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. 

Reflect: Mental and Emotional Well-Being 2

When it’s time to address our mental and emotional well-being, we might need or want help.  That help can come from lots of places:  family and friends, wellness coaches, therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists, among others.  Choosing who to ask will depend on the scope of the issues.

As a wellness coach, I can help my clients identify strategies to reduce stress, improve relationships, increase mindfulness, and promote joy.  Talk to me if you are interested!

Reflect: Mental and Emotional Well-Being

Almost done with the year!  Go us!  This final week, we’re going to take a look at mental and emotional well-being.

Taking the time to look around our lives and see how things are going in this area can be a little dicey.  It can be hard to acknowledge that we’re not quite where we’d like to be.  Let me just say:  I see you doing hard stuff over there.

 

We may realize that we’re being eaten alive by stress, or that we could use a little work on our relationships, or that a pursuit that used to fill us with joy is not fun anymore.  Whatever it is, the first step to change is recognition.

 

You can do this.  And I’m here to help if you need me.

Monday Workout: Benchmark

It’s the last week of the year and I’m taking time off.  So it’s a great time for a benchmark workout.  Grab a friend because for this one you want somebody with you in person.

Basically, what we’re doing this time is taking some of our basic exercises and seeing how far we can go.  Start each of the first seven exercises with ten reps at a weight that is easy.  Then increase the weight until you can only do one good-looking rep.  It is really good to have a buddy to spot you for safety when you are going for your one-rep max.  I mean it.

 

For the pushups, pretty princesses, and brains, you do as many as you can.

 

There are lots of ways to organize this, but personally, I am impatient, so I choose to superset an upper body and a lower body exercise to reduce the time I’m just standing around.  It’s also perfectly acceptable to take one exercise and do it to the end with appropriate rest periods (at least a couple minutes between the heavy sets!) before moving on to the next exercise.  You do you.

 

Then save the results so you can compare them with next year’s!

 

	start	end
squats
deadlifts
bench press
fly
row
kickback
pushups to fail
pretty princesses
brains