Goals and Expectations
Before you can decide on your goals, you must determine reasonable expectations. A one-on-one meeting with a certified personal trainer can help determine realistic goals. If you are a non drug using, strength training athelete, Stuart McRoberts' Brawn series of books can also help establish realistic strength and size goals.
In the short term, one must take their fitness goals on a day by day basis. Eating healthy and exercising is the first
step to achieve your fitness goals. The day by day approach allows you to maintain discipline and focus on the more
realistic goals. The next step would be to extrapolate this daily lifestyle to a longer time period - say over one or
two weeks. In this exercise, it is often useful to keep track of your progress with a clender or notebook. This
allows you to have quick visual feedback on what your progress is like.
A longer term goal consists of following your routine for an extended period of time, say 6-8 weeks. You can make a
noticable difference in how you look and feel over this longer time period. When commititing oneself to a long-term
goal, it is recommended that you reward yourself in some way over a weekly period. These rewards can help you stick
with the long term programs, especially when you hit the wall.