How to Avoid Setting Yourself Up for Failure
Goal Setting for the Gym
Jill wants to lose 20 lbs of body fat before her cruise in 12 weeks. Mary has a New Year's resolution to lose some weight. In my experience, Jill will always lose more weight then Mary. Why? Jill’s goal is better than Mary’s. No doubt, goals are important; the first thing I ask a new client is "what are your goals?". Before answering that question, it is important to consider what defines the word "goal”. A good fitness or performance goal has several components:
1. A good fitness or performance goal should be quantitative, not subjective
As a society we love numbers. We obsess over body weight, age, income, the top 10 superfoods, 5 rules to live by, and anything else we can hook a number to (even the title of this post!). However, when it comes to fitness goals, this pattern mysteriously disappears - men want to "get in shape" and women want to "get toned". The problem with these goals is that they offer no direction or definitive outcome - they are subjective and not objective. Rather than simply "losing weight", a goal of "dropping 5% body fat" provides a focal point to strive for. Once this is achieved, the goal is complete, and a new goal can be made.
2. A good goal should match the desired outcome
While it may seem obvious, many people do not choose the right goal. When someone says they want to lose weight, do they really want to lose weight or do they want to look and feel better? Adding a bit of muscle and dropping some fat may result in little weight change on the scale but a big difference in the way you look and feel.
Same thing goes for performance goals; an athlete may train for strength (with the intention of improving sports performance) where explosiveness would have been more appropriate. The opposite happens a lot with younger athletes; I have seen way too many teenagers doing loaded jump squats that can't do a good squat in the first place.
3. A good goal should be attached to a time-line
Having a date in mind on when you would like to complete your goal makes the goal more tangible and creates a sense of urgency. In reality, no one cares whether it takes you 5 or 50 weeks to lose 10 lbs of body fat. However, a date helps keep the goal-setter on track. For example, if you give yourself 12 weeks to complete your goal, at the end of 12 weeks, you can take a look at where you stand - figuring out what you did right and what you could do better. This critical self-evaluation process results in knowledge gained and if properly applied, change. Goals without a date of completion often result in a lack of focus.
With this said, it is important to use your judgment picking time lines for your goals. It is not reasonable (or healthy) to set a goal for 30 lbs of weight loss in a month, nor is it reasonable to make losing 10 lbs of fat a "lifelong pursuit" (not that there is anything wrong with lifetime goals!).
On Motivation:
Many people consider “a lack of motivation” the force that stands between them and their goals. Some experts suggest the 'ransom' approach, such as eating dog food or giving money to an organization you don't like if you fail to achieve your goal. I think the efficacy of this approach depends on the strength of your social support network - I'm sure most people have a couple of friends who would find it very entertaining to see their buddy eating a can of dog food.
However, I don't think promising to eat dog food if you can't lose 10 lbs is a great motivational strategy. At the end of the day, such "threats" are simply extrinsic motivators and not conducive to long term change (which is an internal process). The weird thing about goals are I find the people who talk the most frequently about their goals are the same people that end up looking the same week after week, year after year. Author Paulo Coehlo sums this phenomenon up nicely in The Alchemist: "If you start out by promising what you don't even have yet, you'll lose your desire to work towards getting it". So true.
However, if you spend any time in a commercial gym, especially once you start making progress, there will be no way to avoid the inevitable "what you are training for" question. I really like Dave Tate's answer to this - your specific goals should be limited to yourself and a few others, and a general goal is suitable for everyone else. In other words, while your personal goal may be to lose 5% body fat over the next 6 weeks, when an acquaintance asks what you are training for, "losing some weight" is all they need to know.
Conclusion
A weak goal leads to weak results. For optimal results, pick an appropriate goal, give yourself a number to shoot for and give yourself a certain amount of time to do it in. Write it down and keep it to yourself save a few supportive friends and family members. On your selected day, if you made it, great, pat yourself on the back and set a new goal. If not, try and figure out what went wrong. All the training and nutritional knowledge in the world is of little use if not applied via good goal-setting.
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