I have been a serious sports buff since as long as I can remember. Both organized sport and pick-up games. Whether Dad and I were throwing baseballs into a home-made back-stop, or heading to the old junior high gym following a Thanksgiving get-together, my life has been thouroughly infused with fitness, exercise, and training.
I became interested at a young age in movement, cognition, and fitness. What makes a muscle "fire"? Why can another ball player throw harder or more accurately than I can? How do eating habits affect my energy levels, power, thought processes, happiness, anger, speed, etc. I realize now that I have always had a burning desire to improve each and every one of these aspects for the betterment of performance and functonalities sake.
I made the error of assuming since I was facinated by these aspects of life, others must be too. And to the same extent. We each must posess the knowledge and level of self discovery I posess, right? After all, I'm a normal guy with a pretty normal approach to life. We each surely understand the role a carbohydrate plays in fat gain. We each surely understand how cardio affects muscular strength. We understand how balance, motor neuron synapses, and muscle memory influence our everyday lives, right? Lastly, surely we all at least CARE about similar things!
Well I was ignorant. I believed if I had a client or a friend who I was advising with regards to fitness, there were some "givens" that need not be emphasized. As with many things, the real gain occurs from understanding the building blocks and principles of a fundamental topic. The belief that these were universal dogmatic realities is no different than a software developer assuming that I would understand how to define functional specifications of software protocol based on a clients' hardware requirments. We all have our own area of expertise and my adolescent view of shared expertise is flawed.
So, I have assembled my 5 keys to developing a mindset and route to building a healthier more enjoyable life as it relates to physical fitness and health. My next 5 blog posts will focus on each step individually.
1. FIND YOUR TARGET "Goals are dreams with deadlines." - Diana Scharf Hunt
BE MORE HEALTHY. LIVE LONGER. LOOK YOUNGER. LOSE FAT. GET BUFF.
As with most things, setting goals for youself is paramount. Goals don't just give us a way to motivate ourselves. Goals establish when we have reached our own vision of success. It may seem silly to think we could have achieved something and not even realized it, but over time our definition of succes may well change. By setting a few short term goals, we can evaluate our progress. More importantly, reaching small stepping stones reaffirms our effort as fruitful. In my experiences those who set goals garner far more self appreciation and contentness than those who wake up and say "I'm gunna get in shape today."
A few goals I have made in the last 6 months:
- Deadlift 500 pounds
- Reach single digit body fat %
- Be able to go 24hrs without any caloric intake
- Go one month without alcohol consumption
All of these goals were tangible and easy to access my progress. They served the purpose of displaying constant improvement. With each success, or failure, my pursuits are evaluated and celebrated.
Set goals, get results.
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