Goal Setting, Part 2: Aim, Process, Minimum

Yesterday we talked about where we are and where we want to go.  Now it’s time to get to the actual goals.

One way to structure goals is to make SMART goals.  That is, goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.  Instead of saying “I want to lose weight,” which is definitely a goal, we might say, “I want to lose ten pounds in the next two months.”

 

While a lot of people love SMART goals, I have a few issues with them.  For one thing, when we’re just starting out with fitness, we have no idea what is achievable or realistic in any particular time frame.  How many magazine headlines have we all seen in the grocery store offering us fifty pounds of weight loss in a month?  Maybe it’s twenty pounds in two weeks, or thirty by swimsuit season or whatever.  We don’t generally know what is sustainable and healthy.  (Note:  healthy, sustainable weight loss is generally one to two pounds per week, but some of us lose faster than others.)  My other big issue is that SMART goals say absolutely nothing about how.  Great!  I want to lose ten pounds and I know when I want it done, but how the heck am I supposed to do it?

 

I am a fan of process goals.  Process goals take a quick look at the direction we want to go and then drill down on how.  If, as in my example above, I want to lose ten pounds, I keep that aim in my mind and make some process goals like “I am going to do 30 minutes of cardio on five days this week to burn some calories” or “I am going to stop eating chocolate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”  Process goals give us something to do rather than something to aim for.

 

That said, we might have to do some experimenting.  I may discover that 30 minutes of cardio isn’t enough, or that replacing chocolate with vanilla ice cream doesn’t actually improve the situation.  Or I may learn that after one day of cardio, I’m so exhausted that I can’t get off the couch for three days.  That is all right.  We are learning.  We are growing.  We are allowed to modify.

 

Which brings me to my final comment on goal setting.  I believe in stupidly easy goals, especially when we are starting our fitness journey or are starting to incorporate something new into our routines.  Our first goal is to build the habit of success and we do that by making it as painless as possible.  Walk five minutes every day.  The next week, we may walk six, or ten.  Do one pushup, and make it a wall pushup.  Once we have established good habits, we shift just a little bit and set ourselves minimums:  I do 30 minutes of cardio at least three days a week, or I lift weights at least once a week for 15 minutes, or I eat at least one vegetable every day.

 

Bottom line:  choose an aim, make process goals to get there, and set minimums.

Goal Setting, Part 1: Pre-Goal Data

So far this month, we’ve been going over the basics of our fitness programs.  Now it’s time to think about goals.  Today I’m going to discuss some pre-goal planning and tomorrow I’ll talk about some characteristics of good goals.

 

One of the first things I do when I meet a new client is collect a bunch of data.  (No, I don’t say, “Hi, my name is Janet and now I’m going to wrap my tape measure around you,” but it’s close…)  I do this because we have to know where we are before we start trying to go anywhere.  I’m putting the “You Are Here” mark on the map, so to speak.

 

When we’re getting ready to set goals, we want two different kinds of data, quantitative and qualitative.

 

Quantitative data, as we all probably know already, is stuff we can measure.  I collect height, weight, and circumference measures (chest, waist, hip, upper arm, thigh, calf).  I use my electrical impedance gizmo to get an approximate measure of my client’s body fat percentage.  (The gizmo also calculates BMI, but I’m not in love with that as an indicator of fitness even though it is widely used, mostly because it’s a relatively easy math problem.)  I give a step test to assess cardio fitness.  I give a flexibility test.  All of this is the Before picture, the benchmark.

 

Qualitative data is the fuzzy stuff.  I watch my new clients do a squat with arms overhead and analyze the movement to see where compensations are happening.  I ask about what they do for a living, what they like to do, and what they want, in a general sort of way, whether that is to impress the former Mean Girls at the high school reunion or to run a marathon or just to feel better.

 

I do a lot of listening.  I know a lot about the general recommendations for what people should do to be fit, but I’m not there to make someone’s goals for them.  I will choose a different workout for someone planning to climb mountains than I will for someone who wants to decrease body fat percentage and yet another workout for someone who wants to get to the top of the stairs without passing out.

 

What we want, at the end of our pre-goal-setting data collection is a picture of where we are and an idea of where we want to get.  I use my education and experience to map out areas that are going to need attention and I pay attention to what is important to my clients.  The important stuff is what gets clients to do stuff that, in the moment, is not always super fun.

 

So:  where are we and where do we want to go and why?

Monday Workout: Step on up...

This week I’m thinking about compound exercises, as usual.  I like the altitude change that step ups give us.  For more challenge, hold weights or do jump-ups instead!  Three rounds.

 

step ups	30
rows	20
(lunge to) curl	10
squat to leg lift	30
flies	20
truck driver	10
suitcase swing	30
bench press	20
pretty princesses	10

 

The Amazing Stickie and Clean and Press

The Amazing Stickie is a very busy stickperson.  She likes efficient workouts so she can get on with her life.  The clean and press is an exercise that works well for her, since it works her whole body at once.

She begins holding weights at her sides.  She squats down, lowering the weights close to the floor.  Then she straightens her legs, lifting the weights up to shoulder level.  From there, she presses the weights overhead.  Then she returns the weights to shoulder level, and squats back to the floor.

 

(This version of the exercise uses dumbbells.  If Stickie has a spotter, she sometimes uses a heavy barbell instead.  In that case, she sometimes does an additional small squat to help her raise the bar from her shoulders to overhead.  Stickie, like all of us, is very cautious about lifting heavy weights and never does it all by herself.)

 

If the weights are pretty light, a set of 30 reps is doable.  As always, follow Stickie’s good example and stop if form deteriorates.

Nutrition 101

This one comes with some disclaimers.  I am not a doctor or a nutritionist or a dietician.  I have a certification in fitness nutrition and opinions, but the scope of my practice does not extend to designing diets (in the sense of what people eat, not in the sense of what people avoid eating to reduce weight).  What follows is within the scope of my practice, which is general advice about macronutrients and micronutrients.  When I am giving my personal opinion, I will say so.

 

Nutrition can be complicated because we are each lovely individual snowflakes with our own bundles of food preferences, sensitivities, and metabolic propensities.  It is my opinion that we all have to do some experimenting to figure out, within the parameters of science, works best for our bodies.  It is also my opinion that there are no inherently “good” or “bad” foods, that no one should punish themselves for eating anything, and that health comes from happiness as well as other things.

 

However, there are some general guidelines that it is good to keep in mind.  Food is made up of what are called macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, and fats) with small amounts of micronutrients (our friends the vitamins and minerals).  While there are exceptions (looking at you, keto eating plans), most people seem to do best on eating plans that are sparing with fats, moderate with proteins, and heavy on the complex carbohydrates.

 

All macronutrients are not, however, the same.  Fats come in a range from fully saturated to fully unsaturated.  The easy way to tell a saturated fat is that it is solid at room temperature.  In general, the more unsaturated a fat is, the better it is for us.  Fats are tasty (mmm…. butter!) and give us a lot of calories in small doses.  They also can help us feel satisfied at the end of a meal.  People who want to reduce their calorie intake often find that cutting the fat content helps a lot.

 

Protein is the macronutrient we use to build our tissues.  Virtually no one in our culture needs to worry about protein intake.  We all get plenty.  Animal proteins often come packaged with a pretty high fat content, so we want to pay attention to that a little.  And, for those of us who have not been paying attention for a long time:  vegetarians have no problem getting enough protein and vegans just have to be a little conscious of getting a wide range of essential amino acids.

 

Carbohydrates are the current favorite target of bad press.  This is undeserved.  Our brains function on glucose, which is a simple carbohydrate.  Now, we are not hummingbirds, so just sucking down red syrup is not enough to make our brains and bodies function well.  Simple carbohydrates, like glucose and other sugars, join together into larger molecules to form starches.  In general, the more complex a carbohydrate is, the better it is for us.  Bulky starches and their friend fiber are our friends because they make us feel full and they keep our digestion moving along.  Mom was right:  we should eat our veggies.

 

The thing is, we don’t eat macronutrients; we eat foods.  Our best bet when choosing foods is to pick the least processed versions.  An apple is better than apple juice in terms of nutritional bang for calorie buck.  That said, we don’t chow down on a pile of wheat.  Choose foods that are less processed when possible.

 

Micronutrients are generally not a problem if we select a wide variety of foods.  I am not a super proponent of lots of supplements, but a multivitamin is a reasonable insurance policy against any gaps in our food plans.

 

Finally, drink water.  Most of us don’t drink enough water and we tend to drink too much other stuff that is full of calories.  Water makes us nicer, really.

 

To sum up:  eat veggies and drink water.  The rest is pretty optional.

Scheduling 101

Over the last weeks, we have gone over all the different kinds of work we need to incorporate into our fitness routines.  It’s a lot, so we might feel a little overwhelmed about how we are going to manage to do fitness and anything else in our lives, too.

 

Never fear!  Today I’m going to talk about scheduling and how to make it all work together.

 

One traditional way to make it all fit is to stagger workouts.  We do our cardio every day and add in strength training with some stretching and balance work on two days a week.  Maybe on one day we forego the cardio and take a yoga or Pilates class to increase our commitment to flexibility and balance.  It’s perfectly workable and gives our weight-training muscles a chance to rest.

 

However, there are a couple of tweaks to the traditional system that make it work better in less time.  May I introduce everyone to my two favorite things:  interval training and circuit training.

 

Interval training (sometimes called High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT) allows us to burn more calories and improve our cardio fitness in less time.  Once we are warmed up, we intersperse whatever cardio thing we are doing with bursts of about a minute of going as fast and/or hard as we can.  If we are, say, walking on a treadmill, we increase the incline and/or speed for a minute.  Then we recover for a minute or two and repeat.  If we are biking, we add hills.  If we are swimming, we go faster.  Our hour-long workout becomes half an hour.  What’s not to like?

 

When we combine this concept with circuit training on our two or three days a week that we plan to do strength training, we get even more efficient.  We combine our weight work with cardio intervals and we’re done with both cardio and strength in 45 minutes.  (Note:  the workouts I post every Monday are designed on this principle, so we have plenty of resources available!)  With a bit of planning, we can ensure that we are building in balance moves right there in the circuit.  This is why there are always core moves and often asymmetric or single-leg versions of exercises included in the workouts I write.

 

So a weekly workout plan might look like this:

 

Monday: half hour interval cardio, 5-10 minutes stretching

Tuesday:  circuit strength training interval workout, 5-10 minutes stretching

Wednesday: same as Monday

Thursday:  same as Tuesday

Friday:  same as Monday

Saturday: Pilates or yoga

Sunday: gentle walk and stretching

 

We’re done in under an hour every day except possibly Saturday, depending on class length.

 

Go play.

Monday Workout: Kettle Bells

I am in the mood for kettlebells.  Three rounds.

 

kb swing	30
kb twist	20
kb 8/overyet	10
leg kicks	30
bench press	20
Arnold press	10
squat raise	30
flies	20
Russian twist	10