List of Exercise Goals & Objectives

Understanding the goals and objectives of exercising can help keep you motivated and give you a purpose for getting out every day to do your workout. Benefits from exercise are both physical and mental, and all the benefits help improve your overall health and quality of life. Focus on the specific exercise goals and objectives that are most motivating to you as inspiration for your next workout.

Exercise improves your strength and flexibility. (Image: Siri Stafford/Digital Vision/Getty Images)

Weight Loss and Management

A common goal of exercise for some people is to lose weight. (Image: Duncan Smith/Digital Vision/Getty Images)

A common goal of exercise for some people is to lose weight. For those within the healthy range, maintaining the current weight is a possible goal. Exercise aids in losing or maintaining weight by burning off the calories you consume. When the number of calories you burn through regular activities and exercise exceeds the number of calories you eat, you create a calorie deficit, resulting in weight loss.

Physical Health

Regular physical activity also helps improve your blood pressure and cholesterol. (Image: Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images)

Another possible exercise goal is to achieve a healthier lifestyle. Cardiovascular exercise improves your heart and lung health. The more you exercise, the more you reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and some forms of cancer. Regular physical activity also helps improve your blood pressure and cholesterol. You are likely to feel healthier overall when you exercise regularly. You may also notice an improvement in how you sleep, as exercise tends to make you fall asleep more quickly and sleep deeply.

Strengthening

Strengthening your bones and muscles is another possible objective of regular exercise. Focus on creating a stronger body to allow you to handle everyday tasks more easily. Incorporate weight-bearing exercises such as walking, hiking or jogging to reach your goal of increasing and maintaining bone mass. This protects you from osteoporosis as you age. Strive for stronger bones and muscles to give yourself a more stable body to prevent injuries and falls. Setting the objective to increase lean muscle mass also helps increase your metabolism so you are able to more easily burn calories.

Psychological Health

Regular exercise improves your mental health in addition to your physical well-being. (Image: Digital Vision./Digital Vision/Getty Images)

Regular exercise improves your mental health in addition to your physical well-being by stimulating the brain to improve your mood and outlook on life. A related goal is to reduce stress levels and improve thinking and focus with regular exercise. Another aim of exercise is to feel more confident as you improve your appearance and strength through physical activity.

Other Goals

One possibility is to set a goal of participating in a specific event, such as a marathon, bike race or triathlon. (Image: Thomas Northcut/Photodisc/Getty Images)

In addition to the health-related goals, exercise also gives you the chance to strive for other accomplishments. One possibility is to set a goal of participating in a specific event, such as a marathon, bike race or triathlon. Your goal might be to walk a particular number of steps in a day or exercise a certain number of minutes each week. As you achieve your goals, increase them to challenge yourself. Another goal to challenge your fitness is aiming to try new sports or forms of physical activity. For example, you might set a goal to learn to play golf or yoga.