28 Days

Whenever someone wants to discuss joining us at the gym, we have a goal-setting discussion.

We generally talk about long-term goals and short-term goals. It depends on the person, but a long-term goal might be to lose 20 pounds. Based on their current weight, body type and activity level, we do a little back-of-the-napkin calculation on how long that’ll take. In this case, let’s use six months as an example.

Six months is a long time, and sometimes it’s hard for someone just starting a fitness program to wrap their head around such a lengthy timeline. Sure, I want them to understand what they’re getting into and have a realistic timeframe in mind, but I also don’t want them to get discouraged or feel it’s too daunting.

So I also ask them to focus on something shorter term. One of our most popular intro programs lasts 28 days, so that seems to be a good place to start. So I’ll usually ask, “What improvements do you want to make in the next four weeks, and what would have to change or happen to make it a reality?”

Losing 5-10 pounds, having a flatter stomach, feeling younger or having more energy are some really great goals. Any of these can be accomplished in a short time frame, such as the first month or so of following a well-designed fitness and nutrition plan about 80% of the time (because, nobody’s perfect … and you don’t have to be in order to make some really fantastic improvements).

So with a new month around the corner, I’ll ask you: Where do you want to be with your health and fitness four weeks from now, and what has to change or happen for you to get there? Give it some thought and reply back to let me know. I’d love to hear what you’re shooting for and brainstorm some ways that I might be able to help.