Could Exercise be Made More Enjoyable by Changing the Goals we use?

A new year often means setting new goals and ambitions, in the hope to adapt and change behaviours. For many people, New Year resolutions, and therefore goals, will include increasing exercise and improving fitness levels.

Research from the University of Lincoln, UK, has outlined how varied methods of goal setting can maximise the benefits of exercise and increase the likelihood of participants repeating a session.

One widely implemented goal setting strategy is the ‘SMART’ acronym, which involves setting goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timed. Although many initiatives adopt this method, research suggests setting a goal that is SMART may in fact be detrimental in certain circumstances.

Experimental research from sports scientists at the University of Lincoln suggests that SMART goals may help some people to achieve better performance, but this type of goal setting could result in more negative performance and psychological outcomes for others. They suggest alternative methods of goal setting should be considered.

The researchers say that ‘open goals’ may be a promising alternative. An open goal does not include specific, objective outcomes – instead they are exploratory in nature and may include non-specific instructions, such as “see how well you can do”.

An open goal could have the potential to make exercise a more positive experience for many people. This is because it is open-ended – it can act as a starting point, with limited opportunity for evaluation and comparison to previous performance standards, or others.

The study of 36 people in walking tests with a floor marked route in a sport science laboratory, found that the psychological response differed between active and insufficiently active individuals depending on the goal type. Open goals elicited significantly higher performance, pleasure, and enjoyment in the less active adults. Conversely, SMART goals produced significantly higher levels of performance, pleasure, and enjoyment in participants with active lifestyles.

Overall, the research suggests a need to adopt more varied approaches to goal setting. Rebecca Hawkins, Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise at the University of Lincoln, said, “Our study found that SMART goals have the most positive and enjoyable effect in active adults, whereas open goals produce the most pleasure and enjoyment in adults who were less active.

“We believe that open goals could be a promising option for increasing physical activity among adults and encouraging those that do set exercise-related goals for the new year to stick to them.”

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