There’s a difference between goals and new year’s resolutions, we set goals for ourselves all the time, whereas we only think about new year’s resolutions once a year. I am a big fan of setting goals because it keeps you accountable and makes you put in the work when you don’t want to (I guess that’s exactly what keeping yourself accountable means). I have seen it time and time again for myself, especially over the past couple months dealing with lockdown, covid-19 etc. It’s easy to give yourself the excuse of not doing something because there is the worldwide pandemic going on right now. I have found that it’s much easier to keep putting in that work with a very clear goal in mind, a goal that your passionate about.
During first lockdown I set 2 goals for myself, one nutrition based and one physical. I challenged myself to try out intermittent fasting for the duration of lockdown (nutrition based) and I wanted to run a sub-90-minute half marathon (physical). I accomplished both, for the reason that I set them as goals for myself. That’s important here, you need to be the one to set your own goals. If anyone else set the goals for you it doesn’t work as well because those goals are not truly yours. It’s more way more powerful when you come with your own goals. Someone can support and advice you in setting specific goals, but at the end of the day you need to be excited and passionate about it, otherwise it won’t work!During this second lockdown, I am trying to back squat a certain amount of weight before 2020 is over, strength has never come easy to me so it’s a big challenge. Now, every time I am thinking about taking it easy or blowing off a session, I think about MYgoal and how amazing it’s going to feel when I reach it.
Why are goals important?
I think we all know at least one person who has been going to the gym without a real goal in mind right? Well, is that person still working out? and if they’re, how much progress have they made? Yes exactly, that’s why it’s important to set goal. Goals will keep you motivated, accountable and excited about training.
Motivation. Whenever you feel like things are not working out in the gym, goals will keep you motivated to keep on pushing through. Now, we have to be careful not to turn the blinders on and run into a brick wall. Sometimes we have to re-asses and find other routes that will take us to the same goal.
Accountability.Especially, in times like these it’s important to have accountability, for anything in life. It’s easy to blow off things when you don’t feel like doing something, when you don’t have a goal you’re trying to achieve. A goal that you’re truly excited and passionate about will drive you through those tough moment, days and week. Everybody experiences those moments from time to time, but it’s the people who set goals for themselves that get stronger because of it (mentally or physically). If you can push through tough days in the gym, your daily challenges will seem a lot less daunting.
Excitement.This is probably the best and most important part of setting goals for yourself. These are the feeling that make you want to go to the gym and that feeling you get when you feel yourself heading in the right direction. I am currently trying to squat 150kg, every time I feel myself getting more comfortable with a heavy weight or actually being able to squat a heavier weight, I get excited. It’s that feeling in your belly that is hard to describe but so incredible to experience. It can literally turn your whole day or even week around. That’s why excitement is so important.
Motivation + Accountability + Excitement = Reaching your goals
Where do I start?
First, let’s assess where you’re right now. Second, let’s think about where you want to get to. And third, let’s set a reasonable goal for yourself within a certain time frame. Yes, giving yourself a time frame is important too, otherwise you’re never going to get there.
Assessing where you’re physically is important because it sets you up for realistic goals that we will talk about in a second. It’s also important to know what your ACTUAL starting point is, rather than your perceived starting point.
Where do YOU want to go? The reason I capitalized the word YOU is because it’s so easy for us to take-over someone else’s goal. If I see someone with six-pack abs lift heavy weights in the gym it’s easy to get tempted into doing the same things, but that’s possibly not the thing(s) you should be doing or focused on. Copying someone else can lead to chasing someone else’s goal. Remember, that’s why it’s so important to understand where you’re at physically and where you’re trying to go.
Example: If your goal is to bench press your own bodyweight but someone else in the gym is benching twice their bodyweight, it’s easy to get jealous. Your training and workouts are going to be different and it should be that way, you both have different bodies, starting points and goals. Yes, people with the similar goals might have some overlap in training but it will still vary, because your body won’t react the same as mine.
Third, set a reasonable but challenging time frame for yourself. If you set the goal of squatting 10 more kilos in the next 2 years, it’s not going to drive you forward. Trying to squat 10 more kilos in 2-3 months, that’s exciting and will get you into to the gym every day. I set the goal of squatting 150 kilos by the end of this year with about 12 weeks to spare. Yes, it definitely makes me nervous some times, but that nervousness is exactly what drives me more when I work out. I know that it’s super challenging but not impossible, those are the goals that will get you out of bed in the morning, those are the types of goals we’re looking for.
Going back to my second point, you need to understand what is realistic but challenging for you. Obviously, if you’re currently squatting 100 kilos, trying to squat 150 kilos in 2 months is not going to happen, but 115 or 120 might be doable. It’s all about goals that are relative to your current level and experience. It’s all about goals that get you motivated, keep you accountable and make you excited (see where I went there?).
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