Female personal trainer, Becky, is based at an independent gym in Horsham. She often works with clients who are rehabilitating an injury, or recovering from cancer treatment, as well as those who hated PE but know that exercise ought to be part of her life. Here’s her take on common fitness goals…
I’m actually not a fan of the G word. When I first meet with a prospective client, it’s not a word that I’ll use unless they do first. I will ask what has prompted them to get in touch, or what they’d like to get out of sessions, but I don’t ask what their goals are. Some people just don’t have a specific, but then feel under pressure to say something, and I don’t find that helpful. Others will have something in mind, and they’ll often share that with me without me formalising the question.
I truly believe that it’s entirely valid simply to want to show up and do something – anything – inside a fitness space, and that’s what I’m going to encourage you to do.
Popular fitness goals
Some popular fitness goals are mentioned frequently and consistently. Things such as losing weight, getting stronger, or perhaps improving mobility. There are also more specific attainment-based ones that pop up often, such as running a specific distance, participating in an event, or, my least favourite, completing a pull up. Then there are physique goals – more than once I’ve had a client tell me that they want “nice arms”, and one of the most prolific trends for several years is to have bigger glute (bum) muscles.
I’m going to be really blunt here – I find it hard not to roll my eyes when I hear some of these, and the likelihood of hearing them is a big part of the reason I don’t ask someone what their goals are.
Most of the time, these goals are stated with genuinely positive intent. The person saying those words often wants to achieve their mission. What I wonder the reasoning of is why.
Where do fitness goal ideas come from?
There are lots of memes about stages of life, particularly relating to things like attending lots of weddings, or many friends making pregnancy announcements. There’s also often a period of time when it feels like everyone is training for a marathon (or, latterly, a Hyrox event). And this is what makes me wonder – because does a person truly want to do that thing, or are they following the crowd and trying to be part of a shared experience?
Those desires are, of course, valid. But do you know what else is a worthy pursuit?
Happiness.
What is the right fitness goal for me?
The above is something that I wish more people asked themselves, and something that I encourage anyone who works with me to think about. I think that a lot of the reason for people chasing a small handful of fitness accomplishments is the idea of seeing it in order to be it. People witness their peers accomplishing certain things and think that they can do it too. And another thing to take pause over is the idea of something being possible, and something being truly desirable.
Visibility is an issue in other ways – some of my favourite fitness goals are things that you can’t see. Some aren’t even ones that you can necessarily perceive in yourself, such as a lower resting heart rate or blood pressure. And some fitness goals that I personally really value are ones that many people don’t even consider to be a fitness goal, such as improved sleep.
I suppose that a big part of the question is putting individual values into play – is it that you seek a glorious photo of yourself red-faced, sweating, and cramping whilst queueing for a medal, or are you hoping to set up a camera and capture that pull up you’ve been trying to master? Maybe it’s that you want to wake up feeling more refreshed, or depart for a trip knowing that you can lug that excess baggage around by yourself without breaking a sweat (although perhaps with the regret that you left no room for souvenirs).
What I’m trying to say is this: whatever your reason for stating out loud what you’d like to get out of personal training sessions, or visiting the gym, do make sure that they are your wishes, and not something that you’ve read about or seen someone else do.
Want to talk about getting fitter without pressure? Get in touch and we can have a chat!
