What is your goal?

What plan did you bring to your last workout?

If you are like most people, you do whatever exercises you already know.  You might have a list of exercises you got from the internet.  You probably don’t have a plan that tells you exactly what to do, when your next workout is, and how to keep going when you run out of motivation.

A fitness habit, and a fit you, starts with planning.  When most people start working out, they get super motivated, for about two weeks.  Some might make it a month.  They’ll fight through punishing workouts and go through grueling morning afters.  Then they’ll quit without seeing any changes.

A plan and highly targeted goals give you the tools to succeed, even when you don’t have motivation, even when you aren’t sure what to do, and even when responsibilities of everyday life get in the way.

Before I give you some tips on how to set fitness goals here is something about desire to make your journey as easy and effective as possible.

The most important thing you need to achieve success is desire.  Desire is the one ingredient that will ultimately determine the outcome of everything you attempt.

Why?  Because once you have desire, you won’t need will power.  Think about this for a second.  When you desire something, you want to do what it takes to get it.  You don’t need to force yourself to do it because you want to do it.  You take will-power out of the equation and replace it with desire.

This mind shift comes with an understanding that every little thing you do will take you closer to your goal, or further away.  Once you have this desire to reach your goals, lets say you want to be the leanest you can be in 8 weeks, you won’t need will power to avoid chocolate, cappuccino’s or unhealthy takeaways, because your desire is stronger and you know that this will sabotage your efforts.

Keep your Desire burning!

Back to goal setting.

Step 1:  Setting a goal:

Setting a goal gives you something to aim for and a way to check your progress and make adjustments.  Take a moment now and think of where you’d like to be.

Let’s say you said something like “lose weight“.  We can start by adding an amount of weight,  say lose 15kg.

Goal: lose 15kg.

Let’s add a time frame. At the standard 500-800g per week, this goal could take 4-8 months. Let’s say 6 months.

Goal: lose 15kg in 6 months.

What will you do to accomplish that? That is a big question.  But think of one exercise that you like or don’t mind. It might not be the only thing you will do to lose 15kg but it is a great starting point.

Goal:  lose 15kg in 6 months by swimming.

The last step to this goal setting is to think of why you want to accomplish your goal.  How will your life be better? What will you be able to do differently? Think of 3 reasons.

Here are a few examples:

Lose 15 kg in 6 months by swimming, so that I can fit into my old clothes.

Lose 15 kg in 6 months by swimming, so that I can wear a swimsuit at the beach without feeling ashamed.

Lose 15 kg in 6 months by swimming, so that I can have energy and confidence to play with my kids.

 

Step 2:  Check points:

Set times to check in.  Set shorter deadlines. Check in after two months into a six months goal, are you a third of the way there?  Check in again after two months.  The reason for checkpoints is to keep you on track.  If you are not on track, ask yourself what’s going wrong. Then strategise, how can you make the next two months go better.

Try to set at least two checkpoints before you reach your goal.

 

Step 3: Challenges

Take 5 minutes and list out anything that might prevent you from achieving your goal.

This could be anything from feeling tired after work to having lots of junk food in the house.  Think of ways you can overcome these challenges. Like can you have an afternoon cup of coffee for energy?  Avoid going home before gym?  Change nighttime routine to get more sleep.  Come up with at least 3 solutions.

 

Step 4:  Scheduling (Take action)

This is the part where you make actual workout plans.

First, look at your schedule.  How many times a week can you work out and how long do you have for each workout?  Do you prefer morning or evening workouts?  Which will be easier to stick to?

Once you have answers to those questions, find a workout program that supports your needs. The most important thing when choosing a workout program is that you stick to it. It is helpful to  choose a program that tells you exactly what you need to be doing while you’re in the gym.  With that decided, schedule your workout routine and your specific activity from step 1. (the example I used was swimming).

What is something you can do RIGHT NOW to bring you closer to your goal?  You can start today with doing the following workout.  This is your plan for today, bringing you one step closer to your goal.

 

Here is your first step towards reaching your goal:

Warm up:  5-10 minutes jog or cycle

Workout:

1. 8 minutes AMRAP (as many rounds as possible in 8 minutes)

1. 10 x mountain climbers (each leg)
2. 10 x dips
3. 10 x decline push ups
4. 10 x box jumps or broad jumps
5. 100 x jump rope

 

80 x jump rope

10 x squats

Repeat 5 times

 

3. Repeat 5 times

1. 10 x pike push ups
2. 40 x skater lunges
3. 10 x box jumps or broad jumps
4. 10 x burpees
5. 5 x sideways shuffle
6. 10 x squat jumps
7. 20 x one leg jump L (with or without rope)
8. 20 x one leg jump R (with or without rope)

 

4. Repeat 5 times

1. 10 x jump lunges
2. 40 x steps
3. 10 x step ups (each leg)
4. 10 x lunge pulse L
5. 10 x lunge pulse R

 

80 x jump rope

10 x half burpees

Repeat 5 times

 

 

ABS:

20 x side crunches L

20 x side crunches R

20 x leg raises

20 x double crunches

Repeat 4 times

 

Remember it all starts with fitness.

Set your goals and keep the desire burning!