What is it with personal trainers and "goals"?

If you have ever set foot in a gym, or spoken to anyone who is into exercise, you may have noticed there is a lot of talk about "goals" and if you have ever used a personal trainer I am certain they spent time asking you about your fitness goals.

So why is this so? Basically you can blame psychologists who have researched motivation. As a personal trainer, a large part of my role is to motivate you to complete the programs I write and to show up to the training sessions you book. Research has shown that when people have set, expressed and committed publicly to achieving something (the goal), that they are far more likely to do so, than another otherwise equal person who has not done so. So when your personal trainer has you identify and set specific goals to work towards, what they are trying to do is ensure that you do in fact achieve them.

Some other techniques that we might use to keep you motivated are; tracking progress, competitions & challenges and encouraging you to train with a friend. Again, all have been proven in research to enhance motivation, which in turn will make you more likely to get what you are after from your training.

Goal setting is not just great for you fitness journey. If uses it can enhance your performance in all aspects of your life. If you haven't already, or even if you haven't recently, spend 5-10 minutes researching SMART Goals and see if applying this helps you. And finally, have a think about anything specific that you want to achieve in relation to your health and fitness and have that goal setting talk with your personal trainer. It really is worth it.