Achieving Your Goals is Up to You
Achieving YOUR Goals is Up to YOU
Setting The Mood
Naruto, Masamune, Saitama, Deku, Goku, Asta
They all have goals that we can relate to on some level. They've all worked super hard for their goals.
Here's how we'll try to make achieving your workout goals as fun and as satisfying as finishing a great anime series!
Setting Realistic Goals
Focus on one goal at a time
When it comes to setting a fitness goal, one of the biggest mistakes people make is trying to do too much at one time. Perhaps you want to hit the gym every day, cut out added sugar, and get at least eight hours of sleep a night. Trying to tackle that much at once is essentially just setting yourself up for failure. With so many things to achieve, people can get anxious. If they didn’t do one thing, they’ll feel like a failure.
This can lead to negative self-talk that lowers your chances of achieving any of the goals. Instead, pick one thing you want to crush—like, doing a pull-up, or completing your first-ever 5K—and channel your efforts into achieving that before exploring another goal. Marathoning anime and mangas over a weekend doesn’t count as exercise in this series unfortunately.
Set the bar low at first
Your goal should seem relatively easy or within reach of what you are doing, Why? If you think it’s easy, you have likely already worked through any mental obstacles that could thwart your progress. On the confidence scale, you should be at a 9 out of 10 when it comes to your belief that you’ll actually achieve your goal. The less confident you are, the less likely you will adhere to the steps needed to make it happen.
Plus, attainable goals help ensure that you start out with some all-important wins. The more success you have in your fitness journey, the more you will stay with it. Having this success early on is especially important as it builds confidence that can snowball into long-term results. It’s definitely worth the time and effort to feel in control of your physical life.
Understand what’s driving your goal
Sometimes fitness goals are driven by underlying fears, insecurities, or body image issues. Wanting to run a marathon because you were bullied in middle school gym class, or signing up for a CrossFit class because an ex once commented on your weight are all examples.
It’s important to address these issues rather than assume achieving your goal will somehow alleviate them. Depending on what you are trying to accomplish, it can stir up a lot of emotions. If thinking about your goal brings anxiety and/or triggers past mental struggles, consider talking with a mental health professional. When you’re planning and deciding on a goal, just remember your values too.
Make it your own
It can be easy to scroll through the ‘gram and feel inspired-yet-envious by images of the super fit. Yet basing your own goals off of what you see others achieving is neither productive nor practical.
When we are bombarded by images of what fitness should look like and how we should do XYZ, it can be hard to identify what’s good for you. Certain things that top athletes can do—run a marathon, do 100 push-ups, master the most challenging yoga poses may be great for them, but it’s not a metric that everyone should be measured. In other words, your goal should be your goal, something that you personally are excited about and realistically able to achieve, not someone else’s.
Midoriya was something else though, like holy cow.
Be honest about your prior and current habits
Asking yourself the tough questions can help you honestly evaluate what’s most appropriate for you. But if you’re new to fitness, which of course is totally okay, you may want to focus on more simple changes, like going to the gym a certain number of days a week.
If your routine doesn’t involve any form of exercise, suddenly getting yourself to the gym five days a week—while certainly possible—may not be the most practical or realistic goal. On top of that, it’s helpful to consider what has stopped you from achieving goals in the past. Being honest with yourself will help you identify and eliminate barriers before you get started. Keeping all your otaku habits may not be the most beneficial thing to do here.
Be flexible in your definition of success
Though it is important to make your goal specific, it’s also important to give yourself permission to change it as you progress with your fitness journey. Perhaps a goal that seemed appropriately challenging at first is actually way too tough to maintain, or vice versa.
If your definition of success is rigid, it will be hard to maintain the same caliber of workout. Set goals you think you can achieve and then modify them as you understand more of what you are capable of. There’s nothing wrong with moving the goal posts as you get more comfortable with your body’s abilities. Going from nothing to something is super hard and just trying is even harder. But when you start doing something is when you start winning.
Play the long game
We all want instant gratification, but it’s important to be realistic with the time frame you develop for achieving your goal, Lasting changes take a while. Know that you are never going to make an overhaul in one week. Instead, pick a goal that can be achieved over the course of several months or even a year.
A long-term mentality will help you see your goal as a lifestyle change, rather than quick fix, and you’ll be much more likely to adhere to it. Once you get into a routine and look back at yourself later on, you’ll thank yourself for making a change. We’re all here to someday get over 9000, we just need a little time.
Anime Workout Series
It’s time to go Saiyan! Starting from nothing sounds hard to do but we’re here to say it’s not.
We at BAM relate to you otakus. Imagine looking like some of your favorite anime characters. Prison yard chests, tree trunk thighs, obscenely large biceps, are all within your grasp! You too can look like Roshi!
Refresher?
Find some different articles and set some goals!
