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Goals: Pencil or Pen?

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Goals are supposed to be inflexible and set in stone. You should never change the due date of a goal. Don't believe either of those comments.

Be Specific

Goals must be specific or they won't be effective. You need to be clear about what you want to accomplish. A clear goal gives your brain a concise target to aim for.

Be Time Sensitive

When aiming to complete a goal you need to make sure it is time sensitive. With no due date you won't ever accomplish a goal. The due date sets your brain into motion. You can increase the pressure through a due date.

Put It In Pencil

While you must have a due date, it must be written in pencil. There are legitimate reasons to change the date a goal is due. An injury can happen which will cause you to take longer to complete the goal. If you have the due date in pen you might never complete the goal. Put the due date in pencil and you will simply erase the due date and move it to a more reasonable date.

Having flexibility built into your goals will help you accomplish them as long as that flexibility does not become a crutch. Use flexibility for the right reasons and you will practically guarantee success.

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Goals: Attacking The Problem

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I have been doing alot of thinking about goals and how to achieve them. I have gone back and reviewed some old resources from my past. Through it all I have taken notes and now believe I have come up with a great plan to attack my problems.

Taking It Down a Notch

Goals should be a stretch, right? This is something we hear all the time. This advice leads us down the wrong path. We begin to think in large scale ways. Our thinking gets so big that we create more opportunity for failure.

The answer is to take it down a notch. Look at the large scale goal and break it into pieces. Make it so it is harder to fail.

Eating correctly for the next 12 weeks can be a daunting task. Not eating junk food on Monday is easily achieveable. The 12 week goal is too large while the Monday goal is short enough to guarantee success.

Small Successes Strung Together

After you avoid all junk food on Monday you will need a goal for Tuesday. You could decide to avoid all junk food on Tuesday and to drink a gallon of water. By achieving Tuesday's goal you have strung together two small succeses and are on your way to long term success.

Be Honest

Don't fudge on your goals. If you fail to accomplish a goal try it again. Keep stringing together small successes. The honest reassesement of your situation will lead you to consistent success in the long run.

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What does time have to do with it?

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How does it relate to training?

We have all heard people discuss how long their workout is or how much time they spend working out.  People are very into such things.  However, is it really that important and does it relate to training at all?

I will tell you that time is an important factor in training and I don’t mean just having the time to do it.  Your training is affected by time in numerous ways such as the speed of the repetitions or the length of your workout.  Those two issues are in my sight today.

Speed of Repetitions

Everyone is looking for ways to intensify their workouts.  The speed of your repetitions is just one way to do this.  By slowing down you repetitions and paying close attention to your form, you increase the intensity of your workout.  By speeding up your repetitions you are increasing the explosive power you have.

By slowing down the repetitions you increase the time under tension for the muscle.  This is an important technique as it really shocks the muscle.  I guarantee that if you try a 3 second up and down repetition the amount of weight you can lift will decrease dramatically.  It will also skyrocket your strength.  As long as you approach your workouts in a progressive fashion, pushing yourself harder on each workout, you are going to see results that will blow your mind.

You can also mess with the repetition cadence in other ways.  Do a 2 seconds up, 4 seconds down negative emphasis and you will feel the burn.  Do this with an increased number of repetitions and you might feel like collapsing.

Repetition speed seems to change your metabolic reaction to the training.  Almost everyone I know who has tried this with true intensity has ended up throwing up during their initial workout.  It is simply an intense experience.

Length of Workout

We’ve all heard the bragging from a muscle bound guy about how long he spent in the gym yesterday.  If you are like me that does not impress you.  I believe you can get in and out of the gym and get some great work done just by being intense during your lifts.  In fact, there are many trainers who will tell you that by going to the gym for more than an hour will increase your odds of gaining fat due to the cortisol response.

All I know is that I feel much stronger and have a more intense workout when I keep it around 45 minutes in length.  Anything longer seems counter-productive.

Conclusion

Time is just another variable in your workout.  Use it wisely and you will see the gains you desire.

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Training Injuries

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It can happen at the most unexpected time.  It happens with no warning.  It can derail you if you don’t handle it correct.  I am speaking of training injuries.

Imagine for a moment that you are in the middle of a squat and you feel a twinge in your lower back.  It is not extremely painful, but it is more than a normal twinge.  How you handle this moment is going to determine how your training goes for the next few weeks.  If you try to work through the pain you are likely to miss alot of training time due to a major injury to your back.  However, if you listen to your body and rack the weight and stop the workout, you will salvage alot of potential lost time.

Make sure that you take the smart route.  If you feel something completely out of the ordinary, stop your workout and don’t continue until you’ve confirmed the severity of the problem.  You could be wrong and it could be something minor, but that would be preferred to a major problem that you ignore.  You won’t ever be sorry you stopped a workout at this point, but if you train through an injury you could very well be wishing you hadn’t.

I’ve done it both ways.  My preference is to stop and let my body heal.  It works best every time.

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Break it down

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People fail at their fitness journey for alot of different reasons.  I could go on for days about why people fail and how they never even realize it.  However, I’d rather focus on how to achieve success in our fitness programs.  That’s why I want to discuss an idea I have that will help you with your success.  It involves doing something that anybody can master.

Discipline Over the Short Term

When you set about to be disciplined about something, what do you imagine?  Do you imagine a month straight of great days?  Do you imagine a long string of successes?  Well it is time to change your thinking because that’s exactly what is causing you to fail and not even realize it.  Discipline in anything is accomplished over the short term, not the long term.  Anybody can be disciplined at anything for a week.  That’s right.  If you set out to be disciplined, plan to do it for just a week.  Don’t go into it with the great idea that you will be disciplined for the next month. Don’t set a goal that says you will eat 3,000 calories a day for the next 30 days. 

Instead of this approach, plan to be disciplined for just the next 7 days.  Mark it in your calendar and then set out to accomplish it. 

String Discipline Together

Once you have achieved the 7 days of disciplined behavior, start the cycle again.  Strive for another 7 days of disciplined behavior.  Use the success of the previous 7 days to reach your second 7 days goal.  Keep repeating this process over and over again. Before long you will amaze yourself with how long you can be disciplined.  The string of successes will just lead to more and more successes.  At a certain point failure will no longer be an option.

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

Once you have successfully strung together a bunch of successful periods of discipline, stick to the methods you are using.  Only make changes where absolutely necessary.  The process is obviously working and changing it too drastically can derail you at this point.  Do not reinvent the wheel because that is just a waste of time.  Replicate your own success over and over again.

Eat the Frog in Small Bites

This is the same approach used with time management.  You don’t try to swallow the entire frog with one bite.  Instead, you take one small bite at a time until the entire frog has been consumed.  Do this with your discipline and you will see major changes almost immediately. 

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