Today is Open Gym/Fundamentals at 11. And Open Gym at 12.
The Power of Goal Setting
Lindsay Scheerhorn
Why do I need goals?
Goals are a powerful tool to help motivate you towards success. Why do we care about goal setting at Carlsbad CrossFit? We want all of our clients to be successful and continue to progress. How many times have you started an exercise program or new hobby only to stop after a short time period? But if you had set a goal for yourself, you would have increased the likely hood that you would have stayed with the program or hobby until you completed your goal.
By setting goals we give ourselves something to work towards. We can use goals to continually challenge and push ourselves in the gym. We stay motivated to keep coming back to CrossFit to reach the goals we have set for ourselves. When we reach a goal we feel a sense of accomplishment and are proud to share our achievement with others. It doesn’t matter whether you want to lose weight, get stronger, run faster, or stay fit. Setting goals can help you get there.
What should my goals be?
Your goals should be S.M.A.R.T.
Specific – “I want to lose 10lbs” is more specific than “I want to lose weight”.
Measurable – can your progress be tracked? Losing 10lbs can be measured on a scale.
Achievable – Losing 10lbs over a period of 1 or 2 months is attainable. Whereas if your goal is to lose 10lbs in a day is not and you would quickly be discouraged from staying the course.
Realistic – We may have to make sacrifices to reach our goal but what we give up must be realistic. For example you may be able to devote 3-4 hours of exercise a week to work on your goal. But it would not be realistic to devote 3-4 hours of exercise a day.
Time-Targeted – You should give yourself a reasonable time period to work towards your goal. Setting an end date gives you a deadline to work towards. Again, the target date should be achievable and realistic. If you never set an end date you may find that you are always working on losing those last 10lbs because your end date doesn’t exist. Don’t fall into the mind trap of saying “I’ll work on it tomorrow” or “I’ll wait until after the holidays”.
Many of you may already be familiar with S.M.A.R.T. goals. This is commonly used by individuals to set career and financial goals for themselves.
We can also use this method to set fitness goals for ourselves. Rather than saying “I want to get in shape”. Using the S.M.A.R.T. method, a better goal would be “lose 15lbs in 3 months”. This is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Targeted.
Another example is instead of saying “I want to get stronger”, set your goal for “1.5x bodyweight deadlift by the end of the year”.
Are you just looking to stay fit? Pick 2-3 skills that you would like to become good at. For example, if you have a good kipping pull up work on getting the butterfly pull up. Have a good handstand pushup? Work towards a handstand walk.
You get the idea.
Continue to challenge yourself
Once you have reached all of your goals, set new goals. That’s part of the fun in CrossFit. There are so many different movements to learn and challenge ourselves with we can continually set new goals for ourselves. It can be as simple as “I want to beat my last Fran time”.
Share your goals
S.M.A.R.T. goals are a great tool but you should also share your goals with others to hold you accountable. Share your goals with a Coach, workout buddy, or family member. Those who know your goals will ask how you are progressing and will be excited to hear when you’ve reached your goal.
Record your progress
Track your workout times including the weight used. After a few months go back to the beginning and you will be surprised by how much stronger and faster you’ve become!
There are a lot of websites and phone apps dedicated to tracking CrossFit workouts. A few popular ones are Beyond the Whiteboard (website) and MyWod (iphone app). You can log your workouts in an excel spreadsheet. You can use a plain notebook. It doesn’t matter what you use, as long as you are comfortable with the method. Most importantly is getting into the habit of recording your workouts. I also like to include notes such as how I felt and things that I need to work on. What you include in your notes is up to you.
How can Carlsbad CrossFit help?
Set up a time to talk with one of the Coaches. Plan on taking 15-30 minutes to discuss what your goals are. We want you to succeed and will help you by determining if your goals are specific enough, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-targeted. Next, we will set up a game plan for you. Finally, we will help you track your progress.
For example let’s say your goal is to get a muscle up in a month. That is specific, measurable, and time-targeted. But is that an achievable and realistic goal? If you are able to do strict pull-ups and strict ring dips then yes that is an achievable and realistic goal. Our next step is to give you drills and skills to practice every time you come in the gym. We will help you by making sure you are doing the drills and skills properly and tracking your progress. Persistence, diligence, and S.M.A.R.T. goals will help you to become a better athlete.
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