Recently I was inspired by one of my clients, Jovanni. He had originally had a goal to lose weight and maintain his health, but after a three month program of about three sessions per week Jovanni hit a personal record of 143.2kg (about 315lbs) on his back squat, 61.4 kg (135lbs) on his overhead press, and 111.4 kg (245lbs) on his deadlift. Enthused by his progress, he expressed his desire compete in USA Weightlifting.

In a bustling gym, I gave him a hug and lifted him off his feet. He’d been battling high blood pressure and type II diabetes before meeting me. His anxieties often got the better of his forward momentum in lifting, and as such he expressed his initial lack of confidence in his abilities. This article will discuss the mind of an average gym patron and what the drive becomes when one flips their switch and chooses to compete.

Barriers to Behavioral Change

Often times, we set New Year’s resolutions in order to emphasize the trend of the popular Instagram hashtag #NewYearNewMe—yet, we forget that isn’t true. We are the same people and the key desire should be to “change old habits into long-term behavioral changes.”

Ewing’s article regarding the psychology of New Year’s resolutions delves into a discussion between two clinical psychology professors at the University of Arizona who focus on two important things that must be overcome.

“Beyond the personal, internal values of behavior, the other thing that we look at is whether the environment will actually support the new behavior.”

Professor Stenhoff

Like most gym goers early within the year, the gym is intimidating. Commercial gym trainers might be overzealous in selling rather than connecting with clients and it becomes difficult in-between periods of either committing or reverting to the same sporadic habits as the year before.

Jovanni reminded me that his journey in fitness began as something out of a fear his physician instilled in him and second as a personal battle. He often didn’t have friends who were as serious about training. His initial training experience was not pleasant and often created more barriers to his success.

Eventually, he quit in the early half of 2018 and started with me within the latter half of 2018. In addition, his work environment provided more stress and eventually led to periods of stress eating.

Anyone with a 9 to 5 job or a managerial position understands the importance of having the opportunity to de-stress and take care of their bodies. This distressing environment often causes fatigue, irritability, depression, forgetfulness, and self-neglect.

Promote a change now by:

1. Joining a new gym. This means getting into a gym which is affordable yet fosters a nurturing and rich ground for growth and development. Going to the gym is an investment in your health if you feel that the local gym isn’t cutting it check out other offers and inquire about the services and peak hours. Perhaps getting inspiration from others might be the push you need.
2. Getting dialed in with a coach. Jovanni’s initial negative experience with coaching needn’t be your case. The internet is littered with online coaches, commercial gyms have well-trained staff, and hardcore gyms like weightlifting clubs and powerlifting clubs are a great investment due to the high caliber of coaching staff available.

Set Goals for Long-Term Payoff

In a short discussion with Jovanni I wanted to learn about his decision, what I can do as a coach to help him with his goals, and how others can turn on that switch.

“I wanted to do something greater than myself, that forced me to change my habits.” I want to compete now because I know I can do it. I’m getting stronger and I’m working harder. I don’t want anything to hold me back.”

Jovanni Ramirez

With this kind of statement, Jovanni turned from a person who could care less about the gym into a person who wanted to reach his goals as badly as he wanted to breathe. We had to do a couple of things regarding his health concerns such as greatly reducing salt (also known as the DASH diet planning method) increasing his Omega-3 intake and increasing his cardio by mandating time on the Jacob’s Ladder.

Aside from a few clients who are active competitors in sports such as football, cycling, and basketball, my initial work with Jovanni was not sport centered and consisted of the main lifts; deadlift, squat, bench press, overhead press, and the rack pull. We added in accessory work to supplement his training and remove any potential faults in his unique lifting style. He became a ball of energy and strength—I couldn’t be a prouder coach. As he expressed to me:

“Working out was the tip of the iceberg. I wanted more. I feel that it’s become a lifestyle change; something I can look forward to each week and use as therapy.”

Realize Your Potential

For Jovanni, seeking motivation outside of himself helped him to realize his own potential. We started to push each other more readily in our time off from training to go over skills and now we are ready for his first local tourney in 2019. By teaming up with others we can achieve our potential, learn from one another, and build upon the skills we share.

The post Making This Year Your Year to Compete appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

At the New Year, we experience an influx of motivation in our gyms—we set New Year’s resolutions where we promise ourselves and our loved ones all the ways that we are going to become better humans this year. And as we all know, most of these resolutions are abandoned by February.

Those familiar with my work at The Forged Life know that I distrust motivation. Motivation is like a chemical high, unsustainable and fleeting. When we learn to rely on that high in order to reach goals, our progress is the same: unsustainable and fleeting. We gain the weight back. We discontinue our gym membership. We start eating sugar or drinking soda again.

When Love Turns to Dread

But what happens to the person who once loved to train and now dreads going to the gym? I have known so many athletes who become lost as they lose the motivation to train. They feel alone, isolated, and they often don’t understand why they feel the way they do. They fight as hard as they can to regain that love, but their mindset remains uninvested in training. It has turned what was once a joy into a burden.

Conversely, some athletes experience periods of extreme motivation, followed by periods of little to no motivation. This up-and down-swing takes its toll on our progress: one week, we’re PRing and hitting our workouts hard, and the next week we’re feeling weak and tired and we’re back to dreading WODs and are self-sabotaging our efforts.

How do we break these cycles, where our mental state is dictating the quality of our training and our progress on our goals? How do we break our addiction to motivation?

Whether you are an athlete who hasn’t felt motivated to train in years or an athlete who switches from super-motivated to completely unmotivated, the one thing we need to address is mindset.

The Goals of Mindset Work

It is first critical to understand what the goals behind mindset work are. Many may be surprised to learn that our goal is not to become thrilled to train every single day, but to maintain perspective over the natural dips that occur in training.

Regardless of whether we are a brand new athlete just learning to squat for the first time, an athlete who’s been training for years to maintain health, or a competitive athlete striving to reach the CrossFit Games, optimum results from our training come from a mindset that is process-based versus results-based, focused on the self rather than on others, and a mindset that embraces adversity. These components of a great mindset, perspective, process-orientation, self-orientation, and seeking out adversity lead us to maximize our potential.

Because of our culture’s addiction to motivation, we have built an idea around how we are supposed to feel about training: amped up all the time, super happy and focused, and always, always making progress.

This is an unrealistic expectation of anyone, from a competitor to a grandfather who’s working to walk without a cane. Sometimes we’re sick, we have work, or we have family stresses that are distracting us. Sometimes we’re experiencing self-doubt. As any coach will tell you, no one constantly makes progress.

Every single athlete experiences setbacks and plateaus, even the ones who do everything “perfectly.” One of our goals through mindset work is to maintain perspective over these temporary emotional perturbations so that we can rely on the habits of training we’ve built to withstand them.

Being a process-oriented athlete translates to remaining motivated to train. Accepting ourselves as a work in progress, and therefore currently imperfect but capable of limitless improvement, is critical. A process-oriented athlete can view setbacks as opportunities to grow and can emotionally withstand the inevitable plateaus that come with long-term training. Embracing the process allows us to sustain our motivation.

The Self-Oriented Athlete

A self-oriented athlete knows why they are training within the broader context of their life. So often, our training reflects what we see on social media or what the best athletes in our gym are doing or what our peers are focusing on—in other words, what everyone else’s goals for their training are.

A self-oriented athlete knows why they are striving for competitive greatness, if that’s what they’re doing, or they know how their training supports the hobbies they enjoy outside of the gym. Everything they do at the CrossFit box has a purpose, and that purpose is self-directed, uninfluenced by whatever is in fashion at the time.

The final piece to building great mindset, a critical component of maximizing our potential, is to embrace adversity—sometimes even seeking it out intentionally. If we think about how and why we give up on the goals that are deeply important to us but that we can’t pull the trigger on or sustain long enough to see results, it is often when we experience adversity that we give up.

Adversity triggers a protective set of behaviors (self-sabotage) that are intended to return us to a state of comfort. We self-sabotage by eating what we said we wouldn’t eat, by skipping workouts, or by allowing ourselves to become distracted from our goal. Maximizing our potential requires that we break free of that need for comfort.

It is easy to see how we maintain the motivation to train when our mindset is constantly directing us to maximize our potential. Motivation is no longer a high, but a state of doing what needs to be done each day to make progress on our goals.

When we recognize a weakness in our training, it no longer defeats us but provides us with an opportunity to grow, a challenge that we can rise to. Should we sustain an injury, we can see how the rehabilitation provides us with an opportunity to focus on weaknesses. When life throws us the inevitable curveball that affects our ability to train, we can maintain perspective and find creative solutions, rather than allowing ourselves to become overwhelmed.

When we step out of our comfort zones, we rise to the challenge rather than returning to old behaviors that no longer serve our goals. With great mindset, we can maximize our potential. Without great mindset, we will always get in our own way.

Building self-awareness is the first step in maximizing our potential. In order to move forward, we must intimately understand what has been holding us back—ourselves. To begin this process, ask yourself these questions:

1. Why am I training?
2. What purpose does training fulfill in my life?
3. What are the goals that are most important to me?
4. Why are those goals important to me?
5. How do my goals fit into who I want to be as a person?
6. How do my goals fit into the purpose that my training serves?
7. When am I having the most fun training?
8. What makes me feel the most like myself when I train?
9. How do I respond to discomfort when I train?
10. Am I avoiding discomfort? If so, why?

Mindset for a Lifetime

Much like nutrition, mindset work is not a short-term project; it is a lifelong practice. The habits we build through mindset work require as much dedication as weighing and measuring food. As we know in nutrition, the more consistent we are, and the more committed we are to maximizing our potential, the better our results will be.

The post Maximize Your Potential This Year appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Goals serve a purpose: to motivate us to become better. When we set goals, we should outline the discipline and resources that will be needed to reach them, like a roadmap. We should have a plan in place to work around any obstacles and detours that present themselves. When necessary, we need to be willing to adjust the goals themselves to match the circumstances of our life.

Many of us fail to fully set goals. Sure, Sunday meal prep and a plan to work out four days this week is a great way to start. But where is our effort headed? I don’t believe we have to have a goal for everything we do, but I do think we are more effective when there is a goal in place, even if the overall goal is simple and small.

The Role of the Micro-Goal

Setting goals seems like it should be an easy thing to do. You pick something you want to accomplish, and you work toward it, right? I want to hike to the top of Mt. Everest. Okay, that’s a goal. But what will it take to get there?

Breaking up a large goal into smaller goals can be a great way to keep your self-confidence going, and to mark progress toward your larger goal. If I was going to hike Mt. Everest, I would start off with making sure I could plan for, pack for, and physically manage many smaller hikes. I might also set some cross-training strength micro-goals, like making sure my presses were in good shape, and that I could do a good amount of farmer’s carries. Outlining my plan for my micro-goals and setting a timeline for them would ensure my progress to my larger goal.

Outlining Discipline

Lately we have published a number of articles that delineate the roles of motivation and discipline. I think that these two concepts have the ability to work together to help us along the path of our goals. Some days we may be more motivated, and some days we may have to enforce more discipline.

When looking to reach a goal, discipline will carry us most of the way. But our micro-goals are useful to provide periodic doses of motivation and focus. This positive feedback loop also helps us create actual change in ourselves as we learn discipline and focus. We can easily be thrown off track if we haven’t reached a point of adopting a lifestyle habit.

By using the process of creating and reaching micro-goals, we can create sustainable progress. Having the goal of hiking Mt. Everest is a goal with a definite end. But the discipline learned, the motivation maintained, and the enthusiasm created while that goal is reached is something that will translate into the rest of our lives.

The post Use Micro-Goals for Macro Change appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The Role of Adaptation

Let me explain. How many of you have been lifting the same amount of weight in the gym for months, even years? How many of you have been sitting at around the same body weight for years? Maybe you’ve tried a new program or a new selection of exercises, but the result has been the same. Why? Because you’re doing the same thing each training session.

Albert Einstein once uttered the phrase, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” How many of you are guilty of doing exactly this?

A training program isn’t just a bunch of exercises as commonly assumed. In fact, I would argue that exercise selection isn’t even the most important variable at play here (within reason). Let’s take a step back and look at what we are really trying to achieve through training.

What we are trying to achieve is adaptation. This adaptation could be increased muscular strength, muscle hypertrophy, or fat loss. To achieve an adaptation, we must expose the body to a stimulus. Following the exposure to a stimulus, the body’s acute response is fatigue. Following fatigue is a period of recovery, then overcompensation. Overcompensation is the adaptation that we seek. If the body is not exposed to the stimulus for an extended period of time, we experience de-training.¹

What a training program really should achieve is adaptation through repeated exposure to a stimulus. The reason you’re lifting the same amount of weight after all this time is because you’ve never lifted more. Wait, what?

What I should say is that you’ve never increased the weight you’ve lifted, you’ve never done more reps, you’ve never reduced the rest periods. Basically, you haven’t exposed your body to a stimulus that would result in you getting stronger.

Use Progressive Overload

Enter progressive overload. Progressive overload is the gradual increase of stress placed upon the body during exercise training.² Basically, it ensures we are making progress through increasing the stimulus over time. Progressive overload uses four key areas to increase stress through training:

• Volume – Reps x Sets x Load
• Intensity – Percentage of max effort
• Frequency – How often we train
• Time – How long we train for each session

The theory here is simple. If you increase any of these, the workout is harder and produces a stimulus for the body to adapt to. So now you know that, quite simply, your workouts need to increase in difficulty to ensure you get results.

So, what now?

• Step 1 – Write down everything you lift for the next week (weight/sets/reps).
• Step 2 – Calculate your training volume (reps x sets x load) and average it for each exercise by each week.
• Step 3 – Increase your training volume each week for four weeks.
• Step 4 – Congratulate yourself. You’re now stronger than you were before.

There are a lot of ways to apply progressive overload, but for strength training, the roles of volume and intensity are key.³ All of the most popular strength training programs use these principals, and you’re not an exception.

References:

1. Hoffman, Jay. NSCA’s Guide to Program Design. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2012.

2. Pearson, David, and Scott Mazzetti. “Periodization at a Glance“. Strength and Conditioning Journal21, no. 2 (1999): 52. doi:10.1519/00126548-199904000-00017.

3. Colquhoun, Ryan J., Christopher M. Gai, Danielle Aguilar, Daniel Bove, Jeffrey Dolan, Andres Vargas, Kaylee Couvillion, Nathaniel D.m. Jenkins, and Bill I. Campbell. “Training Volume, Not Frequency, Indicative of Maximal Strength Adaptations to Resistance Training“. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2018, 1. doi:10.1519/jsc.0000000000002414.

The post The Main Reason You Aren’t Getting Any Stronger appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

“A classic,” said Mark Twain, “is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.” Such is the case with arguably the greatest novel in Spanish literature, The Ingenious Nobleman Sir Quixote of La Mancha. But the other characteristic of a classic work is the mark it leaves on culture, and you don’t have to have read the thousand pages of Don Quixote to understand its themes. You may have heard someone ridiculed as “quixotic,” or maybe you’ve bemoaned a hopeless work project as “tilting at windmills.”

Countless works have been inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’ original opus, from Hollywood movies to Broadway musicals to popular rock bands. Most of the derivative works caricature the man from La Mancha as a comical, addled, slightly pathetic figure whose delusions lead him to countless misadventures and eventual ruin.

But there is another narrative present in his story that I believe is instructive to us, even four centuries hence. Don Quixote looked around him in society and recognized that something important was dying; namely, the age of chivalry. He was determined to rescue it any way he could, and although it can be argued that he failed time and time again, the sincerity of his effort cannot be denied.

Something important is dying today, too. Us. Over the past 150 years or so, the precipitous onslaught of technological advance has allowed us to create a world in which our every want and need are provided, at little cost and with zero effort. The effect is an irony sadder than any that Cervantes dreamed up: we are fatter, sicker, less fit, more miserable, and less capable than any generation in human history. We got everything we ever wanted, and it’s just about ruined us.

It’s Goal Season

The truth that we are so slow to accept is that we require the discomfort, exertion, and struggle that our ancestors endured. Without it, our bodies wither, our minds become muddled, and society itself begins to fracture. But we’ve done such a thorough job at removing opportunities for challenge from our daily lives that we now have to manufacture them.

We call it exercise.

As we speak, at gyms all across the country, the regulars are beset by wave after wave of resolutioners. The gyms themselves capitalize on this windfall, holding promotions, specials, and challenges to get people excited about their budding fitness habits.

The common thread running through this entire phenomenon is the setting of goals for the new calendar year. Coaches and academics love to argue about goals. “It’s about the journey,” they intone, without a hint of the irony that should come from using such a cliché. From a purely intellectual standpoint, they’re probably right, but pragmatically, their distinction is also worthless. People are going to set goals in their attempts to better themselves, and they will only realize after the fact that it was the process that mattered.

So let’s set some damn goals, shall we?

Smarter Than Smart

My wife (the most wonderful woman in the world and the most likely of the two of us to become a millionaire) works in a particular chamber of hell referred to as “corporate America.” For reasons I will never ascertain, she gets excited about things that put me instantly to sleep, like process improvement, management seminars, and certifications that, so far as I can tell, indicate to the rest of the world that you possess at least a small degree of common sense.

But one overlap between her world and mine occurs when we talk about goals. They should be, we are told, SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. Sure, fine. That’s probably true. But they should be another kind of SMART, too.

• Scary as hell. There should be elements of your goal that threaten your physical being, your ego, or both.
• Meaningful to you personally. They should be something that pulls at your heartstrings for one reason or another. That reason doesn’t have to make sense to anybody else, either. More on that later.
• Above your current level of ability. This might seem obvious, but more than a few people set goals that they are already capable of accomplishing right now, or with very little work. For a goal to create a process and improve your habits, it needs to be something that will take months or years of work.
• Rare. Here’s the tricky part. It doesn’t have to be something that’s rare to everybody, but it should at least be a rare occurrence in your life. Lots of people run marathons, and a few crazies do it regularly. But if it’s something that you may only be able to accomplish once in your life, it’s a rare goal.
• Tribe-focused. Your goal should be something that causes you to surround yourself with likeminded people. This can be at a gym, or with a running team, or at a Thursday night dodgeball league. No, online tribes don’t count. You need to be around other actual people.

Of course, these are not tangible qualities, but I believe they are necessary to effective goal-setting nonetheless. You can set goals according to the corporate version of SMART, and never reach them because they’re boring. Or you may reach them and not be improved by the experience, because they were not suitably challenging. Creating goals that meet both definitions of SMART is ideal, and I think you’ll find that the concepts are complimentary; if you create a goal according to the criteria I just laid out, chances are it’ll meet the corporate definition as well.

Photo by Bev Childress

Dream the Impossible Dream

This brings us back to our friend Don Quixote, the aging, delusional knight. Like us, he found himself in a world bereft of opportunities to reclaim what was lost. Like him, we must create epic struggles that most people won’t see. We understand that we have to do things that others will find absurd, make sacrifices that will place us at odds with our culture, and test ourselves against standards far outside of what society considers relevant.

We must tilt at our windmills, which we recognize as giants, because the alternative is to forsake something valuable. So we’ll lace up our shoes, air up our tires, load up our barbells, and get after it this year like never before. Our naysayers will shake their heads and treat us like outsiders, and that’s okay. They don’t see what we see. They’ll tell us that our blood and sweat are unnecessary, but we know better.

In the 1964 musical Man of La Mancha, one of the dozens of works spawned by Cervantes’ masterpiece, our unlikely hero bursts forth in a soaring anthem in an attempt to explain himself.

“To dream the impossible dream; to fight the unbeatable foe… To try when your arms are too weary; to reach the unreachable star… I know if I’ll only be true to this glorious quest, that my heart will lie peaceful and calm, when I’m laid to my rest.”

From Cervantes’ pen to your ears. Slay your own giants this year, no matter what they are or what anyone says about them.

The post Slay Your Own Giants appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The ‘strong is the new skinny’ movement has arrived. The fear that resistance training will cause us to walk through doors sideways, has been replaced with a body of knowledge that shows increasing our muscle mass before we hit our sixties will dim the effect of sarcopenia (loss of muscle mass).

For those who have trouble thinking in the long-term, an increase in resting metabolic rate and tolerance to carbohydrates are nifty benefits we can enjoy right now.

We now know that resistance training is good for us. But, we are often left guessing which training modality will reap the best benefits. Two polarized views which continue to clash are calisthenics versus free weights. Gymnasts will side with the former, and powerlifters will side with the latter. But who is right?

Both—and neither of them. While we are caught up trying to decide which is better, we often forget to identify better for what purpose? We should look at free-weights and calisthenics as tools.

A tool is used to accomplish a specific goal. That brings us back to a more important question: what’s the goal?

If we haven’t identified the goal, how can we decide which tool provides the best way to get there.

Training for Purpose

We all train for different reasons. Whether it be power, strength, hypertrophy, or endurance, we can look to the repetition continuum to provide us with a guideline for the sets and reps we use (volume) and how heavy (intensity).

Volume and intensity have an inverse relationship. The heavier you lift, the less the times you can lift it (high intensity/low volume). The reverse is also true.

After we have identified our training goal, we can identify the correct protocol to implement. If strength development is the goal, we need to lift heavy (>85% of 1RM) for low volume (3-5 reps for 3-5 sets).

We then need to select exercises. There are some differences when it comes to free-weights and resistance training. When we train, we get better.

This process is known as adaptation. It also means, over time, the training needs to become harder. This is known as progressive overload. When we use free-weights, progressive overload is pretty easy to employ. Week by week, you add more weight to the bar.

But, calisthenics is a bit trickier. After all, how do we make ourselves heavier week after week—isn’t that what we’re trying to avoid?

It’s tempting to add repetitions as we improve, but as we add repetitions we find ourselves shifting along the repetition continuum, and before you know it your strength protocol turns becomes an endurance program.

A better way to overload calisthenics exercises is to use additional weight (adding weight to a chin up) or performing a harder variation of the exercise (single arm chin up eccentrics).

As you can see, it isn’t so much about which modality but making sure the modality satisfies the parameters of the protocol.

Below are a few bodyweight exercises that can be used to substitute traditional lifts. You can see the similarities in the target muscle groups. Free weights and calisthenics have more in common than you may have thought.

You may now be thinking “when do I use what?” Many of us treat exercises like a relationship on Tinder. Here’s the thing; multi-joint exercises are difficult to learn and we improve by increasing the resistance (progressive overload).

If we jump between exercises too frequently, you probably haven’t exhausted that exercise’s potential.

In fact, you have probably just gotten over the technique acquisition hump. A good rule of thumb is to stick with an exercise for 4-6 weeks, employing steady incremental increases in load each week.

Instead of debating whether free-weights or calisthenics reigns supreme, first, identify your training goal.

Second, use a suitable protocol (based on the repetition continuum). Then, identify which muscle groups you are looking to target. Finally, pick an appropriate exercise, stick with it and get stronger.

The post Which Is Right for You: Free Weights or Bodyweight? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

That being said, there are numerous examples of effective exercise programs. If we borrow bits and pieces from several different programs we can combine them into fairly comprehensive solution.

Finding the perfect workout routine and training schedule is the fitness equivalent of finding the Holy Grail. Such a phenomenon does not exist. No two individuals are the same and therefore cannot expect to derive the same results from the same routine.

That being said, there are numerous examples of effective exercise programs. If we borrow bits and pieces from several different programs we can combine them into fairly comprehensive solution.

Start with Goals

Designing a well-rounded strength and conditioning routine must start with specific and clearly stated goals.

Such goals can include performance-based metrics achieved through sport-specific conditioning, or fitness-based metrics achieved through general physical preparation. These goals are ultimately based upon each athlete’s individual wants and needs.

Prior to starting a new fitness or training regimen, an initial consultation should be performed. This complements goal-setting by providing an opportunity to establish professional credibility on the part of the coach, determine athlete-coach compatibility, and develop rapport and trust with the client.

These factors lay the foundation for open communication between coach and athlete, and increase the likelihood of success with the program that is ultimately mapped out.

During this initial consultation, prior training history should be reviewed, constraints and limitations should be discussed, and health history should be assessed.

A Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q) is necessary to ensure that medical clearance has been attained prior to starting a new exercise routine. Finally, a fitness screening of some sort should be performed so that the athlete’s aptitude, capacity, and tolerance for exercise can be determined.

Successful goal-setting should be specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and timely. A clear statement of the intended outcome and the motivation for this outcome must be provided.

This will help determine whether the goal is in fact realistic and timely.

It is up to each individual to determine how they will measure progress toward their goal. Some may wish to measure body composition changes based upon body fat percentages, while others may use the fit of a certain article of clothing.

While setting goals, it can also be appropriate to discuss potential obstacles and pitfalls. Developing a strategy ahead of time to deal with these inevitabilities will minimize disruption when and if they occur. It is also a good idea at this point to clearly define the roles and responsibilities of both the coach and the athlete.

Any given program or routine should be followed for at least four months in order to properly determine its efficacy. [Photo credit: J Perez Imagery]

Break Down the Warm Up

The term “warm up” refers to preparatory exercises performed prior to the workout, and a proper one is an essential component of any workout. The key purposes of the warm up are:

• Increase muscle temperature for more forceful contractions and quicker relaxations.
• Increase blood temperature to working muscles, allowing more oxygen to be delivered to working muscles.
• Increase range of motion around joints.

Performing a dynamic warm up prior to physical activity will likely improve performance and may provide increased resistance to muscle injury.

Stretching often plays a major role here, but it is important to note that stretching in a dynamic warm up is not the same as flexibility training (e.g., static stretching). Let’s refine those terms:

• Flexibility refers to the range of motion at a specific joint or series of joints, and is typically assessed in non-weight bearing situations.
• Dynamic stretching refers to performing movements specific to a sport or movement pattern. Within the context of dynamic stretching are the terms mobility and movement preparation.
• Mobility refers to an individual’s ability to achieve a posture or position, is more global in nature, and emphasizes multi-joint movements and stabilization.
• Movement preparation is an even broader term used to describe all of the various methods used to improve mobility during a warm up.

The timing and elements of a warm up can and should vary depending on the type and length of the ensuing workout session.

If the planned workout is on the shorter but extremely intense side, then the warm up should be longer and more extensive to allow the body to be adequately prepared.

If the workout is longer and less intense, then the warm up may be on the shorter side, as the first few minutes of the workout session will serve as a natural extension of the warm up.

A dynamic warm up routine typically includes at least 3-5 minutes of cardiovascular activity, starting at a low intensity and progressing to a moderate intensity (i.e., to the point of developing a light sweat).

This cardiovascular warm up is followed by a minimum of 5-15 minutes of movement preparation that progresses from general exercises to ones that are more specific to the ensuing exercise session.

Each movement is performed for either a certain distance (e.g. 25m) or a certain number of repetitions.

At this point, some individuals may also include some form self-myofascial release techniques (e.g. foam rolling or lacrosse ball therapy) to relieve adhesions and knots in muscles.

Although often included in the warm up, flexibility training (static stretching and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, aka PNF) may in fact reduce force production which in turn can negatively affect performance measures.

Flexibility training should therefore be reserved for a separate focused workout session.

Create a Challenging Program

Over the course of a given program, the workouts are the stimuli that cause the desired physiological adaptations (e.g. getting stronger, improving body composition, increasing aerobic capacity).

There are a few essential characteristics to the workout program:

• Specificity (individuality): This relates to the goals and needs of the athlete. Specificity is achieved by targeting certain muscle groups, energy systems, speed of movement, movement patterns, or muscle action types.
• Overload: In order to prompt physiological changes, the induced training stress must exceed the training stress experienced during the previous workout. This is accomplished by increasing the load, sets, reps, or by decreasing the rest periods.
• Progression: This is the systematic modification of a training program over time. In addition to exercise intensity, progression also refers to changes in frequency and difficulty of exercise selection, such as advancement from low-skill to high-skill exercises.
• Variation: Variety in exercise selection and training variables must be carefully planned.

There is much debate about what should be included in the workout session to meet the criteria laid out here. Traditional strength and conditioning programs would tend to favor standard periodization protocols.

Periodization refers to the systematic planning of athletic or physical training. The aim is to reach the best possible performance in the most important competition of the year.

This is achieved through the progressive cycling of various aspects of a training program during specific periods or phases.

Periodization can include an annual plan (macrocycle), a monthly plan (mesocycle) and a weekly plan (microcycle). Conditioning programs will often use periodization to break up the training program into the offseason, preseason, in-season, and the postseason.

It is suggested that by breaking the plan up into different phases, an athlete can focus on different goals, avoid fatigue and injury, and maximize performance outcomes.

Periodization certainly works well for sports-specific or performance-specific programs. However, such a strict regimen may not work very well for someone looking for general physical preparation.

At the other end of the programming spectrum you find protocols like that of CrossFit. CrossFit defines its programming as emphasizing constantly varied, functional movements done at a high intensity. However, this does not mean that CrossFit’s programming lacks specific rationale.

In fact, CrossFit strives to put forth a regimen that allows for all the variance imaginable, while still addressing all of the elements necessary for comprehensive fitness.

The CrossFit strength and conditioning template allows for enough variation that it is mathematically possible to never repeat a single CrossFit workout in a lifetime.

At the same time, this template strives to offer enough structure to ensure adequate development of one’s fitness. It is an attempt to find the perfect blend of structure and flexibility in programming, incorporating textbook theories with real world application. Some might refer to this as an anytime, anywhere type fitness.

The flexibility of CrossFit programming allows the movements and workouts to be inherently scalable. This allows for specificity, overload and progression to all be addressed simultaneously.

Workouts are modified and adjusted to meet the individual goals and needs of the athlete.

Specific muscle groups, movement patterns and muscle actions can be emphasized to target a particular weakness. The training stress can be manipulated to provide the appropriate stimulus, and in turn ensure that progress is always being made.

The Importance of the Cool Down

What you do after your workout is just as important as what you do during it.

After any workout, your muscles are fatigued and have begun breaking down. The window of time immediately after your workout is essential, if not critical, to recovery. This period is often referred to as the cool down phase and should emphasize some key elements:

• Light cardio: There’s a reason the treadmill has a “cool down” setting. When you are exercising at an effort of, say, 8 out of 10, your body needs help getting back down to one out of 10. Simply stopping after intense exercise can cause blood pooling, a drop in blood pressure and even dizziness. Try a light jog, walk, or a bike ride for 3-5 minutes after your workout has ended. If you are monitoring your heart rate, try to get it back down into the range of between 100 and 120 beats per minute.
• Stretch: After strength training or cardio, your muscles are warmed up so they are more elastic and pliable. This can allow for greater benefits from flexibility work. Although stretching has not been found to decrease injuries, it has been correlated with a decrease in Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). This is the muscle soreness that typically sets in within 24-36 hours after intense training. Stretching maintains circulation in key areas which can prevent blood from pooling in certain muscle groups after your workout. This can be the perfect time to perform the recommended 5-10 minutes of daily flexibility training.
• Hydrate: Every time you move, you expend water from your body. After an intense workout, you need to replenish water supplies. Proper post workout hydration helps decrease muscle soreness and increase strength and flexibility. In order to determine how much liquid you need after exercise, weigh yourself before your workout, then weigh yourself when you have finished. The weight you lost in between is strictly water weight. To replenish, you need to drink that weight in liquids, plus an additional 25-50% to make up for what you will eventually loose in urine.
• Grab a protein shake: No matter what time of day you work out, you should drink a protein shake after. This is arguably most important within the first 15-30 minutes immediately following the conclusion of your workout. This is when your body’s metabolic window is optimized. A shake will put carbohydrates and protein back into your muscles so they can rebuild and get stronger. A good recipe is about four grams of carbohydrates for every one gram of protein. Perhaps the best available protein shake is a 16-ounce glass of chocolate milk.

Pin Down the Training Schedule

One of the most common questions surrounding exercise is what sort of training schedule is optimal.

Athletes often want to know how many days per week they should work out, and how often to take a rest day. The answer to this question is a key aspect in creating the proper routine. What makes it a little tricky is the fact that there are a number of ways it can go.

The amount of potential workout schedules, splits, and plans to choose from is enough to make your head explode. However, these can be narrowed down by factoring in a few key workout schedule requirements.

The workout schedule must fit the athlete’s desired training frequency and weekly schedule. How many days they can actually manage to work out per week.

Is it 3 times? 4 times? More? Less? Are there specific days they can work out on and specific days they absolutely cannot? Do they need to take the weekends off, or are the weekends the days you need to train on?

The workout schedule must also fit the athlete’s training preferences and needs. At the same time, the athlete should make sure they are actually enjoying what they are doing and make sure the smaller details suit them and their goal.

Once the proper schedule has been determined, the various acute details can be plugged in. These are variables such as exercise selection, sets, reps, volume, energy systems, and rest periods.

CrossFit emphasizes two formulas for programming, three days on, one day off; or five days on, two days off. With this protocol established, CrossFit then employs three modalities across all its training: metabolic conditioning, gymnastics (body weight exercises), and weightlifting (Olympic and powerlifting).

The specific exercises are chosen based upon functionality, neuroendocrine response, and impact on the body.

Traditional bodybuilding programs often follow a weekly pattern of two days on, one day off, two days on, and two days off. Such programs emphasize a specific part of the body from day to day, like the popular chest and triceps on Mondays, and back and biceps on Tuesdays.

This works well for many people and only necessitates making it to the gym four days in given week.

One advantage of such a routine is that if a day is missed, it can easily be made up on one of the three planned off days. Bodybuilding programs are aimed at building muscle, so the emphasis is more on weight training with cardiovascular training being done on an as-needed basis.

The cardio portion of such routines is often long and slow (e.g. walking on a treadmill), and is often scheduled separate from the weight training component.

Sports-specific training programs frequently require training six or seven days per week. These programs often include strength work three to five days per week, skill work related to the sport two to three days per week, and cardiovascular conditioning relevant to the sport on three to six days per week.

Sports-specific programs are typically the most involved, but they are often pursued by athletes that can afford to entertain such intensive scheduling demands.

Patience Is Key

In the end, there is no guarantee that any one program will prove to be the perfect solution. Often it takes trial and error to find out what works for you and what does not.

To determine this, patience is essential. Any given program or routine should be followed for at least four months in order to properly determine its efficacy. Once that has been determined, then appropriate changes, if necessary, can be made.

Find training to fit your schedule and goals:

Low-Key Strategies for Skill Building

Training ideas for coaches:

Move Well First: A New Path for Coaching Fitness

The post The Anatomy of a Training Program appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The Health Report Card

A whopping 56% of Australians rate their health as “excellent” or “very good,” while 10.4% rated their health as “fair,” and just 4.4% as “poor.” Dr. Lynelle Moon, head of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s Health Group, isn’t so sure that’s accurate:

“We are living longer, our death rates are decreasing, and our overall burden of disease is falling, but there are a number of key health problems that remain.”

Here is our rough report card at a glance:

• 13% smoke daily
• 60% are low risk drinkers
• 45% are inactive or not active enough
• 63% are overweight or obese
• 27% have one chronic disease, and another 23% have at least two
• 2% have had a cancer diagnosis in the past five years
• 5% have diabetes
• 20% have had a mental disorder in the past year

Does anyone else think there is a disconnect there, or that we might just be a little delusional about our health?

Why it that people will line up to pay 35 bucks at the latest gourmet hamburger joint, but can’t afford a personal trainer?

Know Where Your Values Lie

What motivates us to do things? Probably the only thing that really separates the 7 billion people on the planet from each other is who we think we are, and what principles or standards of behaviour we have, or what we deem important in our life—in other words: our values.

Knowing your “why” is important. Doing things that are important to you or that you hold in high regard, that you value, often ensures your success. They are intrinsic motivators. Being driven by extrinsic factors or external motivators means you are powered by someone else’s values. Looking for motivation outside of yourself is not usually powerful enough to drive you through those hard times. Purpose trumps motivation any day of the week.

Most of us would like to think that we behave according to our values. But as you read ahead and explore, you may find this is not the case. For example, why is it that so many people say that their health is their highest priority and yet spend no time, money, or effort on it? Why it that those same people will line up to pay 35 bucks at the latest gourmet hamburger joint and drink cocktails all night, but can’t afford a personal trainer?

As a trainer, a professional athlete, or tactical operator, it is easy to judge people for their decisions. But if you are in those professions, you are going to value your training and performance far more than the average person, because you do it for a living. It is part of your purpose. Its perceived value is bigger to you than lining up for that burger or smashing those whiskey sours on a Saturday night. From that perspective, it’s easy just to turn around and label someone as just “lazy.”

My belief is most people know what is healthy and what is not. We are constantly bombarded with health information, and wading through all the crap and misinformation can be challenging. But most people intrinsically know what is healthy and good for them and what is not. So the six-million-dollar question is, why don’t we do it? It’s clear that with an obesity epidemic sweeping the globe, there is a massive gap between knowing what is healthy for us, and behaving accordingly.

Enter the disconnected values model (DVM). This is a cognitive-behavioural approach set forward by Dr. Mark H. Anshel at Middle Tennessee State University to help initiate and maintain exercise behaviour.

The core of the DVM program is to:

1. Examine the benefits, costs, and long term consequences of unhealthy habits (in particular exercise or lack of it).
2. Identify the client’s deepest values such as career, family and relationships, health, hobbies, etc., but this usually pertains to health and exercise.
3. Identify the client’s behaviour and what their time, money, or effort is spent on in relation to their values.
4. Identify if there is disconnect between the values and the behaviour.
5. Conclude as to whether the disconnect is acceptable given its costs and long term consequences.
6. If the disconnect is deemed unacceptable, initiate plans to structure an exercise plan that leads to self-motivation (intrinsically motivated), in order to begin and adhere to a long-term commitment to exercise.

How does the DVM work to encourage someone to move more?

The Disconnected Values Model Step 1: Costs vs. Benefits

The first step of the DVM is to sit down and explore the benefits, costs and long term consequences of unhealthy habits and a lack of exercise.

Surprisingly, there are some benefits to not exercising. For example, there is more time for other things. It doesn’t require any effort. There is no need to spend money on transport, gym clothes, equipment, and gym memberships.

But what are the costs?

• Weight gain and increased body fat
• Less energy for work and family
• No recovery from stress

And the long term consequences?

• Poorer health
• Reduced energy
• Reduced concentration
• Chronic stress
• Reduced quality of life
• Increased chance of preventable chronic disease
• Decreased life expectancy

Most people would say the costs and consequences outweigh the benefits.

The Disconnected Values Model Step 2: Discover What You Value

The second step in the process is determining one’s values. Work, family, health, and relationships are all great general ones. But we can really drill down into more specific values like balance, concern for others, character, commitment, compassion, courage, excellence, faith, fairness, generosity, genuineness, happiness, humour, humility, integrity, kindness, loyalty, security, and service to others.

The Disconnected Values Model Step 3: Compare Your Values With Reality

The third step is then connecting the truth about your life with your values. The chart below is one way I have worked with people before. On the left, list your values. Then in the next column indicate how important those values are to you on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the most important). In the next column, rate on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the most) how much time you spend on living your values. Finally, in the last column, calculate the difference in your scores.

Was there a big difference on your scores? If there is, that’s totally ok. It doesn’t mean you are a bad person. Most of us have a disconnect between who we think we are, what we believe our values are, and what we actually spend our time on. The purpose of the chart is only to observe the difference between your values and deepest beliefs and your actual habits.

Is the difference acceptable? Are you ok continuing to live your life this way? Given the disconnect between the costs of no exercise and your deepest values, are the costs acceptable? If you deem it unacceptable, it’s time for an action plan to replace those negative habits with positive performance rituals.

Keep Struggling for Your Values

This whole process brings our unconscious habits to the forefront to shine a light on them. It makes us more aware, and that is the first step to real long lasting change. This simple exercise makes our habits conscious. Most of us know that in order to remove negative habits, we replace them with more positive ones. That is a conscious process. If we continue with this conscious positive ritual for long enough, it eventually becomes an unconscious one. This is our negative habit change progression.

Everyone wants to feel good. Everyone wants to have a great relationship and an awesome sex life, have an amazing job, to be financially sound, to be well respected and popular, and live a carefree existence. The DVM is a useful tool to get you there, but the reality is that reaching your goals requires work, and lots of it. If you want the benefits of what you value, you also have to want the associated costs. You can’t have the reward and not the struggle. Often you are defined by the values for which you are willing to struggle.

One of the main reasons why people fail is that they think they deserve to be happy. The pursuit of happiness is like a plague of entitlement and instant gratification that is sweeping the globe. But here is the clincher: you can’t have happiness without struggle and pain. Happiness is the positive result of working through all that it takes in order to get there. The quality of our life is not determined by our positive experiences, but how we deal with our negative ones. That’s what it takes to get good at life.

If you want that amazing physique, then you have to want the sweat, the soreness, adherence to healthy diet, the early mornings and so on. It’s not all about rainbows and unicorns floating through the sky pooping Skittles on clouds of puffy marshmallows. So many people are in love with the result, the pleasure. That’s easy. But you have to be in love with the process that will get you there.

More on goal setting and follow-through:

Your Fitness Truths Are Just A Story

Become a better coach:

Coaching or Individual Practice: Know When to Cut the Cord

The post The Disconnected Values Model of Motivation appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

“Begin with the end in mind,” says Stephen Covey. I don’t recall much else from Covey’s book, but that quote sticks out in my mind. His idea is to have a firm vision of your goal in mind, and the actions you take should all move you closer to that goal. This is a principle I apply when I practice both Movnat and Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ).

Here’s what happens: we learn the technique. We practice all the steps, cross all our “t’s” and dot all our “i’s”. We try to do the move accurately, seek instruction and feedback to make sure it is right.

This is all good stuff. But there’s this mysterious thing which creeps insidiously into practice from time to time. It’s a disconnect. The technique begins to separate from its purpose. They drift apart.

Analyze the Disconnect

In BJJ, this is most obvious when I teach people how to strangle each other.

Ideally, strangle holds in BJJ work to compress the carotid arteries of the neck, reducing blood flow and resulting in unconsciousness or a tap out. There are hundreds of ways to make this happen.

When I teach these techniques, the student focuses on the parts, what does what and where. When sparring begins, the opponent resists you and is not as predictable, and problems pop up. The choke is harder to get, too much energy is being used, and the opponent simply is not tapping.

Often, the culprit is the disconnect I mentioned. The student focuses on applying the technique but forgets the point.

Putting the arms and legs all in the right spot won’t do much without applying pressure to the right spot (those carotid arteries). The foot is on the pedal and the car is moving, but you forgot where you are going.

Have a Purpose

In the MovNat workshops I have attended, a central concept was context. Are you doing pull ups just to do pull ups? Or is a pull up a component of a climbing technique, to ascend something?

If you are pulling up to ascend something, the mindset and intent are different than if you are doing pull ups for the purpose of building capacity for more reps, or higher weight, or for cosmetic reasons.

The goal directs the process; begin with the end in mind.

No matter the skill, when you work backwards from the purpose, the details and nuances of the technique are easier to remember because they are in context.

They aren’t random elements of a movement, but functional components of what you are trying to accomplish. Imagine a scenario where these skills you are practicing make sense.

If I am practicing a crawling technique, in my mind I am crawling carefully through a tunnel or under an old front porch, mindful of sharp objects, animals, and so on.

This informs my crawl. If I am doing a combo, say a crawl/carry/throw, then I will relate it to a situation where I have needed those skills. Perhaps crawling under that porch, carrying a bag of heavy trash out from under it and throwing the bag onto the back of a truck.

Keep the Goal in Mind

Always strive to keep the skill and the goal firmly in mind so it doesn’t become a dead exercise, but rather a way to train for a specific skill. When you keep the end goal in mind, it helps keep you honest.

Are the details and movements you are doing really functional for the activity you are training for?

In BJJ, if the goal is to strangle my partner, are there elements of my technique which can be done more efficiently, or are they superfluous and not contributing to the goal of compressing those arteries?

If I am training to climb a tree, are there things I am doing in my solo drills which are not contributing to that (or any other) goal? This becomes a lens you can use to examine, refine and improve your training process.

All of this may seem too obvious. But I can’t count the times I’ve lost sight of this simple concept myself, or observed it with my training partners and students.

Sometimes the most obvious things are the easiest to overlook.

My advice is to periodically do a goal check. Ask yourself two questions: What is my end goal with this action? And is my technique done with this goal in mind?

More on making and reaching goals:

Why Better Than Average Isn’t Good Enough for Me

The post What’s the Point? Check In With Your Goals appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Setting of goals is considered basic common sense in the business world and it’s reinforced by research. Like that study done on the Yale Business School class of 1953 you may have heard of, in which only 3% of the graduating students wrote down clear goals. Twenty years later, those 3% had a greater combined net worth than the other 97%. Compelling, right? There are literally over a thousand articles that cite this study, and people like Anthony Robbins quote it as the basis for their books and seminars.

It would be compelling if it were true. But it isn’t. That study doesn’t exist. It’s pure urban myth. In fact, even Yale’s own library site advises it is a myth.

So what does it matter if this study wasn’t actually true? Everyone knows that successful people all set goals. Or do they?

In the mid 1990s, an article was published in an Australian magazine around what makes successful people successful. It looked at high-flying business executives, champion sportspeople, and media personalities to try and find what common traits they possessed. One of the common traits regarded the setting of goals.

They didn’t.

This is a trend that continues with modern organizations such as Google, who also do not set annual goals beyond those required by the SEC. In Google’s case, they don’t set corporate goals as it decreases their agility – the ability to respond to what the market is doing (which is often outside their control anyway). There are many famous quotations from individuals or, often now defunct, companies who “knew” exactly what the industry was going to do.

• “Man will not fly for fifty years.” – Wilbur Wright, 1901
• “This band’s going nowhere.” – Pete Best, Original Beatles Drummer, 1962
• “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their house.” – Ken Olsen, Head of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

How is it possible to set realistic goals when it is impossible to predict all those factors outside of our control that could influence these?

There have been lots of studies on what makes successful people successful, such as those referenced in Stephen Covey’s book Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. These people demonstrated traits like single mindedness, focus, and total commitment to a goal. The issue with this research, as documented in Jerker Denrell’s 2003 study Vicarious Learning, Undersampling of Failure and the Myths of Management is that the study group is quite selective. In this case, only successful people were studied.

Not surprisingly you don’t see many books on what makes abject failures unsuccessful, but in some studies, mostly anecdotal, it has been found that these people actually execute the same habits. Single mindedness and total commitment to a goal can make the person oblivious to reality, unable to deal with changes to their market or environment. Indeed in the 2013 “documentary” Jobs, the reason that made Steve Jobs successful – a single-minded focus on quality – was also the reason he was ultimately ousted from Apple, in that this focus made him oblivious to the other factors required for his company to succeed.

So if the value of setting goals is questionable or debatable, is there really a problem or potential harm with setting goals and what is it? Indeed the successful people interviewed in the magazine were asked why it was they didn’t set goals. The answer was simple and very relevant for athletic performance.

“Defining goals defines your limitations.”

As an example, picture a four-hour marathon runner whose goal it is to run a sub-3:30 marathon. He works out what needs to be done – train to that specific pace and come race day run a 3:29. Goal met. This is a great example of where the goal setting worked. Didn’t it?

Now imagine a four-hour marathon runner who commits each week to follow a balanced program of muscular endurance, weights, and track work. Each week he meets this commitment – a commitment to continuously improve. Come race day he runs 3:19. In this case, setting a goal of 3:30 would have meant he didn’t get the best out of himself – he sold himself short.

Imagine again if for our four-hour runner a 3:30 marathon was never realistic anyway based on time until the event and available training time? Had he focused on improvement over the goal, he may have run 3:39, which is still a huge personal best. Instead he “missed” his goal and is disappointed or, worse still, is injured from trying to push for an unrealistic goal and can’t run the marathon at all. This is also common in business where specific goals lead to people cheating or producing poor quality output so as purely to tick the box of meeting the goal.

The same is common for people trying to lose weight. They set a goal, instead of focusing each day on eating smart and exercising properly. For weight loss the issue can also be that a long-term goal is harder to be motivated for and thus slip-ups in nutrition become okay and self-justifiable as the people in question have months left to go. Weight loss is typically not linear, especially with obese people who have lost their insulin sensitivity. This creates a conundrum where a long-term goal isn’t motivating, but a short-term goal isn’t an accurate reflection of progress.

So rather than defining your own limitations through long-term goals, perhaps just make a commitment to continual improvement. Successful people may not all set long-terms goals, but they do commit to growing as an individual. They look at what they can do each dayto make a small improvement that, over time, adds up. In fact a 1% improvement, over 68 days means you will be 100% better than you were yesterday.

In Japanese this term, continuous improvement, is called kaizen. The tattoo of which I have on my ankle.

References:

1. “Yale Business Research FAQ,” Yale LIbraries.

2. Steven Covey, Seven Habits of Highly Successful People (Simon & Schuster, 2013).

3. Jerker Denrell, “Vicarious Learning, Undersampling of Failure and the Myths of Management,” Organization Science 14 (2003):227-243.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

Google Logo by Google INC (https://www.google.com/images/srpr/logo11w.png) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

The post Why Successful People Don’t Set Goals and You Shouldn’t Either appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Have you ever found yourself sitting with a blank piece of paper, ready to set some goals, but feeling unsure where to start? Or perhaps you’ve experienced times when you realized too late that the goals you set a few months back weren’t actually that useful? Setting suitable, effective, and challenging goals is not easy, but is definitely worth doing properly from the start. Here are twelve pieces of advice on how to set great goals.

3 Things You Absolutely Need to Achieve Your Goals (Charles Bennington)

Having spent a plethora of hours coaching people in both nutrition and movement, there are some key factors that are extremely consistent among almost all clients who actually meet their goals.

Use Your Inner Coach to Set SMART Goals (Becca Borawski Jenkins)

You have a dream, now how do you make it happen? Wake up your “inner coach” to create a training plan and have you ready for “game day” by following the SMART method of goal setting.

2 Fundamental Mistakes to Avoid When Setting Your Goals for 2014 (Andrew Read)

I think many people make two fundamental mistakes with their goal setting, and the reason they never succeed can be traced back to one of these two things.

Video: Athletic vs Aesthetic, Part 5 – Effective Goal Setting for the Athlete (Dave Ayres)

One of the differences between aesthetic training and athletic training is how we set our goals. Let’s look at an effective way to map out and achieve our fitness goals

Find Your Authentic Self by Setting Unreasonable Goals (Becca Borawski Jenkins)

It’s New Year’s resolutions time again. Are you setting safe, boring goals? Or are you setting dangerous and unreasonable goals that could change your life forever?

How to Pick an (Im)Possible Goal (Zen Gray)

Is your long-term goal a little scary? Do you feel butterflies when you think about it? Do you have smaller more attainable goals along that journey you can celebrate? Have you felt inspired lately?

If Your Goals Don’t Scare You, They Aren’t Big Enough (Nick Horton)

Setting goals and falling in love are similar…and frightening. What if what you want doesn’t happen? Isn’t it easier to avoid the heartbreak? Learn how to set scary, but achievable goals.

True Balance: How to Set Joy-Oriented Goals(Willow Ryan)

Sometimes doing something for enjoyment and doing something in pursuit of a goal can seem at odds with each other. But I think it’s possible to meld the two into a beautiful practice for improvement.

Goal Setting Improves Motivation in Athletes(Doug Dupont)

So you’ve made a bunch of training goals, but are you motivated? A new study shows that making the goals at all is a good first step to athletic success.

How to Take Our Goals From Dreams to Reality(Dresdin Archibald)

Success in the gym is a little like grade school, we have to take it one level at a time or be overwhelmed by the enormity of our goal. Plus, we have to really, really want it.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post 12 Sets of Great Advice on Goal Setting appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

As an athlete, I grew up always setting goals to improve my game, but everyone from yogis, to Native Americans, to the Mayans believe in setting intentions during the New Moon and the change of seasons. This year New Year’s Day falls on the New Moon, and therefore, we are presented with a clean slate on which to create our life this coming year.

I love creating intentions and making a vision boardat the new year. I use my vision board to set my yearly intentions, and often when I look back at my old boards I am amazed to find that many of the goals have manifested. Combining the written goals with the visual, picture form is powerful as both hemispheres of the brain, analytical and creative, are utilized.

Resolutions or intentions can be a great tool for keeping us motivated. From lululemon I learned a systematic way of successful goal setting that is broken into achievable steps. Yes, I know lululemon has received some bad press lately, but I fully support the company and everything for which they stand. As a lululemon ambassador since 2007, I attribute much of my success in my career to their support and goal-setting techniques.

The lululemon Goal-Setting System

lululemon breaks down goals into three categories: personal, health, and career. By examining these three areas you create well-rounded goals, and the lululemon system includes setting one-year, five-year, and ten-year goals. The first step in setting goals is to write down the “big picture” vision. This is called a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG). This is the long-term visionthat may take many years to accomplish. From the BHAG smaller goals can be set that are in line with the big picture. Since we are focusing on new year’s resolutions today, we will target the one-year goals.

According to the lululemon system, three aspects to consider when setting goals are possibility, vision, and balance. Are the goals possible and sustainable? For example, is going to the gym every day or never eating sugar again a realistic and possible goal to keep? Maybe it is more attainable to set a goal of making it to the gym three to five days a week or eating healthfully 80% of the time.

The second aspect is vision. Can you envision yourself achieving this goal? Also, are these goals in line with your BHAG or big vision picture? For instance, is your career goal to write a best-selling book, yet you are working in the corporate world doing administrative work? Your career one-year goal or new year’s resolution might be to start a weekly blog. The weekly blog is in line with the big picture goal and is broken into a smaller attainable step.

The third step is balance. Are the goals balanced in all areas of your life? One of the reasons I love lululemon’s method of goal setting is that it includes not only health goals, but personal and career as well. When looking at your vision board is it balanced in all of these areas? Notice if the career or health goals take up the whole board. What about your personal goals? To feel whole we must have balance in our lives.

If you are interested in using the lululemon goal-setting format, you can download this form to work from.

Happy New Year and happy goal setting! Feel free to share your goals in the comments below so we can support each other in our endeavors.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post How to Set Goals With Vision, Possibility, and Balance appeared first on Breaking Muscle.