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Knowing what you are working towards is vital in goal setting. A goal of losing weight, or gaining muscle is too abstract - meaning it is not specified. If you are unhappy with part of your body - then which part? If you want to be fitter - then what for? If you want to lose weight then - to get down to what weight? It needs to be targeted. Vague goals don’t give your brain or your training a clear target. If it is your biceps that you want to grow, then you need to focus on that specifically. When we use this SMART goal we attain the overall picture of where you'd like to get to but also target smaller areas which you are going to focus on to get you there. You create a clear end point and identify the smaller areas. You still keep the big picture in mind, but now you have precision — and precision is what drives result. Your goal needs to be specific! 

Being able to measure your progress is crucial to monitor how you are doing. Setting goals such as becoming "stronger" or getting "fitter" is too abstract. To be meaningful it needs to measurable. You must set tangible targets, such as an ideal goal weight, a distance, a time, or a set One-Rep Max (1RM). This aims to remove terms like quicker, stronger, bigger, or slimmer, and replacing them with a set quantifiable goal. Can you measure it in seconds or minutes, in kilometers or inches, in calories consumed, or in kilograms, pounds, or stone? Even a goal of drinking or eating less, needs measurable parameters — for example, units per week, calories per day, or number of planned meals — rather than relying on perception alone. If it's measurable, it's managable.

Essentially, goals need to be possible. Is it possible to lose weight? Yes 100%. Is it possible to lose 10 stone in six weeks? No. Essentially the idea surrounds basing something on achievable, realistic goals based on real world constraints — time, resources, lifestyle, and physiology. You can't work 27 hours everyday. There's no point in saying that you are going to go on a dog walk everyday if you simply don't have a dog, and there's no point in saying you're going to go to the gym everyday without a membership. A goal that can't be acted on and built towards immediately is a fantasy and a wish. It's far better to set achievable goals, that are sustainable whilst still being challenging. Achievable goals will improve your adherence, and adherence will make realistic goals reality.

Relevancy is often one of the hardest parts of SMART goal setting. For example, can “eating healthier” be quantified by setting rules around how many takeaways you have per week, how many alcoholic drinks you consume, or how many portions of fruit and vegetables you eat per day? Yes — but only if those measures are actually relevant to the outcome you’re trying to achieve.

A measurable goal is only useful if it reflects the behaviour that drives the result. Tracking fruit intake alone doesn’t automatically mean the diet is healthier if overall calories, protein intake, or food quality are still misaligned with the goal.

This is why measurable goal setting must remain true to all the SMART criteria. The metric you choose should: Directly influence the desired outcome, Fit within realistic and achievable constraints to support the overall objective, not distract from it
If a metric doesn’t move you closer to the goal, it isn’t relevant — it’s just something you’re counting. Goals must be relevant.

A goal without a time frame lacks urgency and direction. Even a specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant goal can drift if there is no clear deadline attached to it.

Being time-bound means setting a defined period in which the goal will be achieved — whether that’s weeks, months, or a specific date. This creates structure, accountability, and a sense of progression.

For example, “lose 5kg” is incomplete on its own.
“Lose 5kg in 12 weeks” provides a clear window for planning, tracking, and adjusting.

Timeframes must still respect all other SMART principles. Unrealistic deadlines undermine achievability, while open-ended timelines reduce focus and consistency.

A well-defined time frame turns intention into action and prevents goals from becoming indefinitely postponed.

Set long term, medium term, and short term goals, for each of the pillars of health.  Short term can be anywhere from a few days to a few week - perhaps even a month. Medium term would include several short term goal cycles extending from 2-3months to 6 months. Long term are anywhere from 6 months+.

Stability is the ability to control what you already have.

In physical training, this means joint control, posture, balance, and movement quality. In life, stability is routine, consistency, and control of fundamentals.  This phase focuses on balance, coordination, mobility, and core control. The goal is not to lift heavy, but to move well through a full range of movement. A stable body can absorb force, maintain alignment, and resist injury. This may look like light training, using low weights, isometrics, bands, Trx suspension training, assisted or regressed exercises to assure a baseline.

Without stability, progress is fragile. Strength built on instability leads to injury. Growth built on chaos leads to burnout. Financial ambition without stable habits leads to volatility. Friendships without stability fizzle out. The mind without stability collapses.

In life, stability is routine, consistency, and control of fundamentals. 

Stability asks: Can you maintain consistency? Can you control your baseline behaviours? Can you hold position before applying force?

Stability is not weakness — it is preparedness.

Endurance is the capacity to repeat quality effort.

To endure is to suffer but to remain. The word derives itself from the Latin word 'indurare' - to ' harden'. It is challenging and requires patience.

Physically, this is muscular and cardiovascular endurance. set around the 15+ rep range.  Endurance is the ability to sustain physical effort while maintaining proper technique and posture.  Endurance allows training volume to increase safely and prepares the body for longer or more demanding sessions. It is associated with longevity better movement patterns, stronger ligaments and tendons - with more elasticity and energy.

During gym programming, Supersets, Tri sets and Giant sets, are great tools to increase volume, pairing multiple exercises together or carrying out training methods like matrix training or tabata to add sustained activity with little recovery.

Mentally, it’s focus. Socially, it’s reliability. Financially, it’s disciplined consistency over time.

Endurance is what allows progress to continue beyond initial motivation. It separates short bursts of effort from long-term results.

Endurance asks: Can you sustain effort without breakdown? Can you maintain standards under fatigue? Can you keep showing up when motivation fades?
 

If stability is control, endurance is persistence.

Hypertrophy means deliberate growth.

In training, this is increasing muscle size.  In physical health, this phase builds strength reserves, improves joint support, and increases metabolic demand. More muscle means greater work capacity, improved body composition, and enhanced resilience. Doing sets of 8-12 reps with a 60%-80% of maximum weight, you are increasing the size of your muscles leading to muscle mass and momentum gain.

During gym programming, Pre/Post Exhaustion and Dropsets are designed to push the body past fatigue until failure - continuing to hit the same muscle. German volume training (GVT) alongside the previously mentioned Supersets and Tri sets enable volume to be increased and more muscle activation to occur.

In life, it’s expanding capacity — skills, income, confidence, responsibility, or influence.

Growth must be intentional. Too early and it overwhelms the system. Too late and progress stalls. Growth always demands more recovery, more resources, and more structure.

Hypertrophy asks: What are you trying to grow? Can your current system support that growth? Are you fuelling expansion properly?

Growth without structure leads to imbalance. Structure without growth leads to stagnation.

Strength is the ability to produce force when it matters.

Physically, this is maximal force production. This phase focuses on lifting heavier loads (75%+) with controlled technique, improving bone density, tendon strength, and overall physical robustness. Strength training enhances daily function, injury resistance, and confidence in physical capability.

During gym programming, handling more weight than you are naturally able to lift through negatives, forced-reps and negatives pushes the muscles to cater in a different way to manage the excessive load. Sparingly using Advanced training systems such as clusters and pyramid training leads to muscles making deep fiber activation and results in large increases in maximal strength.

Mentally, it’s decisiveness under pressure. Socially, it’s boundaries. Financially, it’s leverage and earning power.

Strength is not constant effort — it’s the ability to perform at a high level when required. It relies heavily on everything before it.

Strength asks: Can you apply intensity effectively? Can you handle high-pressure moments? Can you act decisively without hesitation?
 

Strength is capability — not aggression

 Power is strength expressed quickly and accurately.

In training, it’s explosive movement. In life, it’s execution — the ability to turn intention into immediate, effective action. Power is the ability to apply strength rapidly and efficiently.

This includes explosive movements, acceleration, deceleration, and coordination under speed. Power improves athletic performance, reaction time, and real-world movement such as jumping, sprinting, and rapid changes of direction.

By applying velocity and speed to our lifts, we are improving the punch, we are improving the explosivity, we are improving the impact and the purpose of what we do. What used to be your maximum now moves quickly and easily. 

In health, power represents the final expression of all previous phases — strength with speed and precision. Power is timing. It’s knowing when to move, when to hold back, and when to strike. It is useless without control and dangerous without preparation.

Power asks: Can you act fast without losing control? Can you convert preparation into results? Can you make impact efficiently?
 

Power is not force — it’s force with timing.

Our lead coach, Alex, has created plans for every scenario. From general personal training plans, to occupation and sport specific programmes. These programmes are designed to not only coach but teach and inform. For an experienced lifter and gym-goer, these are ideal as an alternative to 1-1 coaching. They give you all the resources to look after your body.

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Perhaps you need a little more help getting started. Our coaching team sees it as a priority to help make you confident in taking on your own fitness journey. It may sound daft when you hear it... but we don't want to work with one client everyday for months on end. We want to be like a reliable mechanic who can help as many people they can. We look at a providing a longer relationship. We help you sort the problem and fill you with confidence that you can take into the future.