Goals--- They does a body good!

I asked a friend of mine today, "What are your (fitness) goals?"  His answer, "Stay consistent".  I cringed, and said to myself, "self you got's to blog!"

Goals are essential to everything we do, especially fitness.  But they are often misunderstood, set improperly and never re-evaluated.  But first we need to know what is a goal?  How do we define it.  A goal is a result, that can be measured.  This is really important.  If you can't measure it, if it isn't tangible, you will never know when you have achieved it!  If you can't measure it, you can't determine your progress towards it (or away from it).  If you can't measure it, then it is a dream, a passing thought, and has no motivational value at all.

A dream:  I want to go some where nice.
A Goal: This year for Spring Break, I am going to Florida.  (you know when and where you are going)

A dream: I want to have better health.
A Goal: I want to reduce my blood pressure and lose weight.
A Better Goal:  I want to reduce my blood pressure to 80/120 or less, and my weight to 180 lbs.

A dream:  I want to get more fit.
Goals: I want to run a 5K, bench press more, and bicycle 100 miles.
Better Goals: I want to run a 5K in under 27 minutes, bench press 225 and bicycle 100 miles in under 6 hrs.

Goals get better the more specific they are.  It makes them easier to measure progress.  As you make progress your motivation goes up!

So let's go back to the goal, "Stay consistent".  Yes we could turn this into a goal such as, "I want workout 3 times per week on average over 6 months." This would be a decent goal.  However, maybe what we really want to do is look at this as not a goal or dream, but rather a method, or in other words a way we accomplish our real goals.

Let's take a look at a goal I actually have,  "Barbell Bench Press 225 lbs by the end of 2013", this is really specific, I know what I can bench right now, I can measure my progress, I have a time frame in which I want to accomplish this, so it is a solid goal.  Then I need to start looking at my training plan, what methods am I going to use.  Here is what I have put together, and the current status of each one.

1. Research various upper body routines and exercises to maximize my bench press strength. - Complete

2. Based on #1, Evaluate my current bench press for weaknesses such as Triceps, Chest, LATs, low end, lockout, etc. - Complete (For those interested I have a terrible low end and form tends to flare elbows too much.  LAT's and Triceps are strong points, Chest and shoulders are weak points")

3. Design training routine around evaluation in number 2.  As a result:
    Train Chest 2 times per week,
            1- day with Barbell presses, Flat, Incline and Declines, these must pause at the chest.
            1 - day with dumbbells presses, flyes and tricep extensions.
    Train Shoulders and LATs each 1 day per week. (separate days, may be done on chest days as add-ons)

4. Re-evaluate every 6 weeks, look for weakness (go back to #2) and ultimate goal progress (max bench).  This one is hard, because I tend to want to see quicker progress, but my research in # 1 tells me that I must be patient. (I am in week 3 of the current cycle).

One of the methods built into this is to "stay consistent."  If I am true to # 3, I have to be.  I also have some flexibility in that I can accomplish the workouts in #3 in as little as 2 days or as many as 4 by varying the length of the workouts and what is included in each.  If I want that goal on 12/31/2012 of a 225 lb bench, then I have to stay consistent with my workout plan.

Also, have some milestones, these are more short term goals on the road to the big goals.  They are spots you can tick off when you go by them.

Three other things about goals that are really helpful.

A) Track your goals, this will help motivate you as even the smallest gain is still a gain!

B) Declare them, publicly   Tell people.  As soon as you do, you have invited accountability.  Someone who can ask "Hey Microe, how is that 225 lb bench going? "  Because you have a plan, methods and are tracking you have he answer at ready, and you will feel good talking about it!

C) Goals must be attainable.  If you have no chance of doing it, you will get discouraged and quit.  They can be hard, push yourself, but be realistic.  Thus you also need to re-evaluate them occasionally.

So define some goals, they aren't hard. Work toward them, track progress and re-evaluate occasionally.  Success is yours!

Microe