Is Your Wellness Plan SMART?

By: Brian Kridler, Director of Fitness Services and Personal Trainer at Oxford Athletic Club

No matter how big or small your goal-whether it’s losing 3 or 60 pounds, walking a mile or running your first marathon-making change requires planning and SMART goal setting.

Follow these guidelines to setting SMART goals and you will be surprised at what you can do:

  1. Specific. Your goal should be clear and easy to understand.
    • A common goal, “get healthy,” is too general. There are so many ways to get healthy. How do you want to do it? Is it losing weight? Start exercising? Stop smoking? Break it down and it will be easier to manage.
    • Let’s pick weight loss and make a SMART goal out of it together. For example, “I will lose weight.”
  2. Measurable. A goal to “lose weight” is not enough. How will you track your progress and how you will know when you have reached your goal? Making your goal measurable means adding a number. At Oxford we have a 3-D Body Scanner, that will measure all most every inch of your body.
  3. Attainable. Before you can add a number, you must know how high or low you want to go. It’s good to ‘shoot for the stars’, but don’t be too extreme. Likewise, a goal that is too easy is also not very motivating. The 3-D Body Scanner will give you an accurate representation of your metabolic rate.  This will allow us to make an attainable goal and put a deadline to it.
  4. Relevant. Set goals that are important to where you are in your life right now. Don’t set a goal that someone else is pressuring you to attain-that isn’t very motivating.
    • Examine our goal so far. Does it seem relevant to you? If so, let’s keep going. If you are not concerned about weight loss or this is not a good time in your life to focus on that, choose something that is motivating to you.
  5. Time-bound. Include an end-point. Knowing that you have a deadline motivates you to get started. As I mention before using the 3-D Body Scanner software we’re able to determine timely body composition goals.

Now we have a SMART goal! Put your SMART goal into action.

 

Here’s a few more SMART goals to go with improving body composition.

  • I will walk 5 days every week on the Freemotion Incline Trainer
  • I will perform 2 resistance training exercises per major muscle group 2 days every week.
  • I will drink 64 ounces of water each day.

 

Should You Work out When You are Sore?

Overreaching is the state of training intensely without rest. This leads to overtraining and a decline in athletic performance.  It takes several weeks to months for this condition to occur, but watch for any of the following signs or symptoms, and take a few days to a few weeks off if these are present:

  • Increased resting heart rate
  • Depression or mood disturbances
  • Increased incidence of colds and flu
  • Overuse injuries
  • Muscle and joint soreness
  • Fatigue
  • Insomnia
  • Decreased appetite
  • Plateau or worsening of performance not improved with rest or reduced training

Recovery at Oxford Athletic Club with our brand new HydroMassage.  Do not wait several weeks for overtraining to occur, treat yourself each day with our Hydromassage