I know that every time I have been in the classroom at school and someone has mentioned goal setting I have groaned (internally). I have never been one who has really set down and wrote out my goals and mapped out the path to get there, yet I still do set goals in a way.

I have just completed Year 12 and I set myself a goal of the scores I wanted in each subject and I managed to achieve that goal with a bit of hard work and determination.

I believe that you will never achieve all your goals in life unless you are truely passionate and determined to do so. Now, my motivation to get good grades was because I was trying to get into my dream course, Exercise Science and then on to Physiotherapy Masters. Without this motivation in sight, I don’t think I would have achieved this goal.

Now, in saying that, I never really set fitness goals and to be honest that’s probably why I chop and change what I do so much, because I am impatient and don’t wait for the results. I sometimes set small goals, like currently I am working towards being able to do chin-ups and pull-ups without using a resistance band to help.

However, change is on the horizon as a few months ago I set myself the goal of running the Gold Coast half marathon next July and apart from this week (I have been back at the gym) I have followed a self made program every single day. However, I found that I was not getting much faster over shorter distances like I expected I would, so I thought a bit of weight work to increase my leg strength and decrease my body fat percentage would hopefully help to spur me on. I will update my progress in a few weeks time and I will try to start running longer distances in the mean time too.

Something that I love, is a good old routine. I lived by a pretty tight routine for 9 years of my life. As a swimmer you have to dedicate most of your free time to being at the pool. Early mornings, late nights and weekend competitions. For the most part, I absolutely loved the fact that I knew in 5 weeks time I would be getting up at 4.55am to go to swimming training on a Monday morning. My social life existed at the pool basically, so I didn’t mind that I didn’t have time after school or on the weekends to go to social events. I think having a solid routine helps to work towards goals, because generally if you get up at 4.55am every morning your body is going to wake you up and if you don’t get up and exercise you will lay there feeling guilty for not going for the next two hours. Don’t get me wrong though, guilt is not the reason we exercise, however, those mornings where I so nearly stayed in bed, tended to be some of the fun sessions that I really enjoyed.

My dad’s favourite thing to say is that I lose all my gremlins when I go for a swim, and he is right, when you exercise the endorphins you release will keep you going for the rest of the day!

So I think it is really important to develop a routine of some sort, whether it is to get up at 5.45 every morning so you can go for a 2km run before work or school, or finding a friend to go the the gym with every Thursday night after school. Routines help you to work towards your goal and you will reach it before you know it if you stick to it.

Currently my goals are to reduce my body fat percentage to 18%, run 10km (I don’t care how fast) and to be able to do unassisted chin-ups. So I am adding weights into my training routine to improve my leg and back strength and this will hopefully target all 3 of my goals, I also am going to start using Oxy Burn and have protein powder (I’ll discuss why in a later post).

It is also really important if you are going to set a goal that it is clear like I want to run 2km in 9 minutes, not something like I want to leg press more. It is more effective if you know how close you are to your goal and it gives you an indication as to whether you are actually achieving anything.

Set some goals and develop routines to achieve them, even if it only a small change, it all contributes in the long run and most importantly enjoy your sweat sessions!

I’d love to hear some of your goals, feel free to comment below

Love Caite x