Many people assume the importance of setting goals in bodybuilding. Goals are important not only in bodybuilding but also in other aspects such as business, career, family and others. If you do not set goals for yourself then you will simply become a drifter. You do not succeed in bodybuilding by chance you have to set well defined goals for yourself.
Your goals need to be SMART for them to work. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. We will look at all these specifications one at a time.
1. Specific
You need to set specific goals for yourself as far as transforming your body is concerned. A lot of people are of the habit of making goals which are not specific such as "I want to get into shape", such a goal is very vague. For you to be able to transform your body you need to set goals which are specific such as, I want to lose my fat tummy and develop six pack abs, I want to grow my biceps twelve inches, I want to increase my chest muscles, I want to develop my hamstring muscles, I want to build my shoulder muscles and so on. When you set this kind of goal it becomes specific and therefore you are able to concentrate on what you want.
2. Measurable
Once you have identified your specific goal the next step is to measure it. Your goal must have the ability to be measured. It is not just a matter of saying I want to increase my biceps you need to go a step further and say I want to increase my biceps by 18 inches. When you do this you have set a standard of measure and therefore each time you are in front of a mirror you will be checking whether or not you are progressing towards realizing your goal. Every time you stand in front of that mirror your main challenge will be to beat the set standard of measurement you have set for yourself.
3. Achievable
You need to ensure that the goal you have set for yourself is achievable. If you want to transform your body by lets say increasing your arms by 23 inches, adding 25lbs of lean muscles and losing body fat of around 40lbs in three months. All this goals are specific and measurable but unless you use steroids all these goals are unrealistic if you use the natural method unless you are blessed with superhuman genes.
4. Realistic
The goal to increase increasing your arms by 23 inches, adding 25lbs of lean muscles and losing body fat of around 40lbs in three months is not realistic. The reason is because the body requires time for it to transform and look the way you want it to look. For your body transform so that you start seeing progress you need to give it at least six months.
5. Timely
Your goal needs to have a time bound. If for example you want to increase your biceps by 12 inches you need to set a time bound of lets say six months so that you can be able to determine whether you are working towards achieving your goal.
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