How to decide your fitness goals?

Joeydz7

Hey I’ve started out this month after long stretch of not working out or anything physical, just focused on work and family, now I’m got that drive again when I had enough of being that chubby guy. Thing is there is so many things I would want to do like improve my flexibility, build muscle and strength, learn calisthenics, get into Jiu-jitsu etc... and of course where to get time for it all? So after getting rid of the extra pounds first off, what goal you recommend would go after.

NovusDies

Pick one physical activity you would like to do or do better and allow that to be your primary focal point. Much of the core fundamentals you improve for the one activity should help with many others.

My primary focal point is multi-day hiking. While I am interested in building muscle and strength I am primarily interested in strength. Flexibility is important as is stamina so I am working on incorporating yoga. This allows me to have a training mindset instead of an exercising mindset. The things I do in my daily process are to allow me to do something I believe I will really love to do. I also want to do some epic bike rides and what I am doing will also help there but I am zeroed in on the hiking for the moment.

Mithridites

Sit down with a piece of paper and rate those goals in the order of importance (to you). Then rate them in order of how fit you have to be to start working on them.
Start from the beginning
Periodically reassess.
I would start with Yoga with Adriene '30 days of yoga' on YouTube. It can be a window into how much better your body can feel if you stick to a short simple program.

Joeydz7

Great advice thanks

Diatonic12

Goals are fluid. They change as we tool along. Where we are today is not as important as where we end UP.

This is why so many New Year's Resolutions fall by the wayside. The entirety of life can be just too huge to contemplate. On a one day at a time basis we begin to break free of those old habits and we can see the future. The future looks bright. Every day when we make decisions to break free from old cycles those decisions get a bit easier.

AliNouveau

For a first goal I'd pick the one you want to do most. Why not start with something you've always wanted to do.

I'm guess if you did Jiu Jitsu it would help with flexibility, weight loss and general fitness

Good luck!

dmkoenig

Goals need to have some specificity and be measurable so that you can put in a plan that you can execute. Something like "getting in better shape" certainly is an intended outcome but may be too generic to give you any sense of how to move forward. If it's running a 5K, then you can find a race and a date and then pick up a Couch to 5K plan that will get you there. If it's something like bench pressing your body weight then you can come up with a weight lifting regimen. If you are not at a point to understand what it is you want to pursue then perhaps it's establishing a regular workout routine e.g. workout for 30 minutes/day for 5 days a week. It's still measurable and something you can track to. For me, I need something hanging over my head to help push me out the door; otherwise, it's easy to start blowing off working out when you are tired or have conflicting priorities. Good luck!

AnnPT77

Sampling can also be a good thing, if there are multiple things that you want to try, and are about equally certain that you will find them achievable at your current fitness level at that point.

What I'd suggest, though, is that if you want to sample things, you commit to sticking with each long enough to get over the "newbie blues" phase. It's normal to feel that something is (near-)impossible right at first, to feel awkward or incompetent, etc. Give yourself patience, and the activity time (as long as it's not injuring you!) to get past that. It can start happening pretty fast, actually.

It varies by person, but for me, things that are easy from the beginning can get kind of boring vey soon. Things that are a little more of a challenge tend to hold my interest longer term. This next I'm sure is individual: The things that hold my interest long term are things that allow for technical and performance improvement over the long haul, and offer some mental/psychological challenge in addition to a bit of pure physical challenge. (These days, I row, boats when I can, machines when I must, as my core activity. I did Chinese martial arts for a long time, and found that satisfying in this way, too.)

One last thing. You wrote "So after getting rid of the extra pounds first off, what goal you recommend would go after." I'd say: Don't wait. Start now. Sure, if you want to priortize getting your eating in a good groove first, then add exercise, that's fine. But that won't take that long, probably. I'd encourage you to start adding some manageable exercise that you enjoy, as soon as you have the mindshare/time to start it. I say this from the perspective of having been very active (for a dozen years!) while still class 1 obese. Excess weight isn't necessarily compatible with every single exercise activity out there, but many things are much more achievable than many people imagine, and one's growing fitness has benefits in itself, and may contribute motivation to reaching a healthy body weight and getting good nutrition.

Just something to think about.

Best wishes!

angmarie28

For me it was trial and error. At first I wanted to lose weight, thats it, so I starter 30 day shred and running, well turns out I hate running. I have since done 2 marathons, and a few 5 miles and 5ks, I still hate it, like a lot, but continue running because its good for my heart. I then decided I wanted to build muscle along with lose weight, so decided to try p90x because theres strength days, cardio days, yoga, a kicking and punching workout, ect. and I discovered I just hate cardio, hahaha, I did like the kick and punch workout (i dont remember what its called) well after that I noticed muscle definition and I liked that, and I loved strength training days, so I started lifting, so now I run, and lift weights. Occasionally I'll do something else just for something different, but thats what works for me.