Thursday, September 24, 2009

It All Starts With the Right Goal

Almost everything we do in life, we do with a specific goal in mind. You make a pot of coffee in the morning with the specific goal that it will help to wake you up. You go to your job with the specific goal of completing whatever project you're working on so that you can continue to bring home a paycheck. You go to the grocery store with a specific list of things that you need to get to keep you and your family fed. You get the picture... With that in mind, why then do most people not have a specific goal in mind when they decide what they want for their health and wellness?


People go to the gym because they want "to get in shape". People start running because they want "to get in shape". There could not be a more ambiguous goal. What exactly does "I want to get in shape" mean? Where there is ambiguity in your goals, there can be cracks in your resolve. 


Here are 5 tips to stay focused, interested, and motivated to achieve your goals, get in the best shape of your life, and stay that way.


1. Be Specific
It's very important to take any ambiguity out of your goals. Saying "I want to get in better shape" can mean a lot of things. If you're terribly out of shape and you start exercising and taking care of your nutrition for a week you'll no doubt be in better shape than you were a week ago. Does this mean you can stop? Does this mean it's OK to go out and have that 1200 calorie burrito and a few margaritas? Of course not. But without a specific goal in mind it is easy to convince yourself that you're on the right track and a few slips here and there aren't that big a deal. One of the most popular ways of getting specific is to target an ideal weight that you want to get to. There's a couple problems with this. First, any time you enter into a strength and conditioning program, the numbers on the scale are never going to be indicative of what's really going on with your body. As you lose bodyfat and build muscle there is a good chance that this won't always show up as extraordinary weight loss on the scale. The more important factor is the loss of bodyfat. Your clothes will become too big, your energy levels will rise, your body will start functioning better, you'll be getting stronger. These are the important things to focus on, not the number on a scale. Getting obsessed with a number on a scale will inevitably lead to a person reducing their calorie intake to a level that will not support their metabolism which in turn will have an opposite effect of what they're trying to achieve with respect to weight loss. If you want a specific goal that is tied to slimming down, then go to a trained specialist who can accurately measure bodyfat percentage. Target a specific number you want to get to. For women, a body fat percentage of around 15-18% is excellent. For men, 10-12% is a very healthy, athletic bodyfat percentage. 


Other ways to get specific about your goals is to target certain competitive events. Maybe you want to run a July 5k in under 30 minutes, maybe you want to ride your first century in September and you want to do it in under 8 hours, or complete the sprint triathlon in August in under 1:15. These are specific goals that keep you focused and motivated. And most importantly, they are quantifiable. You can see where you're at with respect to your goals and know how far you have to go to get there. There is no ambiguity about running a 30 minute 5k in July. Want to increase your commitment to your goal? Actually register for the event months in advance. Put the money down and commit to it. You have a bodyfat target that you want to hit by June when it's time to put on the bathing suit? Tell your friends about it. Once you tell somebody about it you're upping the ante. It helps to hold you accountable. Want to take it to another level? Hire a coach or personal trainer to help you get there. It increases the commitment and motivation level. Additionally, you will now have somebody else holding you accountable to your goals, developing the perfect plan to get you where you want to be, and helping you get there when your motivation is down.


2. Be Realistic

Being realistic is important. If you're 42 years old and the extent of your bike riding is with your kids on the rail trail then it's probably not realistic to target the Tour de France next year (unless you just want to go as a spectator). But you love riding your bike and you want to set a bike-specific goal. Join a bike club or team, they're everywhere. Start going on group rides. Find a race or group ride that interests you and sign up for it. If it's a long organized group ride like a century or half-century, set a realistic time goal. It doesn't even have to be organized. Find a 20 mile loop that you like to ride and set a realistic time goal for that loop. For example, if you can ride the loop in 1hr 20mins now, set a goal to be able to do it in 1hr 10 mins in 3 months. That's realistic and achievable and will take hard work and focus. Don't make the goal too easy to achieve. It is only through hard work that any substantial and meaningful gains in health and wellness can be made.  


3. Set short term and long term goals with specific timelines
Setting timelines for your goals helps to keep you focused. Setting short term and long term goals allows you to have a "big picture" goal that you're trying to get to with a bunch of intermediate points of success along the way. It's important that we see that we're making progress along the way. Also, in many cases the ultimate goal can seem so daunting and unreachable, that it is absolutely necessary that we have shorter term goals to focus on so that we don't get overwhelmed and lose our motivation. If you weigh 300 lbs and have a bodyfat percentage of over 40%, it can seem unimaginable that you'll ever get to the 12% bodyfat percentage alluded to earlier. Nothing kills motivation more than the overwhelming feeling that you've set an unrealistic goal that will never be reached. The key is to set several intermediate goals keeping the big picture in mind. It may take one year, two years, even more, to get where you ultimately want to be, but make sure there are many checkpoints along the way to prove to yourself that you're making progress. This is no different than what many of us do in a professional sense. Say you do 4 years of college to get a degree, get an entry level job in your field, work your way up to senior levels in your company or start your own business. This is something that takes years and years and it all starts with a "big picture" goal and many intermediate short term goals along the way. Why should it be any different for the most important thing in life which is your own health and wellness?


4. Surround yourself with similarly motivated people that make you better
"When I walk beside her, I am the better man" - Gordon Peterson
This point can't be stressed enough. You are, to a very large extent, a product of your environment. The point that is lost on most is that you create your own environment. It doesn't just happen to you. If you surround yourself with a bunch of un-motivated people who want to drink and smoke their way into their prescription filled 50's, then guess where you'll probably end up? The good news is that this can all change at the drop of a hat. Once you make a commitment to yourself to total health and wellness of the body and mind it takes about 1 second to realize which of the people in your life are on the same page. If there aren't any, then it's time to move on and find some who are. And trust me, there's plenty of them out there. Don't waste a second with anybody who is going to drag you down or hold you back from achieving your goals. 


Set your specific goals and start surrounding yourself with like-minded people who have similar goals. Join a bike or running club. Join a functional conditioning gym like Dynamic Strength and Conditioning where 100% of the people are active and are interested in being in the best shape they've ever been in so that they can enjoy life to the fullest. It is incredibly motivational. You feed off each other's energy and vitality. It takes on a life of it's own and you start achieving things you never thought possible. And when you go through rough times when your motivation is down there will always be somebody there to pick you back up and keep you focused.


5. Keep it interesting, keep it meaningful, keep it FUN!
There is no greater motivation than knowing that all your hard work will result in your ability to enjoy life to a greater extent and have fun.. Why work hard for something that isn't going to be fun? How many times have you decided to "get in shape", join the local chrome and fern palace, start doing some treadmill running and isolation exercises on weight benches and machines, get some immediate results in the first couple weeks, lose a couple pounds, get bored with the same old routine, stop getting results, realize that nothing your doing is helping you to have fun in the real world, start skipping the gym, stop going altogether? Typically this cycle takes about 2 months. Your goals need to keep you interested and motivated. Your plan towards achieving your goals needs to provide results. Running on treadmills and lifting weights is boring. Not only that, it doesn't really translate to real world activities. Set goals that are meaningful to you in real life. You want higher energy levels, you want to be able to play with your kids or grandkids without ending up in the ER, you want to fit into those "skinny pants" that you wore when you were 24, you want to be a competitive runner or triathlete, you want to play in the local adult soccer league, you want to develop the state of mind that you can do virtually anything. With that in mind you have to train in a way that's going to allow you to do virtually anything. Running on a treadmill burns calories, but it does little else. Bodybuilding exercises make it so that you can lift heavier weights and restricts mobility and functionality. If your goal is to be able to lift heavier weights and bulk up so that you always walk around with your arms stuck out like you're carrying watermelons then, ummmm, cool, have fun with that. Sounds like a lot of fun. For those of you who want to have fun in the real world then your training needs to include functional, full body exercise, with and without resistance. 
Find a gym specializing in functional conditioning like Dynamic Strength and Conditioning or the Monkey Bar Gym. Find an awesome fitness boot camp like the one at Fitness By Design. Start trail running, snowshoeing, hiking, parkour, martial arts, mountain biking, rock climbing, nordic skiing, kayaking. Get outside and do stuff. Feel what it's like to have your body be functional in the real world. Set goals that will improve your quality of life well into your golden years and train accordingly. Keep it interesting, meaningful, and most importantly, keep it fun! 


1 comment:

  1. Hey kevin my name is matt hudson,you know my brother rob hudson of fitness by design.About a year ago he put my wife and i on a program of eating healthy and exercising daily.Goal setting was a major part of his teachings.As of today my wife has lost120# and i have lost 191# its been a year and 2 weeks.we still have a little to go and a lot more to learn,we visit robs bootcamp workout weekly and love it.We also have started our own web site www.crawfordsvillefitness.com to try to help others.

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