Goals.

Have you ever had motivation problems with your workouts? I have. Usually that's because I don't have a goal, or my goal is too far out there to keep me motivated. Lesson learned: set a goal.

Now, when I say: "set a goal." I actually mean: "set goals." Why not only one goal? Well because if you do that it could be too hard so that you never complete it, or a too easy one that you finish, and you then don't see why to go on! So you need short term goals and long term goals.

Let's say you want to get a 4-8 pack. Most likely you're going to have to burn some fat first. So you should set weight loss goals. Now, you can set a goal to lose 30 pounds, but that's more likely a long term goal. So set a goal to lose something like 5 pounds in like 2 or 3 weeks. That's a short term goal. You can have your 30 pounds as a long term goal, and then an even longer term goal like getting your 4-8 pack.

Now. What if you don't really care about having great abs for awhile? You just want to get fit. Ok, your goals could vary here. You could want to be able to run a 5k in a short time, or 10k, or maybe even just be able to run a marathon! Well, chances are if you're reading my blog, you probably aren't about to run a marathon (that's like 26 miles). So you may want to work on the 5k or 10k times. You could set a goal time, or just try to build up to that distance. Don't just have a goal of a 15 minute 5k (3.1 miles I believe). Work up to that amount of beastness.

Now, you could want to be fit, but don't really want to be running miles and miles. This is what I want to do, because I get sick easily while running outside in the winter, and treadmills make me bored within 5-10 minutes. So what are you going to to? Well, if you have a gym pass, use that. Set some goals on weights...

There is a difference between strength and fitness. Do you want to get stronger this winter? Or stay fit? Or both? I want to do both. So yes, I'll set some goals on weights. And I'll set goals on pushups or pull-ups. What if you don't have access to weights? Then pushups and pull-ups will be your best friend/enemy. If you don't have a pull-up bar, try some unfinished door frame, or rafters. If you don't have any of those, then pushups will be your main way to build fitness and strength. Granted, you can do plyometrics, dips, leg work and ab workouts, but pushups are an almost full body workout. They work your entire core, your arms, a ton of chest, and even some leg muscles. Now, don't only do pushups. Pushups can be your workout that you set a goal for. With plyometrics is hard to set a goal, because once you get to a certain point, you're too tired to gain anything from it, dips aren't the best things to concentrate on because they only work the triceps and some shoulders. Ab work on the other hand can vary so much, and you want to work all of your abs, not just certain parts of it, so it's hard to set a simple goal for ab workouts. That brings us back to pushups. Now, it's many people goal to do 100 pretty easily. Well, that's a good long term goal. First off aim for something like doing a real, good form pushup, then go for 10, then 25, then 50, then 75, then 100, etc...

To sum up this post, I'd like to say don't only work on your goal. Keep mind that you have other muscles that need to keep up with the ones your building. I really don't like seeing a big shouldered guy, with big arms, fit abs, and then toothpick legs. You can't use your upper body to it's full potential if you have a weak lower body! Your legs are naturally your strongest muscle group, keep it that way. Also, another thing is when you see someone with jacked up legs, but a toothpick upper-body, then they can't run with good form for long. Their legs are too strong for their upper body. I proved this in a 400 meter sprint. A guy with much stronger legs than me, but a much smaller upper-body and I raced. I beat him by about 6 seconds. That's a lot in a sprint.

So, keep full body fitness. Don't just work on your goals. That doesn't mean neglect your goals. You should still concentrate on them, but not only on them. Still keep a long term goal goal and a short term goal. They make you want to keep coming back for more!