Fitness Goals: Outcomes vs. Process

In fitness, setting goals is the beginning for most clients and allows personal trainers to get an idea of what the clients desires are and also allows the trainer to set expectations for how the journey may go. Most common goals are always centered around weight loss, losing body fat, gaining muscle mass and sometimes the occasional performance goal (for an event whether recreational or athletic). What I aim to achieve in this article is to differentiate between the two goal types while giving clear examples of each and how they can benefit you on your personal fitness journey.

There are two different types of goals most people have in regards to fitness; the first type of goal is an Outcome goal. Outcome goals are mostly focused on results however, these goals also help direct the momentum, energy and focus of a clients overall journey. Once the intent to reach a goal is set the client and trainer can direct every impending action and decision towards getting to that particular goal. The difficult part of Outcome goals is that they are simple in intent but difficult in how we reach them. Something as simple as weight loss has so many other factors that contribute to overall success in achieving the goal such as clients preferences, hormonal balance, practicality, quality of foods eaten along with balancing calories in and calories out with the appropriate macro-nutrients for specific goals. Outcomes are important to keep in our mind to help guide us to the overall goal, however they can be challenging when other factors are taken into account. The reason Outcome goals are necessary is to help give a person focus and direction for their journey. As a trainer once we have an idea of what the client wants to achieve, we can build up our programming and directives towards whatever practical means needed to get to the goal and help the client understand how long, how much effort and practical investment it takes to reach the goal.

Process Goals are what I like to call practical goals. They allow the client and trainer to focus on the here and now for improvement. An example I love to use for this is tracking workouts and tracking food. Both tools allow short-term gratification to make sure clients are executing their workouts but also the long-term improvement over time. Apps like Trainerize, TrainHeroic, Ladder etc. allow for clients to see their progress tracked over time and it will even send an alert when a new PR (Personal Record) has been recorded. Tracking food in the short term allows us adherence to current nutritional principles while also showing us some habits and patterns we may not have been aware of. Apps such as MyFitnessPal, MyPlate, Fooducate, Macros and Carbon are a few of the many. While I understand some people can be overwhelmed by the vast variety and options inside of these apps, I believe in order to critique and make something better we need to be able to account for it.

Both goal types are necessary, but how we apply them practically can save us headache and heartbreak. In the beginning it is imperative to set an outcome goal. It can be one or more outcome goals but it needs to be done to help set the tone and direction. Most clients may also need advising when it comes to this so as a fitness professional, active listening and thoughtful questions can help people really understand how to make SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-Based) goals for themselves. SMART goals can be another post all by itself.

Process goals are where the majority of the work needs to be done and where a lot of the day-to-day effort needs to be spent. For example, someone would say "I want to lose 30 lbs!!!" as a goal. A simple process is to know how much they are eating daily by tracking those calories to understand what that looks like. Also, meal prepping so tracking can lead to consistency over time and less frustrating as far as quality of food, calories and macros. If I could put a percentage on the amount of focus for each set of goals I would say 80-90% process oriented and 10-20% outcome focused. We don't want to spend too much time focused on the day-to-day to lose sight of the major goal, but too much focus on the endgame can cause frustration because most goals take so much time to achieve. 

My tips for integration of both goals are to set weekly targets, monthly goals, quarterly checks and bi-annual and annual reviews. For all of my clients I review weekly focuses for each person and explicitly lay that out for them in verbal, video and written instruction through my app. I also assess certain criteria monthly and quarterly to make sure we are on track!!! Lastly, I use the 6 month and 12 month reviews not only to spotlight what clients did well, but what things I can improve on when it comes to programming, communication and also overall operations to help elevate the quality of the experience for my clients. If you are interested in participating and training with me, please feel free to like, comment and share on this post or any of my social media platforms under the moniker: trainwithduane

Let's get this month started right. God Bless!!!