How To Establish Your Goals For 2022

We’re all feeling it now, the last year has dragged itself across the finish line. You’ve enjoyed some time off, some family time, some good food and seeing loved ones. But you might be starting to think about some pesky New Years resolutions. A lot of people have health and fitness related goals (that they think of as resolutions) for ringing in the start of a new year, which is always fantastic. And is normally only the beginning of a journey they end up getting so much out of!

Resolutions are normally about creating habits. Creating a habit is doing something every day for 30 days to program in the mental, and also physical, pathways for your body so you can perform it without thinking. This can also be called muscle memory, depending on the context.

I’d recommend starting small, steadily ticking the boxes, or moving down the list, as you go. Gradually building and building that way means you can make small achievable changes until you look back on your resolutions and realise that actually you passed them long ago and it’s time for a new loftier set. And then, you make the climb again. Always start from base camp, and ascend the mountain slowly. Stop where you need to, and take time to teach yourself and make sure to always be fully prepared before going up to the next level.

This is why I wholeheartedly believe in writing down and journaling your fitness journey. When you look back through a notebook, you can see the progress in numbers. If you shoot videos on your phone, you can see your form improve. Definitely play the long game with this one, as it’s so much more rewarding when you can see the time and effort you have put it to cultivating your habits and goals. Keep working on the basics and fundamentals – have a solid platform to take yourself forward, as you can always keep improving on the fundamentals!

Setting yourself up properly for that first step is the most important thing. Adherence is always about finding and doing something that works for your life and schedule. If you feel like you’re having to cram it in somewhere, or it’s not practical, it’s going to be more difficult, if not impossible, for you to stick to long term. But don’t worry, everyone has been there. Everyone learns by doing. Sometimes things don’t quite work out and you need to go back to the drawing board, but you’ve started one journey so you can definitely start another. It’s all about the ebb and flow that works for you.

Find something you can do daily or potentially achieve daily. Starting out with small rewards, and then building and building. Even if it’s something like a daily chore or a simple task that you’ve been putting off or even something organisational. Much like progressive overload when training, at first it’s tough and those last reps are a strain, but if you stick with it, crossing that line will become easier and soon it will look like a dot in the rear view mirror.

The journey of learning, or doing something new, can take you to some pretty amazing places and new experiences. Being able to try a lot of different things is a luxury we are able to experience, and if you try something that doesn’t work, you will still have learned something from it. You will end up learning more about yourself and what works for you. It’s hard in this world to get that time to do that, so make sure you make the most of it.

And, of course, we all stumble, but make sure you’re looking after yourself. We only get one chance to be a part of this big beautiful thing called life, so make sure you do what you love to do. If you can build your goals into that, the more so the better.

To take you behind the PT curtain for a moment, we always like to use an acronym. The one for goal setting is SMART – Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Timely. When planning out your goals and aims for the New Year, think everything through and see if it fits SMART. If it doesn’t you may end up thinking more deeply about the real why for your goals. This is what we always encourage our clients to do; to open up and really think about what it is they want to achieve, and this often leads to better understanding and a more open dynamic. So let’s keep SMART and get those goals going in 2022!

I hope this article helped you to rasie your game!