Setting Activity Goals
I want to set some activity goals, but where do I start? 10k steps per day, that’s what we should all be doing right?
It can feel daunting 10k steps, you want to set yourself to succeed, so what if 10k steps isn’t the right target for you?
If you are looking to get started or you want to continue to make progress on your existing journey. This article will take you through how to set your initial targets for daily activity (steps) and/or cardio to set yourself up to succeed!
Setting your initial step goals:
This is going to depend highly on on current goal and current lifestyle…
If your goal is weight/fat loss, you want to be increasing your calorie deficit (burning more calories than you are consuming) and setting a step goal is an easy way to increase your daily activity levels and be able to keep it consistent.
I would approach this by:
Track your steps for a week or two, do you do a similar amount of steps each day or is there a lot of fluctuation day to day? If there is a lot of fluctuation, I would add all tracked days together to give you a weekly total. Then divide by total number of tracked days to give you a daily average.
Use these figures to help you establish a new target, we hear 10k steps all over the place. But if at the moment you are doing on average 3k steps per day, 10k is a HUGE jump up from that. Start with a smaller and build on it gradually, making sure that your targets are achievable.
For example: If you are currently averaging 3k steps per day (21k across the week), why don’t you set your target for 3.5k per day (24.5k across the week) it might not seem like much of a challenge, but that’s the point. If after a couple of weeks that target has become easy and maybe you are exceeding it, then look to increase this further.
3. One you have your new daily average target, also convert it to a weekly goal (times it by 7). That way if you have a busy day at work and you don’t get out for your lunchtime walk you haven’t ‘failed’ you can add those steps onto other days in your week and still meet your target.
Setting cardio goals:
Depending on your goals you might want to include some cardio into your plans. If you goal is to run 10k, it’s probably a good idea to factor in a one to two runs each week and build on your duration/distance from there, you might even factor in a third at some point. Practice makes perfect and you will only improve at an activity if you actually do it.
If your goal is not to run a 5k, 10k, half marathon etc. Then you don’t have to run!! You can do ANY form of cardio that you enjoy. Whether that’s cycling outside, using the cross-trainer in the gym or going for a swim, they are all forms of cardio that will have benefit to your overall health and fitness levels.
For fat/weight loss, any form of cardio will help to increase your deficit. If you are currently not completing any form of cardio, don’t set yourself a HUGE target. We want to succeed, humans like winning (it feels good) so let’s play to that idea. Set a starting goal that you know you can achieve, it might be 20 minutes per week. Like with the step goals, I like to use a weekly average, so that it gives you some flexibility around when and how long each session is. After a couple of weeks, assess your progress and if you are consistently achieving your goal, maybe it’s time to push yourself again, add a small amount (+5-10 minutes per week) and repeat the process again.
If you are currently only doing cardio and looking to incorporate some resistance/weight training into your week, you might decide to lower the amount of time you spend doing cardio to free up some more of your time to explore the weights area. So if you are currently running four times per week, you might reduce that to twice per week and venture into the weights section for those other two sessions.
The biggest take away from this is that if something is achievable and you are succeeding (winning) week in week out and it feels good, you will be far more likely to stick with it and make progress than if you set yourself a HUGE target and you fail at it. So let’s start small and start building!!
