Many people have asked me that question over the years; some have even asked when I was working out (that’s a no-no). The only appropriate answer to that question is another question: That depends, what are your goals?
Without setting goals, how do you know when your done? People often decide on a New Year’s Resolution of “lose weight,” or “get back in shape.” These goals aren’t good enough. Those people don’t last long. Working out for the majority of the last nine years, I’ve seen nine Januaries with tons of new faces at the gym; then, I’ve seen nine Februaries with all the same faces as those in nine Decembers.
Be specific with your goals; that’s the only way you’ll succeed. My last post said my resolution was to get back in shape. I lied to you, dear reader, I’m sorry. I’m tipping the scales at 270 right now and I haven’t squatted since I hurt my back last year. My goals are to lose 45 lbs without losing any muscle and squat my (smaller) bodyweight for three sets of 10 reps. That’s specific as you need. For reasons I’ll get into, I won’t be hitting my goal for nine months. When setting your goal, don’t worry about timelines. If you want a 50-inch chest, you won’t get it within a year (well, unless you have a 49-inch chest). But once you achieve that goal, you’ll be so inspired; you’ll want to conquer the world next.
Setting a goal is good. But that goal is not going to do anything on its own. You also have to have a plan to achieve those goals. Making a plan is a topic for a later post. One more thing you’ll need to do is track your progress. If you’re trying to lose weight, weighing yourself every week won’t be good enough. You’ll have to track your calories and your progress in the gym.
The great thing about setting goals and tracking progress is that you can break it up, and set mini-goals on your way to the real goal. Doing this will re-enforce the need to track progress and will inspire you to keep going. So my first mini-goals are to go to the gym four times a week and to stop drinking sugary drinks.
So what are your goals?