Mistake of the Day - Making Goals and Sticking to Them

As I talked about in my first post,  there are several different mistakes that I made when I first began working out.  Over the next few posts I would like to share with you, in detail, these mistakes, how they affected me and how I have corrected these mistakes in my quest to become a "Super Saiyan." I want to ensure that you avoid making the same mistakes and falling into the same pitfalls that I did. However, before we dig into the "Mistake of the Day," here is a quick recap of the mistakes that I have made:

• Not Having a Goal;
• Not Tracking Exercises;
• No Diet Plan/Tracking Food Intake;
• Not Pushing Yourself;
• Not Doing Research Regarding Supplements;
• Not Doing Research Regarding Exercises; 
• Underestimating Yourself;
• Pride; and 
• Etc.

I may not follow this exactly and may add additional mistakes that I have made as I progress in my training, but for today let's start with setting goals and following through with them. 

Mistake of the Day - Without Goals, You Fail

A sports team has the goal of becoming the best team every year and winning the championship. Each athlete trains to become the best that they can be. Every company wants to make a huge profit. In Dragonball Z, one of the main plots of the story is Vegeta always trying to be better and stronger than Goku. His drive to become the best fighter in the universe is the catalyst for his entire being and drives him to train harder and more intensely than any other person. Why? Because his goal was to become the best fighter in the universe.

As you will notice, with each of these examples there was a goal. So what makes anyone think they  can accomplish anything without a goal? Well, the answer is they are stupid and you can't accomplish anything without a goal.  You will flop around like a fish out of water and eventually "die." So what's the answer? Set a goal. Set small, short-term goals as well as big, long term goals. 

I had what I thought was a good enough goal when I first began working out: stop my body from jiggling. But this goal sucked and wasn't enough motivation to push myself and actually make a change. So when setting a goal, pick one that doesn't suck. My goal now...well, it's pretty obvious...becoming a Super Saiyan. That's my long-term goal. I make my short-term goals in such a way as to help me reach me my long-term goal. In the case of working out, I attempt to either increase my lifting weight by five to ten pounds per week or to increase the amount of reps I can accomplish.

Long-term goals are to ensure that our energy stays focused on a prize that takes some time to achieve. When we complete a short-term goal, we gain a sense of accomplishment and a dopamine rush which encourages us to keep pushing towards the long-term goal. For all of you nerds, it's the same thing as getting to a checkpoint in an old school racing game, each checkpoint gives you more time to accomplish the long-term goal: reaching the finish line. That is why you workout. That is why you do what you do: to accomplish your goals.  

So let's talk about how to make both long-term and short-term goals starting with short-term goals. Like I said above, a short-term goal should be like a checkpoint on the way to your long-term goal, something that gives you encouragement and keeps you going when otherwise you might be getting discouraged. A short-term goal should be something trackable (which we will get to) and should be kept to something that can be achieved in a month or less. The time period for your short-term goal(s) will vary though as it depends mostly on a person's motivational level or need for sense of achievement. As I mentioned, my short-term goal is to increase my max lifting weight on every exercise by five to ten pounds weekly. Not a huge goal but relatively easy to accomplish and it delivers that necessary motivation to keep moving forward. And while this doesn't seem like much progress, imagine starting dumbbell curls at 20 lbs and four weeks later you are curling 40 lbs. That's double the weight! Now, this would be amazing growth, and usually doesn't happen, so this is where I sub-divide my short-term goals. Once again, tracking your workout is a huge must and this one of the reasons why. If I can't make the set amount of reps for an exercise at a certain weight, I try to do one or two more reps than the next week. So even if I can't increase the weight I use, I at least accomplish something for that encouragement. That's the point of short-term goals...hit a "checkpoint," get more "time" and reach the finish line. [As a side-note about short-term goals, multiple short-terms goals can be good or even necessary.]  Finally, some examples of other short term goals: weight loss/weight gain, beating a set time for a distance run, or any other number of things. Whatever it is you want to accomplish,  set a short-term goal(s) and go with it until you reach that long-term goal.

But I guess you need a long-term goal first, eh? This is the easy part of your goal setting task. Set the goal you want to accomplish and find the method to reach that goal (your short term goals) and don't stop until you've reached that goal or surpassed it. Mine? Becoming a Super Saiyan. But maybe yours is to lose 15 lbs or to be able to run a 10k, the list could be endless. Now choose a long-term goal. Got it? That's great! Now work on it.

One more thing before I close, pick one long term goal at a time and set a time frame to accomplish it. Don't try to do too much because if you do, you are setting yourself up for stress and failure. Okay, I lied, one more thing. When you set your long-term goal ,share it with someone that is going to keep you accountable. It can be someone who has the same goal as you or someone that you respect or will give you crap for not doing what you're supposed to. This will help to ensure that you you stay on track and get through those checkpoints and reach that finish line.

Now, what are you waiting for? (Okay, watch this video first then get out of here.)

Once Upon a Time...

First, a little back story. About a year and a half ago I was riding down the road to work and noticed that I when I went over the bumps, I felt my stomach and my chest jiggle...things that shouldn't be jiggling, at least that's what  I thought. I was 22 years old and I was in, what I thought to be, decent shape physically. However, what I hadn't noticed was that since graduating from college and getting a nice, cushy desk job that I had become soft and flabby. That was the first time I thought I was really ever fat and to be honest, I was. That was the day the straw broke the camels back.

My parents had joined Planet Fitness (I know, insert joke about Planet Fitness being crap blah blah blah) in the fall of 2011 and when I mentioned this "jiggling experience" they told me to come join them at the gym. At first I declined with the excuse that I didn't have time, the money and that I could just workout at home, all of which were lies. Finally, around Christmas of that year my fiance and I (we're now married) decided to give the gym a try. For the first seven months or so I worked out fairly regularly but didn't really try to push myself and didn't change my diet at all (Big mistakes). I began to get frustrated when the initial quick changes stopped happening and I saw no progress. I wasn't really tracking my exercises and certainly wasn't tracking what I ate. Both huge mistakes.

With this frustration came another  mistake of poor judgment in the fall of 2012. I decided "Hey, why don't I try taking a protein supplement." This was a huge setback. I decided to use a protein supplement, probably the worst on the market, that contained a huge amount of fats, sugars and carbs which did nothing but hinder me. At this time I was also tracking my workouts but I still wasn't seeing noticeable results. Why? The protein supplement. During winter 2012-2013 and spring 2013 I also began supplementing with BCAA drinks and Pre-Workout. I could tell a difference in my workouts and my recovery, but something was wrong. I wasn't seeing any physical results in my body. I was working out harder than I ever had and still nothing. I was to the breaking point. Then I looked at the nutrition label on the protein supplement. It was killing any chance I had at losing fat/building muscle. And then I realized another harsh truth, I had to change my diet.

So in June, 2013, I changed my diet to a healthy bulking plan (to gain muscle mass) and also researched to find the best protein/protein mix. I think I have found it and in the past two months I have noticed huge gains (in comparison to what I had been experiencing) and have now set a goal, something else I was lacking,...to become a Super Saiyan by next May.

Now, I know what you're thinking "This is some delusional nerd with no life who is obsessed with a children's cartoon." And you'd be partially right. I am a nerd and I do have a passion for Dragonball Z. This "cartoon" (I hesitate to call it one though) influenced me when I was younger to stay healthy and was something that my brother and I always watched together and enjoyed. But I began to watch it again at the beginning of this year (2013) and it influenced me more than ever. Not only did I want to be a good, pure person like Goku but I also wanted to have the determination of Vegeta (and the body of both). I wanted to be a good example of how to be a good human being, both physically and socially/emotionally/mentally.

So, this is my journey, to become physically, emotionally and mentally fit and to be the best person I can be. In this blog I will highlight my workouts, exercise supplementation, diets, mental training, etc. I would love input from anyone and I am always open for discussion and even the good-spirited debate.

Will you join me?