This time of year, everyone has some sort of habit that they want to change.  Part two of my new years resolution series talks about the initial planning stage.  Planning the process of your goals can be paramount to your achieving them.  As an example, many of us might say “I want to lose 25 lbs this year.”  That is admirable but that tells me absolutely nothing other than you’d like to be 25 lbs less on December 31 (in my case, the day before thanksgiving when I start my unintentional winter bulk).

If you don’t plan,  you have a much smaller likelihood of success.  And onto the meat and potatoes of this dish:

Are your goals SMART?  Of course, it’s probably smart to want to lose weight or get stronger but that’s not what I mean.

What I mean is:

Alright, well what the heck does that mean?  Checking out the graphic above makes you realize that your goal of losing 25 lbs this year isn’t good enough.  It doesn’t give any information, except a desire to be smaller.

Let’s hack your goal now:

S:  I want to lose 25 lbs

M: while improving my Blood Pressure to 120/80 and my body fat to 15%

A:  By completing 2 days of strength training and 2 days of conditioning per week

R: (is this goal even realistic?  Well that depends on your starting point.  If you’re 5’5″ and weight 130, losing 25 lbs isn’t necessarily reasonable or realistic.  If you’re 5’5″ 200, 25 lbs is certainly realistic.  For those that are significantly over their ideal weight, 100 lbs of weight loss is reasonable, as long as your time frame is also reasonable.  In the average person, 1-2 lbs of weight loss/week is reasonable.  Biggest loser type 10+lb per week weight loss, is not.)

T: Over the next year.

Read it again:  I will lose 25 lbs in order to decrease my blood pressure to 120/80 and my body fat to 15% by doing 2 days of strength training and 2 days of condining per week over the next year.

This goal is now smart.  This can go for any specific attribute that you’d want to improve.

Examples:

I will squat 315 lbs in order to improve my lower body strength and ability to power skate by completing Smolov squat program over the next 12 weeks.

I will improve my Blue line to Blue line speed by 0.2 seconds by focusing on single leg based strength and power development during the 12 week summer training period.

Now try yourself, take whatever it is that you want to achieve this year and make yourself one or two smart goals.  The next step?  Tell someone that is going to hold you accountable.

Greg