run a mile right now.
3. Set a date:Identify when you would like the goal to be realized/achieved. Be sure to allow yourself enough time to progress and reach the goal.
4. Identify the evidence of achievement: This is obvious for some goals such as timed events, or events that make progress evident such as improving bench press strength. However if your goal is to exercise four days per week, it is easy to ignore missed sessions or even weeks of successful attainment. Identify the behaviors or results that make your success known and obvious.
5. Determine the requirements: What will you have to DO to achieve the goal? Understanding the requirements for reaching your goal may help you commit all necessary resources. For example, improving your overall strength may require hiring a personal trainer and keeping three appointments with him/her each week.
6. Monitor your progress: Journal keeping, periodic evaluations, completing workout cards, etc. will help make your efforts or even lack of efforts obvious.
7. Get support: Enlisting support has been identified as an important step in reaching a goal by experts in behavioral psychology. Tell someone - friends or family - of your goal and ask them to cheer you on, or give guidance and support when necessary. Personal trainers, fitness instructors and workout partners can be a great support resource!