13.15 Getting Started on Physical Activity Goals

Before You Get Started

Whether you’re new to exercise or relatively experienced, it’s helpful to know your starting point to better benchmark progress and know what kinds of goals will be most appropriate, and answering the following questions can aid you in assessing this:

• How active are you currently?
• In which areas or components of fitness are you already close to meeting the recommendations?
• Do you have any health conditions or limitations that may warrant precautions before changing your activity level?
• Would you benefit from an initial fitness assessment?

Keeping Your Physical Activity Goals in Perspective

If you aren’t currently active, start slowly and gradually build up the duration of your activity before switching to activities that take more effort. If you try to go from no physical activity at all to working out hard five days a week, it may seem harder to sustain. Self-efficacy and perceived enjoyment of an activity are predictive of physical activity levels 12-months in the future (Lewis, Williams, Frayeh, & Marcus, 2016). Adding activities you already or are most likely to enjoy and that are appropriate for your current fitness level will increase your likelihood of maintaining a new or expanded routine.

Think about physical activity within the context of your life as a whole. Your goals should be realistic for your life. If you’re not a competitive athlete, then maybe it doesn’t make sense for you to work out like one. If your ultimate goal is to achieve a sense of balance and overall wellbeing, be cautious of focusing on exercise so much that it prevents you from enjoying other parts of life. All of the wellness dimensions are important, and the more they’re balanced the happier and more satisfied you’re likely to be.

Fitness- or Sports-Related Goals Might Require More Time and Energy

If you’re already active, you might use the Physical Activity Guidelines as a benchmark for goal-setting, but remember that the guidelines are the public health recommendations for the general population of healthy American adults. This level of activity may not be enough to accomplish certain fitness or sports-related goals. A goal to dramatically improve fitness or athletic performance will require more time and energy. Regardless, keep in mind that any activity is better than no activity; a generally active lifestyle with minimal sedentary behaviors leads to many benefits (Powell, Paluch, & Blaire, 2011; Wen et al., 2011).