Kimberly Watson

HLAC 1096
Professor Adams
May 3, 2020

SMART Goals

When creating SMART goals at the beginning of the semester the idea almost seemed to

easy. I was doubtful that I would be able to follow through with even the simplest of goals

because of my previous physical and health struggles. Of all of the goals set at the beginning, the

body composition goal for me had the most eye-opening moments, changes, growth and self-

evaluation.

I began the semester with the goal of losing 10 pounds and gaining lean muscle. I did not

meet this original goal. However, rather than feel discouraged, I was able to see why I wasn’t

meeting the goal and revise and adapt my goals. I didn’t anticipate there being a sort of levels

that I would go through in my fitness and learned along the way through the course as well as

through my own experiences why.

I struggled in the beginning in that I wasn’t losing any weight and I didn’t really feel as

though I was gaining strength, and I was experiencing a fair amount of post-exercise malaise

further complicating my motivations. I kept pushing through it though and as we went through

the course, I learned more about how our muscles work and our bodies work and realized that

my “plateau” was normal. As I continued to work through it, I finally began to see improvement.

It took some time in the beginning to build that strength and it will take “levels” of improvement

to get where I want to be. Peaks and plateaus are normal.

As I worked through my weekly weight-lifting routines I learned that maybe this

particular exercise isn’t the best for me. I continued through it as it was part of my plan, but
never really was able to fully increase weight. I focused more on the strength and flexibility

training of other routines and kept the weights minimal to avoid over-exertion. I think now that I

will continue to find other strength building that isn’t necessarily involve weight. Again, though

this was a unique part of going through the class and the goal setting experience to learn what

works, what doesn’t and that it is okay to change and adapt.