Using goals when exercising and getting fitter is a great way of increasing adherence, keeping motivation high, as well as logging vital improvements in performance and condition. Within the realms of various goals, certain measures are regularly used in assessing improvement over time, such as weight lost or lifted for example. However, it’s worth exploring different ways of monitoring your improvements over time, which can often lead to more appropriate strategies to get towards your goal and to new more guidance driven goals.

Body Image Goals

These kinds of goals are among the most common – wanting to lose weight, tone up or develop muscle. A variety of measures can be used within these goals, so why not try some of the strategies below.

Body measurements: This can be a great way to assess a loss or gain of mass in a certain area. Choose a variety of areas from across your body such as the mid thigh, across the hips, stomach line and mid arm. Measure these areas at an early point in your health and fitness journey and jot the numbers down, repeating this at regular intervals (e.g. every four weeks) to monitor your progress.

Using this instead of the commonly used weight assessment can give indicators to areas you need to work on more, or a particular exercise that might be working well.

Body fat percentage: This is a somewhat more complicated assessment, but often very effective when taken with calipers or specific scales. Fat percentage can be measured in a number of ways, however these often require the help of a trained individual such as a personal trainer or health professional. This kind of measure gives you a specific number, which you can retest every couple of months to see improvements and guide interventions.

Mirror or photographs: This measure of improvement is often used by personal trainers and social media champions, though it doesn’t have to be flaunted to be used effectively. Using body image as a personal gauge can really boost confidence, especially if the scales aren’t showing a difference (which they often don’t due to various factors). Try taking different photos from a few angles, at the same time of day and against the same wall for an accurate representation.

Exercise Goals

A very broad area in which to focus, when setting these goals it’s always worth sitting down and going over the SMART goal setting principles for a more precise approach to your goal. Begin with some of the approaches below.

Time: This can be set in a number of physical goals, whether it’s getting faster over 5km or performing a certain workout within a certain timeframe. Time as an assessment is very direct and easy to use. You can often experiment with different pacing or technique strategies, which can give you feedback in which to improve performance.

Reps over weight: Although weight lifted during an exercise or combination is a good form of assessment when you’re working on certain goals in performance, it isn’t the sole measure and when used poorly can lead to injury. When you’re new to resistance training or even as a new stimulus, use repetitions to assess your improvements before pushing up the intensity. For example, only increase the weight when you can push out 10 clean repetitions. This will help your muscle develop more efficiently.