How to Set Fitness Goals That You Can Actually Achieve in 2025
If you feel like you’ve been spinning your wheels with your fitness goals, this is for you. Today we’re going to cover everything you need to do if you want to make your fitness goals easier to achieve this year. We will take you step-by-step through the process of setting SMART goals.
In this blog you’re going to get:
Our free downloadable goal-setting workbook.
More detail and written explanations of the process itself in the blog below.
You may have heard of the term “SMART” goals. This is an acronym for the details that you want to have surrounding your goals. SMART Goals = Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.
The idea behind it is that, with each goal:
You have detail on exactly what your goal looks like to you AND you know what you’re going to do to achieve it.
You know how you’re going to measure your goal each week.
It is a goal that you can accomplish, given all of your current resources.
It holds value in your life, beyond the surface.
You have a set deadline, to keep you moving forward.
If you have all of these things, whether you figure this out through the workbook or on your own, you will be more likely to accomplish your goal. Most people fail at the goal-setting process and this will increase your chances from low to high, of achieving your goal.
Step one is where most people stop and start: vaguely thinking about the goal.
Start by Brainstorming your fitness goals.
Brainstorming is a good place to start with setting any goals. This step is important in allowing yourself to dump all of your goals and ideas down that may have been taking up space in the back of your mind. If you find that you feel shy to write some of your goals and visions down, ignore that thought. When brainstorming, you are simply playing with the ideas and goals that you’ve been thinking about; try not to judge yourself for it.
Take the time to really think these goals through. You may even find that you take a few days with just step one on the worksheet, to allow yourself time to really explore and consider your goals, your vision, and your “why” behind these goals you’re considering.
When done brainstorming, Ask yourself:
“What are some things I would like to see improve with my fitness and health?”
“Out of these goals, which feels most important to me?”
“Are there any goals that aren’t realistic for right now?”
Choose up to three goals that you want to commit to; simple goals and less goals tend to be better if you have struggled with this in the past.
Make sure you can see the value in why you’re setting this goal (other than “it would be nice”). If you cannot find any value that this goal can add to your life, you will have a hard time finding purpose in achieving and succeeding with it.
Get more specific with Each goal.
In order for you to be successful on your fitness & health journey, it’s important that you state your goal with clarity and detail. You may have a vision of what you want, but now your vision needs to be stated clearly and definitively.
For example:
If you want to improve your heart health, how would that look for you?
If you want to lose weight, how would that look for you?
If you want to gain strength, how would that look for you?
For someone who wants to improve their heart health, maybe they want to see their resting heart rate numbers improve by 15 BPM or 5 BPM. For someone who wants to lose weight, maybe they want to improve their body fat levels by decreasing to 20% or maybe they want to lose 15 pounds on the scale. For someone who wants to gain strength, maybe they want to add 50 pounds to their squat, or maybe they want to add 50 pounds to their bench.
Get specific in this step, with exactly what this goal will look like to you.
The second part to this step is figuring out the “how” of it all. You need to know how you’re going to make the goal achievable. This is going to include the healthy habits that you’re going to implement. Figuring this out during the goal-setting process gives your mind clarity on exactly how you’ll move forward in your day-to-day routines to achieve this goal.
For example, if your goal is to improve your health, this is how it might look for you: “I’m going to improve my heart health by going for hour long walks each day, and doing the stairmaster 2x/ week for 30 minutes.”
If your goal is to build muscle, this is how it might look for you: “I’m going to add 2 inches of muscle around my glutes by training glutes 3x/ week.”
Once you have this level of clarity, you’re ready to move onto the next step!
Set a date & deadline.
Many people decide they don’t want to rush their goals or their progress — they want to take it slow and not feel additional stress or pressure (which is great!). But many people do this by never setting a deadline for their goals at all.
When you neglect to set an end date, it puts you in a position where you won’t actively strive towards achieving the goals. You won’t feel a spark of motivation and excitement because you don’t have consistency and clarity on the deadline itself and milestones to strive for. You may think about it here and there, start and stop with the goals, and then you’ll find yourself spinning your wheels.
Setting an end date gives you accurate or reliable success markers to know whether you’re on track. This sparks your motivation and your excitement, and helps to keep you moving forward. Your end date can always be modified if needed, but make sure that the end date makes sense and feels achievable from the start.
If you’re uncertain on deadlines, do extra research in what may be realistic for the type of goals you have, with the distance you are from your goal.
Figure out How to Measure Your Goal Each Week.
Knowing what your weekly milestones are for your goal each week will help you know whether you’re on track, or whether you need to modify something in the plan.
In order to figure out your milestones,
You’ll do this by dividing your goal (ie: lose 20 pounds) by how many months or weeks you want to give yourself to achieve the goal (ie: 5 months).
20 pounds / 5 months = 4 pounds lost per month.
In order to calculate your weekly milestones, you’ll have to break this monthly goal down further into a weekly goal. You’ll just divide 4 pounds by 4 weeks (one month).
4 pounds / 4 weeks = 1 pound lost per week.
This would then make the weekly milestone goal to be 1 pound lost per week. If you’re consistently not hitting the marks you can either adjust your plan or you can adjust your goal.
Review Your goals Before You Commit.
If you’ve struggled with your fitness goals in the past, you know how easy it can be to set goals with high motivation and then fall out less than a month later.
But if you have been there, you’re still here because this goal does mean something to you, even after spinning your wheels. So let’s do it right this time and really review these goals before committing to them. If you need to make your goal easier upon review, do that.
If you start kicking butt a few weeks in with your plan and progress, you can turn it up a knotch if that feels right for you. The more you see results (no matter how small), if they’re the results that you anticipated, this will build a confidence that turns this into a habit for life.
It’s okay to take your goals slower than you’d probably like. This can help you get there faster, ironically. “Slow and steady wins the race”, but also keeps you consistent, confident, and motivated.
remind yourself the value of the goal.
In order for these goals to stick through dark days, you have to consistently remind yourself of the value of your goal. It’s best to actually have a “toolbox” to pull out whenever you’re going through these moments of low motivation, to help you keep the habit consistent and build the routine.
Ask yourself, “How does this goal add value to my life? What does it do for me?” You may have just one reason or you may have several.
For example, if your goal is to improve your heart health, maybe your “why’s” include:
To live a longer and happier life with my partner
To be healthy and conditioned enough to go on more hikes
To prevent heart disease in family history
To have the energy to keep up with my friends and family
Creating a toolbox allows you to have a space where you can easily remind yourself of these “why’s.” One way that you can create a more simple toolbox is just by having a pinned note in your notes app on your phone. Just as simply as shown above, you can state your goal and all of the ways that it adds value in your life.
You can also go a more artsy route and create a vision board for your phone background, computer screensaver, or print it and hang it in your room or office.
Questions to consider to help with your list:
How do these goals align with the things you value?
How do you think these goals will help you improve your day-to-day life?
What will change in your life after you’ve achieved this goal?
Are there any skills that you can gain from setting these goals that can help you in other areas of your life?
You’ll come back to this during times where you’re struggling to stay motivated. Thinking about the goal itself often isn’t enough during low points, so being able to draw into the deeper “why” will help push you forward.
Now, friend, its time to go work towards those goals!
