This is year you are going to do it. This is the year you are finally going to keep your New Year’s Resolution to lose 15 pounds, look great in a swimsuit, fit into those pants in the back of the closet, lose the love handles or lose the saddle bags.
According a study conducted by the University of Washington, the most common new years resolution is to exercise more (37%). Eating healthier came in third place (13%).
Exercising more and eating healthier are laudable and attainable goals, but rather vague. If a person did not exercise at all in 2009, taking a brisk walk around the block on New Year’s day fulfills the resolution.
More specific goals, like losing the love handles or a certain amount of weight are a little harder to keep because they have a defined measurement and may not be realistic. Another component is knowledge and skills to achieve the resolution.
Nita and I can give you the tools, the knowledge and the skills to achieve your fitness related resolution–but only if it realistic, quantifiable and what you really want.
COMMANDER’S ENDSTATE
As noted above, the most common resolution is to exercise more. Thirteen percent of Resolutioneers say they want to eat healthier.
If exercising more and eating better are your resolutions are they really your goal or are they means to a goal?
Do you really just want to exercise more for the sake of exercising? Probably not. So, what do you really want?
Do you want to have more energy, be able to do play with your kids or grandkids without getting worn out, improve your health, lose weight, look better, be stronger, gain muscle?
If your exercising and eating better are a means to an end, a goal you want to achieve, make the goal your primary resolution.
In my work in Iraq and Afghanistan every mission has a plan, an operations order laying out key tasks and purposes to achieve the Commander’s Endstate. And the key to all that is understanding the purpose of the mission.
In war things go haywire, the enemy reacts, condition’s change, new information flows in, on the ground officers and sergeants checkdown to alternate plan or sometimes improvise on the fly–but everything they do is guided by the endstate, the purpose, what the commander wants.
If want you really want to is to lose weight, then define what you mean by weight. How many pounds of weight? Or is it actually inches off your waist?
Exercising and eating healthier then become mini-resolutions, or, in military speak, key tasks.
Think about what you really want, be specific as you can and try to put a quantifiable measure on it. You can even measure being able to play with your kids without getting worn out and put it in a goal: Being able to play tag with my kids for 15 minutes without collapsing.
Finding a quantifiable way to meaure your resolution is important for tracking weekly/monthly progress which is one of the keys to success.
DEFINE “DEFINED”
Kristine, friend of Nita and I, has a resolution to be achieved by Memorial day–defined abs.
A striking blonde in her mid-forties, she already has a fantastice figure from regular exercise and wonderful genetics, but she wants more–defined abs.
The question Nita asked her was, “how defined?”
“I want to see my abs,” Kristine replied. That still didn’t narrow it down much as seeing abs still means a lot of different things to different people.
Nita gave Kristine a quick assignment–go online, search around and email Nita pictures of what Kristine thought were defined abs.
The picture was of a female figue competitor from a local competition with very defined abs. For the vast majority of people it would be an un-realistic if not outright impossible goal to be achieved in six months, but for Kristine it is attainable.
At that point Kristine expected Nita and I to email her a diet and workout plan. Nita though was not done defining “defined abs” yet.
“Even when you get to that low of bodyfat, your abs may not look like hers. In fact, I can almost guarantee they will not look like hers,” Nita said.
Using a picture is a good way to get closer to identifying a goal like looking good in a swimsuit, but it is not nearly as good as a quantifiable number.
For Kristine to have abs as defined as those in the picture she sent us, the thickness of subcutaneous fat on her abs would have to be one millimeter or less.
The new definition of defined abs, the goal of the new years resolution to be achieved by Memorial Day was a subcutaneous fat thickness of one millimeter.
“But if you only get to two or three–girl, you’re still gonna look hot,” Nita said.
Most people’s resolutions will not be a chiseled midsection, but the process Nita took Kristine through to get to an attainable, quantifiable goal is important because she now understands what her resolution really is and can develop a system to get there.
Jule Crittendon, an editor of the Boston Herald newspaper, prolific blogger and fitness enthusiast recently read ‘Fit for Combat.’
He blogged about his goal a few weeks ago:
“My goal is less Johannes’ Spartan “300″ Fit For Combat look and strength, than a rangy kind of hunter-gatherer objective … the ability to go long across the Serengeti, run like a bastard from lions when I need to, that kind of thing.”
Just like with Kristine he has a great goal, but one without quantifiable numbers so I asked him how fast would he have to run 100 meters to stay ahead of the lions. How big are this ‘hunter gather’s’ biceps? How thick is the fat on the abdominals of a ‘rangy’ physique?
These are things that can be quantified and tracked to measure progress. Tracking progress will keep you motivated and we will show you in subsequent articles how tracking a few data points can help you dial in on the optimal workout and eating plan to achieve your goal and if you can realistically achieve your goal in the time you want to.
REALITY BASED RESOLUTIONS
Once you have determined what you really want and have solid quantifiable ways to measure your progress and success take a step and back and ask yourself honestly if it is attainable.
Kristine’s resolution to get six pack abs by Memorial day is achieveable. With a few caliper measurements she was able to estimate that she needed to lose 20 pounds of body fat to achieve her goal.
Losing 20 pounds in five months is a realistic resolution. Losing 50 pounds in five months, while possible, is less realistic. Losing 50 pounds in a year is much more realistic.
It is better to set a lower, attainable and more realistic goal. When you reach it, you can set a new goal or easily maintain it.
Nita, over the years, has found that people who set an un-realistic goal are actually sabotaging themselves. When they ‘discover’ they cannot reach the goal they have a justification to quit.
She has also found that people will work harder to achieve a lesser goal and usally surpass it.
This mental framing is very important to a successful fitness resolution. In fact, I think the mental aspect is the most important part. After years of being around successful physique athletes ranging from women figure competitors in their 40’s to bodybuilders I have found the mental aspect is paramount.
It is not that they have more self discipline and drive than other people, they just frame the exercise and eating plan differently in their brains.
Once you know your real goal, know that it is attainable and know how to measure it, Nita and I can let you in on the real secret to fitness success in the next article–Building the Brain.
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