New Year Fitness Goals

Slate.com article that hits the nail on the head

While perusing the web looking for the inevitable glut of new fitness fads that will take us by storm this year, I found an article on Slate.com that referenced a study that said, 

"...improved fitness are among the 10 most common New Year’s goals for the 47 percent of Americans who make resolutions. The study also found that only 8 percent of New Year’s resolutions are successful".  

This sounds accurate because of the cyclical nature of fitness disinformation.  A majority of us will create goals pertaining to our fitness, start off highly motivated, and fail.  Then we do the same thing the following year.  I believe this is the definition of insanity (not the workout).  
We all pledge to "eat better and exercise more" and that is good.  But we also need a more structured, less aggressive approach.  Wouldn't you like to make a different resolution next year because you successfully nailed your diet and exercise routine once and for all?
If so, here are 5 tips to help get it done.




Be S.M.A.R.T. about your fitness goals.

1. Fitness goals should be as specific as possible.  You shouldn't propose to lose a few pounds and get stronger.  Of course you want to lose a few pounds, get stronger, look better, feel better, etc., etc., ...  You need to be very specific and realistic with this.  Studies from the Journal of Clinical Psychology point conclusively to the fact that the more specific your goal, the more likely you are to achieve it.  All you need to do is keep getting more and more specific until you simply can go no further.  So  the woman who wants to "look better" might go with something like this:

My goal is to fit into the dress I wore at my sister's wedding last year.  I was exactly 8 lbs lighter than I am now and my waist was 3 inches smaller.  My hips and top were 1 inch smaller.  

Now this woman need just keep track of her top, waist, and hip size while watching the scales until she reaches her goal with the final punctuation of stepping into that dress.

The guy that wants to "look better" with his shirt off might look something like this:

My goal is to go from a body fat level of 16% to 10% while maintaining as much muscle as possible in order to see my abs.  I will also need to reduce my waist size by 2 inches while increasing my shoulder size by 3 inches in order to cast a more V like appearance.

Sometimes you are forced to research what you want in order to be specific.  This forces you to be more intimate with your desire for your goal and can help weed out what you don't want.
Remember that goals cost time and effort.  You have limited amounts of both.  You want to spend them on the biggest bang for the buck, right?

2. Make the goal measurable.  If it can't be measured, you can't track it to make sure you are on the right path.  You need to know what to measure and how.  Simply losing a specific amount of weight only requires that you track via a decent scale.  While this probably isn't the best way to track weight loss, it is the easiest.  The problem is you don't know from where the weight loss came.  Did you lose water weight, muscle mass, or fat?  Accurately tracking fat loss requires hydrostatic weighing and nothing else comes close.  In my opinion, 2nd best is finding a good trainer skilled in the use of calipers for fat measurement.  So you need to be able to measure how close or far you are to your goal and document this at regular intervals.

3. Make the goal achievable.  This means it should be realistic.  In other words, you will need to be really honest with yourself and decide if the goal is truly possible given your current restraints.  I shouldn't set a goal of retiring by the end of the year with $3.5 million in investments if I don't even have a checking account.  Please don't discredit this.  If you want to succeed, you need to stop deluding yourself.  It is very important.  I'd personally like to be built like Shawn Ray, but it just isn't in the cards given my genes and amount of free time.  I need to pick a better goal; one that reflects a more realistic version of my dream.  So I tame my unrealistic expectations and come up with being ranked one of the top one hundred148's in the country in powerlifting.  This  still keeps me lean, but I am a strength athlete instead.  

4. Make the goal result-focused.  This means that if I wanted to be the best 148 pound powerlifter, I'd better knock off all of the hours spent in the climbing gym.  Get rid of anything that doesn't get you closer to your specified goals.  If it doesn't move you closer, it needs to go.  You only have so much energy and time.  Use it to reach what you've deemed most important to you.  You can get around to that other stuff later.  

5. Make the goal time bound. This means to give yourself a deadline.  Most of us hate the pressure of deadlines but you have to admit that they make you hustle.  Instead of starting out head strong and petering out midway, give yourself a deadline to meet in order to give you a sense of urgency.  This should be one deadline for the overall goal and multiple short-term deadlines for significant accomplishments leading up to the goal.  For example, if I want to deadlift 550 lbs at 148 in competition, I might have a series of goals that look like this:

550 shrug by 01/30/2015550 from mid thigh by 02/27/2015 

550 from just above the knee by 04/28/2015 

550 from just below the knee by 06/28/2015 

550 from mid shin by 09/18/2015 

500 from a 1/2 inch deficit by 11/15/2015 

500 from a 1 inch deficit at 150 by 02/16/2016 

585 dead hang from shrug by 10/28/2015 

550 off the floor in comp at 148 04/14/2016

In closing, it is necessary to commit 100% to SMART goals.

Though there is no shame in failing to accomplish a great feat, it is better to accomplish a lesser feat than fail when it comes to your fitness.

Make sure to use a lot of motivational material to push you each day.

Reward yourself upon completion of a goal to positively reinforce the habit of success.

If it isn't working out, don't give up.  Re-evaluate your goals and set more realistic ones.  

Lowered expectations can be a gift and you can still accomplish great things in time.

In the end you only compete against yourself.  Be the best that you can be and you win.  No one has the same hand you've been dealt so let unfair comparisons go.  This is the only vehicle you get in this world so keep it running right.

Stay strong!