Ready? Set goals!

I'm sold!

Health magazines, diets, fitness related advertisements and infomercials - they all try to make us feel like crap due to our general lack of muscles, particularly in the abdomen region, and overabundance of flab.  We're brainwashed into thinking that the sole purpose for exercise is to look good.

If that's your goal, you will probably fail.  Why?  Because looking like Hollywood models isn't natural, achievable (well, for most of us), or even fulfilling.  It's the result of pressure from the media.  It isn't even necessarily real health.

A year and a half ago, I got into moving my body by starting Insanity.  My goal was to get a six pack.  I did not, by the end of six sweaty, grueling, near vomiting, weeks, have a six pack.  I was a little disappointed to be sure, but not entirely.  I had a pride in my spirit and strength in my body that wasn't there before.

I learned that goals shouldn't be to lose X amount of pounds, or look like some cut model who is at least 10 years younger than me.  Effective fitness goals are quantifiable feats of strength, endurance, or flexibility that I want my body to do.  I've learned to set my sights on some athletic accomplishment that I can't currently do, and train my body diligently to get there.  There's so many milestones to reach for any number of physical interests: yoga poses, parkour craziness, weight lifted, distance covered, speed, height, accuracy, whatever.

Personally, the biggest fire is lit under my lazy ass when I have a goal that is 70%-100% attainable in a time frame of 1-3 months.  If I set out on a year-long fitness journey, I would simply give up or get so bored I would quit trying my best somewhere along the line.  If I was 100% positive a goal would be reachable, that means it isn't a real goal - it's just something I'm currently too lazy to do.

Here are three steps that help me in my own personal goal setting:
1.  VISUALIZE - Find something cool that happens to be within the realm of possibility of achieving given your current capabilities.
2.  PLAN - Set a realistic time frame and figure out what needs to be done to get there.  You can easily inspire/humble yourself by watching YouTube videos on any given fitness goal.  Set a increasingly difficult regimen and stick to it.  Possibly even write down what you have to do on a calendar and cross it off each day (this helps me a lot).
3.  ACCEPT - Understand that you might fail.  I have set goals in which I have a high and low threshold.  If I reach the high, then yippee, but as long as I stay within the low threshold I can still feel a sense of accomplishment. This is very personal - but you don't want to set a goal to be either like superman as a optimal or Homer Simpson as an acceptable.  My lower threshold for goals must be definitely achievable with commitment.  This is important to keep my ego and motivation elevated in order to set the next goal.

Oh, and if my body decides to look better along the way, well, then I won't complain.

Play hard,
Keith