Goal Month: 5

Let’s review.  Here are the kinds of goals we learned about over the month.

 

1.     SMART goals

2.     dumb goals

3.     rubrics

4.     process goals

5.     outcome goals

 

Choose your favorite or mix and match!

Goal Month: Mix It Up

All right:  we are nearly at the end of the month.  Let’s put stuff together.

We know we need to figure out why we want to do what we do to keep ourselves showing up when stuff gets real.  We know we need both strategy and tactics to reach our goals.  We’ve considered SMART goals, dumb goals, rubrics, processes, and outcomes.  What should we do?

 

Good news!  We can use ALL the tools.  We can go through the process of making a SMART goal and use that as our outcome goal.  Then we can create process goals that move us in that direction, maybe even process goals that are dumb goals so we make it easy on ourselves to make progress.  We evaluate how we’re doing with rubrics.

 

Lather, rinse, repeat.

 

As we practice with the various kinds of goals, we’ll learn which kinds work best for us.  Hint:  the right kind of goal is the one that gets us closer to where we want to be.

 

Still need help?  I’m a wellness coach, personal trainer, and Pilates instructor.  In other words, I’m an expert.  Poke me!

Goal Month: Motivational Fuel

At this point, everyone should have a fair idea about different kinds of goals.  What more do we need?  Fuel!

Motivation is the fuel for goals.  All motivations are not created equal, however.

 

The first rule of motivation is that it has to be ours.  Change is hard and we really need to plug into what motivates us to do the work.  We may have other people in our lives who want us to change—their motivation is not going to work on us.  We may be a little embarrassed about what really motivates us, but if blowing your ex’s mind at child pickup is what you want most, you do you.  When we lie to ourselves and others about what motivates us, we just set ourselves back.  We may, on some level, want to be healthy—who doesn’t?—but if we really want to be in shape because the Zombie Apocalypse is coming and we want to outrun those brain-eaters, we need to tap into THAT motivation when it’s a question of going to the gym or rolling over and pulling up the covers in the morning.

 

All that said, science says that there is a hierarchy of motivations in terms of effectiveness.  The most effective motivation is intrinsic enjoyment.  In other words, if it’s fun, we’ll do it.  This is why I spend so much time encouraging folks to find fitness activities they like.

 

The next level down, but still really useful, is doing something because it’s the right thing to do.  Working out because it is good for us gets a lot of us to the gym.

 

Below that, we get into the territory of “I have to” and “So-and-so told me to.”  These are the folks who show up at the gym because their doctor or their spouse threatened them.  As soon as the external pressure lets up, they vanish, unless they discover that they like working out in the interim.

 

Sussing out our motivation can be tricky, but it is entirely worth spending a few minutes thinking or writing or talking through what gets us ready to work out.

Monday Workout: Short

We’ve got a lot going on in a short circuit today.  Choose the step up to reverse lunge for more challenge.  Four rounds.

 

1 min cardio
step ups or step up to reverse lunge	30
pushups	10
flies	20
squat raise	30
renegade row	20
V sit press	10

Goal Month: Try 4

Rubrics we can try:

 

1.     Do x minutes of cardio x times per week.

2.     Complete x weight workouts per week.

3.     Eat x different vegetables this week.

4.     Drink x glasses of water today. 

Goal Month: Process & Outcome

Another way to think about goals is to consider process goals and outcome goals.

Process goals are the kind where we commit to an activity.  For example, when I say I am going to do two weight workouts a week, that is a process goal.  Outcome goals are about what results we want, like wanting to bench press fifty zilliabillion pounds (imaginary units again, because some of us get too attached to the numbers and ignore the words).

 

Obviously, the two are connected.  If I do two weight workouts consistently every week, I’m going to get closer to bench pressing fifty zilliabillion pounds.  And if I want to hit that bench press goal, I’m going to have to do weight workouts.  The difference is in the focus.

 

Much like Deion Sanders in that old ad, we want both.  The outcome goal gives us the distance perspective and the process goal gives us the to-do list for today.

Goal Month: Rubrics

Yet another way to approach goals is by using rubrics.  When we use rubrics, we decide in advance what an acceptable level of performance is and then we check our behavior against that.  This is a useful way to keep ourselves honest when we have maintenance-type goals.

So, for example, if we are feeling pretty satisfied with our general fitness, we might use a rubric to keep ourselves that way.  We might target something like five cardio sessions of at least 30 minutes per week, two weight-training sessions, and some balance/flexibility work.  At the end of the week, we can compare what we actually did with what we thought would be good.  If we hit most of our rubric most of the time, we’re doing just fine.

 

Note:  nobody is perfect.  When we acknowledge this going in to our goals, we are automatically extending ourselves grace as members of the human community.  This doesn’t mean we always let ourselves off the hook, but we don’t beat ourselves up for occasional lapses.  Love works better than guilt.  I promise.

Monday Workout: Compound and Balance

We’re working compound exercises and balance this week.  Three rounds.

 

push press	30
curls	20
bench dips	10
woodchoppers	30
skullcrushers	20
truck driver	10
1 leg deadlift row	30
db thrust	20
Russian twist	10

 

Goal Month: Try 5

Some dumb goals to try:

 

1.     Add a minute to whatever workout you’re doing today.

2.     Leave two bites on your plate.

3.     Add one more rep to your weight workout.

4.     Meditate for one minute.

5.     Drink one more glass of water.

Goal Month: Dumb Goals

I did my due diligence yesterday and discussed SMART goals.  They work great for some people, but here’s the truth:  I don’t love them.

For one thing, when it comes to fitness goals, those of us who are not personal trainers don’t have any idea what a reasonable or achievable goal might look like.  How long does it take to show cardio improvement?  Strength improvement?  How fast can I change my body fat percentage?  My weight?

 

For another thing, SMART goals are often about ultimate outcome.  Unless we construct them carefully, we think we have “failed” if we don’t hit the exact target we aimed for.  If, say, the goal was to lift one agabaga (a unit I just made up) and we only manage to life half an agabaga, we might think we failed rather than notice that before we started we couldn’t even say agabaga much less lift a tenth of one.  We made progress.  We have stuff to celebrate.

 

Even if we hit our SMART target, then what?  SMART goals are by nature finite.  Life is long and maybe we need healthy habits for the whole length of it rather than ticking a box for a month.

 

All that said, SMART goals work really well for some people.  If you like them, use them!

 

But let me suggest that there is another tool we can use.  Let me introduce you to the dumb goal.

 

A dumb goal is something that is more than we are doing now, but still really easy to achieve.  So someone just breaking up with the couch might choose a five minute walk every day for a week.  Five minutes!  We spend more time getting dressed than that.  We can do that.  And that’s the point.  After a week or so, we have the beginnings of a habit and we can build on that.  After a month, we’re maybe walking a half hour a day and thinking that maybe we could add a pushup or two to the routine.

 

The upside of dumb goals is that we’re never overtaxing ourselves.  The downside is that we have to keep paying attention and adding a little bit more.  Dumb goals are about building habits and about sustainability.  They’re for life, not just to look good at that reunion that’s coming up.

 

Try it.

Goal Month: SMART goals

The classic anatomy of a good goal is the SMART goal.  That is, a goal that is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.  Let’s get into the details, with a hypothetical scenario.

Let’s say I wake up one morning and feel sluggish, flabby, and weak.  I am nearly out of breath just rolling out of bed.  My donut and coffee breakfast doesn’t make me feel better and the day does not improve as it goes along.  I decide I don’t want to feel like this anymore, so I conclude that I want to get in shape.  Ta-da!  A goal!

 

Or maybe not.

 

What does it mean to be in shape?  To some of us, it might mean being able to move our own furniture or open our own jars.  Others might have a clothing size in mind.  Still others might want to time-travel back to our glory days when we ran a marathon or triumphed on the football field or skied for a week with no aches and pains.  My hypothetical self up above needs to get specific about what I want.

 

Pitfall alert:  my hypothetical self could come up with about 27 different specific things.  I am going to focus on one for the purpose of illustration and I will strongly suggest that in real life we don’t choose more than three goals at a time.

 

Pretend Janet decides that what I want is improved cardio fitness, so that not only can I get out of bed, I can ride my bike and play pickleball and garden without feeling like I’m going to die.  That’s a specific kind of in shape, so I’m making progress toward having a goal.

 

But how will Pretend Janet know if I have achieved this?  I will need to measure.  For cardio fitness, I have multiple options for what to measure.  I could track my HRV using my Wristy Overlord (aka Apple Watch) and see if the number trends up over time.  I could track my time, distance, and difficulty settings on the cardio machines at the gym to see how they change.  I could track my perceived exertion in my daily workouts.  I could do a step test as a baseline and then repeat it every month or so to see if things have changed.  The best measurement to use will vary by human, but Pretend Janet wisely wants to keep things simple.  I wear my Wristy Overlord anyway; I will track my HRV.

 

But is this goal achievable?  This is where Pretend Janet has to think about strategy and tactics.  In order to improve my cardio fitness, I have to do cardio workouts.  That means I need to find a time and place to do them.  I need to plan.  I need to show up for my workouts.  And I need to persist.  After thinking things over, Pretend Janet concludes that there is time for a half hour cardio workout five days a week before work.  I plan to roll out of bed, get on my workout clothes, and get it done.  I even plan for a little wiggle room:  if I miss a day, I can do a Saturday workout instead.

 

Is my goal realistic?  Well, if Pretend Janet routinely has trouble getting up in time to throw on clothes and get to work on time, maybe not.  That version of me might do better scheduling an after-work workout.  If Pretend Janet feels excited about throwing on cute workout clothes and getting to the gym and getting done before anybody else at home is even up, this could be perfect.  Optimism is essential to change, but Pretend Janet needs to be honest about who she really is to make this work.

 

The timely part of my goal is where I put a little healthy pressure on.  I want to show improvement in a month.  That’s long enough for some new habits to be fairly formed and short enough that I have to get moving right away.

 

So at the end, my SMART goal looks like this:  I want to improve my cardio fitness as measured by improvements in my HRV over the next month.  I will do this by completing a 30-minute cardio workout five days a week before work.

 

That’s a lot more workable than “get in shape.”

Monday Workout: Classic

We’ve got all the classics this week.  Vary the difficulty by varying the weight or speed or complexity (as in substituting plyojacks or modified jacks for jacks).  Three rounds.

 

jacks	30
bench press	20
YTA	10
kb alt arm swing	30
kb hammer curl	20
kb halo	10
mountain climbers	30
flies	20
brains	10

 

Goal Month: Alternatives

Losing weight is the traditional new year goal.  Here are some alternatives:

 

1.     Hit a new personal best.  This can be about heavy lifting, distance, speed, or maybe even finally beating that one person at pickleball.

2.     Reach a milestone.  Maybe there’s a particular exercise to master, or an event to complete, or maybe we want to touch our toes.

3.     Have an adventure.  This could be trying new recipes or new paths or new sports.

4.     Build community.  Bring a friend to work out or join a team or do a charity race.

Goal Month: Strategy and Tactics

I mentioned yesterday that goals involve strategy and tactics.  We often think of those two things as the same, but there are differences.

If a goal is our ultimate destination, strategy is like an itinerary.  It gives us the overview of some things we’ll pass on the way and maybe where we’ll stay and when we’re due in various spots.

 

Tactics is the nitty-gritty.  It’s putting gas in the car or buying the plane tickets.  It’s packing the suitcase and making sure we have our passport and credit cards.

 

In a fitness context, if our goal is, say, to lose some weight*, our strategy might be about eating fewer calories, lifting more weights, and logging some cardio.  The tactics, on the other hand, are about shopping for healthy ingredients, planning meals, scheduling time at the gym, and planning the actual workouts.

 

*I chose losing weight not because I love it as a goal, but because it is one of the traditional things people seem to want to do at this time of year.  Healthy bodies come in all sizes and everyone deserves to feel good in their body.

Goal Month: Resolutions Vs. Goals

As I mentioned Thursday, I’m not much of a resolution person.  This is not because I’m lazy or lacking in ambition, not because I’m already absolutely perfect and don’t need to make any changes.  It’s because resolutions don’t work.

What does work?  Goals.  I’m going to talk about goals for the entire month of January because there’s a lot to talk about!

 

Today I’ll talk about the difference between a goal and a resolution.

 

A resolution is a general statement about what we’d like to be or do.  We say we’d like to be thinner or richer or nicer or cuter or the like.  Sometimes we even get a bit specific—we want to lose the traditional ten pounds or something.

 

Goals, on the other hand, get real.  We take that desired ten pounds of weight loss and we add some strategy and tactics to it.  We think about what actually has to change to get us from here to there.

 

Need help?  You know how to find me.

Monday Workout: Not a Fork

Welcome to the new year!  We’ve got challenges galore in this workout.  If your holidays were spent lifting nothing but forks, please pace yourself.  Three rounds.

 

ball kicks	30
deadlifts/good mornings	20
goblet pour	10
step touch	30
Bulgarian split squat	20
Arnold press	10
1 arm clean and press	30
rows	20
pretty princesses	10

 

Thursday List: 3

It seems a little unfair that the new year starts on a Thursday.  (“I never could get the hang of Thursdays.”)  Thursday just doesn’t say beginning to me.  Usually, it says something more like nap.  But here we are, in 2026, ready or not.

 

I am not much of a resolution person.  But tradition is powerful, so here is a list of potential resolutions for the coming year:

 

1.     Move your body.

2.     Eat food that is both good for you and tasty.

3.     Get some rest.

 

Go play.