How to Set Fitness Goals You'll Actually Reach

Setting Realistic Goals to Help You Stay On Track

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Achieving fitness goals is really challenging.

It’s easy to have goals you want to accomplish: reach a specific body fat percentage or weight, obtain a nice aesthetic, bench press 350 pounds, the list goes on. But achieving those goals requires a lot of hard work, discipline, consistency, and sacrifices.

And if we fail to reach those goals, it feels like a waste of time and energy. It can begin a downward trajectory as well; yo-yo diets, inconsistent training regimens, quitting training altogether, depression, and low-self esteem, are all consequences of failing to reach the goals we set out to achieve.

Don’t get me wrong, having fitness goals is essential for making progress and having something to work towards. But goals don’t mean much unless:

They’re achievable
We have systems in place to reach those goals

There are many key differences between setting fitness goals and setting realistic fitness goals. Let’s talk about how to set realistic fitness goals.

What Are Goals? What is Goal Setting?

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A goal is a desired achievement or result. It’s something specific you want to accomplish.

For something to be a goal, it must:

Relate to you in an area you want to improve (in this instance, we’ll be discussing fitness goals)
Consider your future; how you want your future to look
Occur within a set time frame. Goals can be short-term or long-term, but they must be achievable in a set period of time.

Goal setting is the process of identifying what areas you wish to improve upon and developing the systems for achieving those goals. If a goal is your desired result, you must also establish how you plan to reach that goal.

Goal setting is important because:

It gives you a clear picture of what you’re working toward
It helps you stay on track and minimize distractions and roadblocks
It provides a source of motivation
It helps you see the big picture in a world designed for short-term satisfaction

The goal-setting theory suggests that by having a goal in place, people are more likely to perform the behaviors and habits necessary to achieve those goals.

In fitness terms, this means that by having a goal in mind (ex. weighing X amount on the scale, or finishing your first marathon), you’re more likely to do the things you need to do to reach that goal (ex. sticking to a nutrition plan, going for runs).

What Makes a Goal Realistic to Achieve?

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One of the best ways to set a goal that you can actually accomplish is to make it realistic to achieve. While this may seem obvious, it’s easy to set ambitious goals without considering the difficulty it would take to achieve those goals.

That comes down to the systems you have to implement to achieve your specific goal, with some consideration for external factors we can’t control (like genetics, access to certain equipment or facilities, disasters, or emergencies). If you set a goal but are unwilling or unable to implement the systems necessary to achieve that goal, you don’t have a goal. You have a dream.

Setting a realistic goal means choosing an achievement or accomplishment, and being willing and able to do what it takes to achieve that goal within a given time frame. To set a realistic fitness goal, you must consider:

What it is you actually want to achieve (ex. a certain body weight, a one-rep max, a 5k time)
How long it will take to realistically achieve it (weeks, months, years)
What will you have to do to achieve it (ex. gym X number of days per week, nutritional habits, quality sleep)
What barriers will get in the way of you achieving your goal (ex. illness, holidays, busy work schedules, emergencies)

If any of these factors will impede your goal accomplishment, you may want to modify your goal to make it more realistic.

Tips for Setting Realistic Fitness Goals

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Achieving your fitness goals is much easier said than done. In a world designed for short-term satisfaction and endless external stimuli vying for your limited attention and energy, staying focused on your goals can be a daunting task.

Here are some tips to help you stay on track and reach your fitness goals, whatever they may be:

Write Down Your Goals

Writing down your goals substantially increases the likelihood you’ll achieve them. This helps your goals feel more real and boosts your mental engagement with your goals.

If you have a journal or training log, write your goals largely and legibly so that you see them every time you open your book. Place sticky notes on your fridge or next to your bed so you can always see them and be reminded of what you’re working toward.

Set Mini-Goals or Benchmarks

Setting mini-goals will not only help you stay on track, but they’ll also boost your need for instant satisfaction. By setting and achieving mini-goals on your path to your main end goal, you’re achieving small victories on the way to a big victory, which keeps your drive and desire to keep going.

If your goal is to run a marathon 12 months from now, start with a mini-goal of a 5k two months from now. Increase it to a 10k four months from now. Having realistic mini-goals that you can achieve and build upon on your way to your end goal.

Create a Plan You Can Stick To

It’s one thing to have a plan, but if that plan is unrealistic, it’s not a good plan. If you’re working 60 hours a week and have three kids at home, it’s not always feasible to work out 6 days a week for 2–3 hours at a time (if you can do it, more power to you).

Understand your habits and your bandwidth. Ask yourself “What can I commit to doing over the course of the next X weeks/months/years that will help me reach my goals?”

If your goal is to lose weight, create a plan to help you get there. Plan to go to the gym X number of days per week, with X of those days being weight-training-focused and X number of days being cardio-focused. Plan to eat X number of fruits and vegetables and X grams of protein every day of the week (again, something realistic that you can stick to).

Ultimately, when developing a plan to reach a fitness goal, you must consider:

Is this plan going to help me reach my goals?
Is this plan realistic for me to achieve where I currently am in life?

Take Action

Goals without actions are dreams. To achieve your goals, you must work for them day in and day out.

This means going out and doing what you set out to do- taking action toward your goals. Many get stuck in motion; that is, the planning and strategizing phase. Motion is okay if it leads to action; however, if you’re spending all your time scrolling meal prep ideas on TikTok or searching for the perfect workout, and not actually doing the meal prep and workouts, you’re not fully taking action toward your goals.

Go out and do something that will make you 1% better every day. Those atomic habits compound like interest over time. Every decision you make puts you one step closer to, or further away from, your goals.

Plan for Barriers

No matter how perfect our plan is, plan for the plan to not go according to plan. Being aware of barriers to your plan can help prepare you for a way to work through them or around them.

Some barriers are completely out of our control. We can’t predict when we or a family member falls ill, a natural disaster occurs, or we’re stuck in stand-still traffic during our one chance a day to work out. But we can account for them and make up for it another time.

Other barriers that we can be in control of, such as holidays, special events, and busy work periods, can be planned for in advance and factored into the time scale for which we want to achieve our goals.

Hold Yourself Accountable, and Ask Others To Do the Same

At the end of the day, you’re the only one responsible for achieving your goals. Take responsibility if something didn’t go your way today, or if you took a step backward.

However, you can (and should) always communicate with others that you can trust to help you achieve your goals. If your goal is to reach a certain number on the scale, ask your partner to support you in making smart food choices and letting you stay at the gym for a few extra minutes (they may even join you, if they wish!).

Explain to others what you’re aiming to do, and ask for their support in helping you reach them. Even just telling others about your goals increases the realness of them, and will push you to want to achieve them even more.

Taking Control: Self-Determination Theory

The Self-Determination Theory is the best model we have for understanding human behavior and motivation. It heavily relies on the 3 pillars of autonomy, competency, and relatedness. After extensive research, we have found this theory to hold true across all cultures, so this further proves that autonomy, competence, and relatedness are at the core of human motivation. This is why understanding your goals, planning for them, and collecting small wins are so powerful.

The Self-Determination Theory emphasizes the importance of high-quality, intrinsic motivation toward goal-setting and goal achieving. If you can set goals that align with your identity, you’ll find it’s easier to block out distractions and avoid deviating from your plans and desired actions.

This means setting goals that align with who you are, or want to be, rather than setting goals that are extrinsically inspired (ex. Losing weight so other people find you attractive), or inspired by introjection (ex. Gaining muscle so you’re not the “skinny kid” anymore). If you identify as a healthy person, someone who’s really strong, or an incredible athlete, goals that align with that identity will be much easier to achieve.

Figuring out exactly what your goals and identity are can certainly be challenging. Great fitness coaches can help with exactly that if you find yourself struggling. They explore what your motivations are, prompt you with big questions, and guide you through all the small wins until you are successful.

Bottomline

Setting fitness goals is one of the best ways to keep you on track. However, for goals to really be goals, they have to be realistic, and you have to have the systems in place to achieve them.

When deciding on a fitness goal you want to achieve, consider what it is you actually want to achieve, what it would take to achieve it, and what you’re willing and able to do to achieve it.

Write down your goals, decide what’s realistic for you to do to get there, devise an action plan, and execute that action plan, taking into account barriers and external distractions. Hold yourself accountable for reaching your goals. Ask others for their help and support.

At the end of the day, if you’re struggling to meet your goals, consider modifying or adjusting them. Maybe your goals were unrealistic, or maybe circumstances changed; it happens, it’s okay. Consider how you can adjust to get back on track or to make your goals more achievable.

Then, when you do achieve your goals: celebrate. You put in so much time, energy, and effort. You may want to set new goals, and that’s totally fine. But don’t forget what you originally set out to do, and be proud of yourself for achieving it.

References:

Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P.. New Directions in Goal-Setting Theory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2006;15(5), 265–268.
Matthews G. Goals Research Summary. Accessed July 16, 2023. https://www.dominican.edu/sites/default/files/2020-02/gailmatthews-harvard-goals-researchsummary.pdf.
Patrick H, Williams GC. Self-determination theory: its application to health behavior and complementarity with motivational interviewing. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2012 Mar 2;9:18. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-9-18. PMID: 22385676; PMCID: PMC3323356.