The Importance of Goal Setting in Fitness

The road to becoming a personal trainer is a challenging one. There is a lot of knowledge and skill that anyone wanting to take on this career will have to master. Before being able to use this kind of skill with a client, however, you first have to attain your certification. Becoming a personal trainer requires a lot of determination, hard work, and smart planning. This field is a deeply rewarding one and can make a very satisfying career for those who choose it. 

When it comes to learning the necessary skills to pass your certification exams, one of the most important factors is that you work smarter and not harder. These exams can be really challenging, and they cover a lot of extensive material. The right kind of tools, study plans, and scheduling can be the difference between success and failure when it comes to exam day. 

Thankfully, when you work smarter and not harder, it’s actually easier to achieve your goals. One of the best tools you can use to pass your ACE test, and become certified, is an ACE practice test.  

The Benefit of a Practice Test

A core concept that you will learn as a personal trainer, is the importance of setting clear, definable, and achievable goals. Learning how to set up achievable goals is a huge part of any successful fitness journey. In the same way, a practice test helps you set up a goal when it comes to studying for an exam. 

A practice exam has two major benefits you don’t want to go without. The first is that it allows you to plan out a schedule and place a long-term goal in your study plans.

This can help give you direction and insight into how to structure your studying period leading up to an exam. By setting a goal of having a certain amount of knowledge by the time of a practice exam, you can give yourself the motivation you need to study.

The second benefit is that it can give you a chance to stop studying and accurately assess your mastery of the knowledge you need in order to pass an exam.

Assessing your knowledge regularly while studying will help you find out what areas you are strong in and what areas you are weak in. This can help you leverage your precious study time so you can be confident on exam day.

The big temptation with practice tests is to simply not do them. With all the pressure and stress of school, and studying already on your plate – why add an ‘optional’ practice exam. While a practice exam will take effort to complete, and can be intimidating, it’s an invaluable resource. This is a way of actually studying smarter and not harder, and one that will set you up for success when exam day rolls around. 

How Goal Setting Affects Fitness

As a personal trainer, you will be helping people understand how to achieve their big goals, but breaking those goals into smaller, achievable steps. This is a crucial skill to understand in order to succeed in the fitness industry, and it starts with your own personal fitness journey. 

Goals help people feel motivated and also can help make very challenging accomplishments feel achievable. Rather than just looking at the big picture all the time, breaking down big goals into smaller steps helps give people motivation, direction, and structure.

Yes, the big goal might be to run a marathon at the end of the year – but for someone who has never trained in running, the first goal needs to be a simple one-mile run!

How to Set Up Successful Fitness Goals

When it comes to learning how to set up successful goals, there are some key basics to always keep in mind. 

Keep It Personal

The first is that you always want to make these goals personal. Whether you are making goals for yourself or creating a program for a client, keeping it personal is the first step to making a successful and achievable goal.

Never make a fitness goal based on someone else’s progress, body type, or preference. 

Start With the Big Goal and Work Back

Keeping your goals achievable is important, especially when it’s related to fitness. Encouraging yourself through the affirmation of success is important for longevity in pursuing your fitness and health. One of the best ways to do this is to start with a big goal, and then work backward mapping out smaller goals to get there. 

Conclusion

The most important aspect of using goals in your fitness journey is to always practice self-acceptance. The truth is, life can be unpredictable, and it takes some time to learn how your body, or your client’s body, responds to certain goals and exercises.

To accept the level of trial and error that comes with the territory. The worst thing you can do is beat yourself up for not achieving a goal the way you wanted to. Rather than come down hard on yourself, learn from the experience and be flexible enough to pivot and try something new!