Fitness Friday: Set a Goal

Have a Plan: Set a Goal

“Setting up a plan” is very important before getting things started on a training program. People who go into a training program without a plan will most likely quit after a short while. They don’t know what they are doing and usually end up getting frustrated after only a few days, maybe hours.

Have a plan with a goal and make it fun.

I know what you’re thinking? How can all of this pain be fun?

In the great words of “Neon” Deon Sanders: “If you look good, you feel good… If you feel good, you play good… If you play good, you get paid good.” There’s a lot of truth to this. It comes down to wanting to look good.

Set a goal: Start out by setting a goal. Here are a few ideas.

-Look Great: Let’s face facts. ALL moms reading this blog want to look fantastic. The main thing keeping them from looking great, in their minds, is their weight. I think my wife looks incredible, and shouldn’t be trying to lose weight right now, especially since she’s carrying our third Hobbit. But I know what she’s thinking when she gives me that, “do I look fat to you” look. And she asks, “Do I look fat to you?” And I calmly say, “Yes honey-baby, you do. You’re my beautiful oyster, and you’re carrying my pearl.”

-Lose Weight: Make sure to set a goal of exactly how much weight you would like to lose. Start small and work you way up. Don’t say something like, “I’m going to lose 25 lbs in the next 3 days.” Remember the two-week rule from my last post. Not only does your body produce the painful lactic acid, but it also builds up a defense from losing weight. You may not lose much weight during the first two weeks, but it will begin sliding off after that point. If you’ve never done a training program, it can be very frightening. You might think the pain will never go away, but it will. I promise. You’ll always feel a tiny bit of pain, but you’ll learn to enjoy it. Endorphins can be good.

-Focus on a date instead of losing weight: Enter a 5K road race with some friends. This is an excellent way to get fit because you’re not focused on losing weight. 5 Kilometers is only 3.1 miles and can be a great way to establish your self as a hearty weekend warrior. Take your family. Wake up early. Meet people. Join a club. Start small and possibly work up to 10K, then maybe a sprint triathlon.

-Find a Coach: This is the fastest way to get fit. We’ve all seen “The Biggest Loser.” There’s no way the people on that show would have ever lost that weight if they were given the training programs without the trainers.

-Establish Lifestyle: This is an ambiguous goal, but I believe very important. Set up your lifestyle now so that you can live longer to enjoy your family. I established 2 main Lifelong goals for myself before ending my athletic career. 1 – Get off of soda. For me, Coke and Pepsi was tough. I was drinking from 3 to 5 per day. I found that I loved the carbonation, not the sugar. I started drinking soda water from our Soda Stream. I just used water with no flavor (I love it with a lot of CO2, really fizzy:). 2 – Get off of french fries. I love fries!

These things are now treats for me, not a daily occurrence. I didn’t have to worry about what I ate while training for the Olympics. The more, the better. My nutritionist at the Olympic Training Center convinced me that it would be easier to break the habit while training, instead of after retiring. I’ll do more nutrition posts later.

Everyone is different: The training ideas that I put out there may not work for everyone. They may work for everyone in different ways. This is another reason a coach is important. A coach can find what works best for each individual.

Remember, while looking good and losing weight are great goals, they tend to be very ambiguous. If you have more of a specific goal in mind, you’ll probably lose the weight a lot faster.

Learn to enjoy your training program and don’t be scared of a little pain.