Read this first. Plan to Achieve Your Fitness Goals

[Mighty Mouse]

Here is a great article I found on the net when searching for sources for an article of my own. Rather than regurgitate the same info, I will just use this article instead. I believe it is very well written and all Newbs that are visiting this site should take the time to read it.

Setting Goals
by Hugo Rivera, CFT, BSCE [MM: I have no clue who this is, btw]

In order to achieve success in our bodybuilding or body sculpting program, our goal should be clearly defined and engrained in our brains.

Without goals we are like a ship on the middle of the see, drifting away with no sense of direction, going with the flow. If a boat traveling like this gets anywhere, it is just by pure accident. If you do not set fitness goals, like the boat in the example, if you get anywhere it will be by mere chance.

Have you ever noticed that some people go to the gym year after year and they always look the same? I have approached people like that and asked them about their goals. Nine out of ten times they don't have a clear definition of what they want. Therefore, if you don't know where your target is, how can you hope to shoot at it and get it?

Setting Your First Fitness Goals

Take out a small piece of paper and write two things:

1. Long Term Goals

The first thing will be your long term goals. Be specific! Write the measurements that you will have (Chest, Arms, Waist, Thighs, Calves for men and also the dress size for women), your body fat percentage and your total body weight. Be realistic but don't limit yourself to what you think you can achieve. Write down what you want!

So did you really write down your long term goals? If not, stop reading and do so now!

2. Short Term Goals

Long term goals can look so far away. So I want you to write your short term goals. Short term goals should be analyzed every 6 to 12 weeks. Obviously, short term goals are going to be easier to accomplish than long term goals. However, by adding together smaller goals, you will get to your long term goals in due time. When you write down your goals, be positive and have no doubt in your mind that you can achieve them. This is crucial! If you don’t believe in yourself, who will? Now, write your short term goals in the following format:

For the next _____ (choose 6 or 12 weeks) weeks I will:

Lose ______ pounds of fat

Gain ______ pounds of muscle

Weight ______ pounds

Have Measurements of:

Chest ______

Arms ______

Thighs ______

Calves ______

Waist ______

Dress Size ______ (Only for women)

Once you have all of those goals written down, write down what ACTIONS will you take for the next 6 or 12 weeks to get there. For example:

Action Plan:

- I will eat 6 balanced meals a day (1 every three hours)

- I will wake up to exercise and do cardio first thing in the morning three times a week.

- I will do 3 weight training sessions a week. [edit MM: dependent on your personal routine]

- I will get 8 hours of sleep (7 minimum) every day.

-I will drink 1 gallon of water a day.

- I will only have 1 cheat meal a week.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

Take pictures of how you currently look (be sure to also document, current measurements, bodyweight, body fat, etc....).

This is a great way to stay motivated as when you look at your pictures from now, and then you look at pictures of yourself a year later, you will see a huge difference!

Now that you have written all of this down, it is time to get to your actions. If you follow your action plan religiously and you miss your goals by a bit, DON'T GET DISCOURAGED! You should have seen some progress anyway (here is where pictures really pay off-get a digital camera). This is what we are shooting for; constant progress as this is what will get us to the goals we want.

If you missed the mark due to the fact that you did not follow your action plan to the letter, don't punish yourself for it. Just set your new goals and be more determined in following your action plan so that you get there this time.

If you mess up your plan for a day, don't drop the whole thing and quit! I see this very often! When you fail, simply recover the following day by starting the plan again.

Set your goals, put a plan into action, and you will achieve them!


[edit MM: ]

I hope you find this useful. I cannot stress just how important goals are. All too often people just jump into bodybuilding or weight training due to fad reasons or 'cool' reasons, and have no true plan or attack or clue what to do. Follow this guide and you cannot go wrong.

MM

[Dave]

And while we're here....this is the introduction part of the forum, questions should be asked in the appropriate parts of the forum - they will get lots more answers there.

[Mighty Mouse]

that was my thought too dave, initially....

but it has been made clear to me that it is less intimidating to post in this area when you are new....so a few general questions are cool.

I'll move out any purlely specific ones like the PH one from earlier (who already has a few good answers btw since moving it) as they come.

so we are allowing the area to flow like it has been as it familiarizes people with posting.

[malu]

ahh interesting article

[slsrn]

thanks for thearticle on fitness goals. i followed the "instructions" and have my written up!

[motorhead446]

I think this is what I havve been looking for, some type of goal setting ideas. I've found the motivation to better myself, now i'll have some direction with a set of written goals.


BTW, mighty mouse, is that your beautiful german shepard in your avitar?

[sonicbum]

GOAL> be a brick sh!thouse
ACTION PLAN> eat like a horse and train like a dog

[Qbana]

I am new to this site.I read your article about the plan of action.I have that action set and I started training with a trainer about 3 weeks now.I only just started the cardio this week.Doing Taebo 3 days a week and training 3 with trainer.My Question is.....My trainer doesnt believe in taking any sort of supplements.I used to take a product named Slim Science.But they took off market.I was so physically fit and since they took it off I have fallen off bandwagon having to start over.IN doing so..I feel I need somethinggggggggggg.Can you suggest a fatburner or something that I can take to enhance my workout and give me ENERGY. I literally am dragging.I am doing 6 meals a day and finally today I actually drank the gallon of AQUA.
Im 41 now (Female)and I need a little help.I have gone from size 6 to 14 this past year and Currently am at 172.. I did just lose 6 lbs..But I dont see changes in my muscles.Working out now is much harder without the supplement I used to take.

[aikigirl]

As you get older for sure it is harder to lose tthat fat...What will really help on the long run is sticking to the 6 meal plan which does really work after some time of waiting...I used to use lots of supplements which helped, but at the end of the day with not much budget for them any more, the 6 meal did give the beat results...It is all in the nutrition.
I once tired Lipo-6, but made me feel edgy...did not like taht too much.

[Mighty Mouse]

Heh...I forgot I had this sticky. Been awol for long time from the "real" areas of the forum. I guess I won't bother answering some of the questions in here since they were posted some time ago.

I will start to watch it more closely now that I am about to fire it up again. Feel free to post goal related questions in here and I will do my best to help you either set or achieve your goals.

[BACkPAIN]

ok im a 31 yr old male that used to ift on a regular. i am now fat and out of shape my body hurts all the time im always tired and never any energy im 5 10 281 lbs i singed up at a gym 2 day and started to look for some help and found you guys my waist is 38 i want to be in a 32 again and get back 2 about 225 i have a ALOT OF MUCEL MASS AND AM NOT REALLY INTERESTED IN GETTING (sry about the caps ) stronger i just wanna feel better look better and be healthy o and how does the 6 meal a day thing work exactly pls explain? ty

[musclesntx]

I'm not sure what in the hell mucel mass is, but I'd get rid of that sh!t. Sounds disgusting.

Basically, you eat every 2-3 hours. This serves a few purposes:
-keeps blood sugar levels stable (and the energy levels that coincide with these levels)
-gives your body a constant supply of nutrients to repair itself and function optimally
-lets your body know that it is not in a period of starvation, so it continues to burn energy (metabolism) more efficiently and reduces the amount of fat storage
-helps give your body smaller, more absorbable meals, since you aren't eating 2-3 larger meals.

Make sense? Go see a doctor about that mucel.