Before you start any training plan, set a goal. Goals help keep you focused and provide notable accomplishments on your path to better health and fitness.  All goals aren’t created equal. Good goals do all have a few characteristics in common.

All fitness goals should be specific, measurable, and performance-based. When writing down your fitness goals be specific. ‘I want to be more fit’ may sound like a quality goal but how are you going to know when you’ve achieved it.  Your goal should also be easily measurable. A good goal sounds like “I want to set a new personal record in a 10k”. “I want to get stronger” is an ambitious goal, but without a clear benchmark, success isn’t easily measured.

Performance-based goals, as opposed to appearance-based goals,  not only help the goal fit both of the first two characteristics but also prevent some unhealthy habits to reach the goal. For example, if you set an appearance-based goal of losing 10 pounds, there are number of unhealthy ways to achieve this goal. Think of some of the unhealthy methods people have tried to lose weight; diet pills, starvation, sauna abuse, chronic overexercise, smoking. All of these methods will help you reach your goal but at what cost? A performance-based goal prevents the abuse of unhealthy methods. If your  goal is to do 15 pull-ups, I guarantee that you will look much fitter when that goal is achieved and will be healthier than before.  Chase performance and appearance will follow.