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.