The long road.......

So the Lean up Challenge is over, but that doesn't mean you should be reversing your fortunes. So many of you have done so much work to get where you are and I see it starting to slip away. If you only did the lean up challenge to see how much weight you could lose in 8 short weeks you totally missed the boat. We have all done a lifetime of damage to our stomach's, hormonal systems, liver, pancreas, adrenal glands... the list goes on. 8 weeks of good eating is not a miracle cure, only a introduction to what is possible. For those who have fallen off the wagon, gotten lax with how much is ok, made lots of exceptions or excuses for its just this one time. GET YOUR ASSES BACK ON THE WAGON!

First and foremost while I am all about short term goals, they are not a means to an end. They should be a hurdle on the long road to health. The truth is all of us should have a extreme long term goal that we can make progress towards but may never attain. An extreme long term goal is that goal that is so far down the road that for most us its not in sight... matter a fact it may be so far off that you might think..I might get there in the next life time. So what's the point of even having it then? All the steps in between!!!! Having this super long term goal always gives us something to bring everything back into perspective. What if your only goal was to have a 32" waist or to be able to do a muscle up or even have a sub 4 minute Fran? What happens when you achieve these goals? Most lose focus and drive. I know that when I was in the military a lot of the guys I went through selection with had only the goal of attaining a coveted SOF beret (choose your color and service). So what happened when they got it? They became mediocre operators with no sense of drive. While others who had aspirations of going to Tier 1 units or becoming the best at their craft seemed to excel in all aspects of their career. I guess the point I am trying to make is that while most didn't reach that tier 1 unit or weren't praised as the best at their craft, they were ever improving and even through all their accomplishments were still reaching for the stars.

Short term goals- Everyone should have these and it shouldn't be just one. Picking a goal in each category will not only give you more to focus on but it won't be so devastating if you don't happen to make it. The other thing is that they should be attainable! If you are still working on 10 consecutive pull ups, having a goal of a muscle up might not only be not the best idea for a goal, honestly it would be a pretty poor choice.

Intermediate Goals- This should be made up of several short term goals. Think of your goals like a series of funnels, with the big (short term)funnel @ the top, getting smaller as the goal lengthens. These goals should still be attainable but not without reaching the short term goals in the interim. For instance, you had a couple short term goals of doing 10 consecutive handstand push ups, and 15 1.5x body weight dead lifts, your intermediate goal was do Diane Rx'd. Without reaching those short term the intermediate is probably not going to happen.

Long term Goals- This should be a 2-5 year goal that is attainable but not without the short and intermediate goals and not without consistency over the majority of those 2-5 years. Maybe its all WOD's Rx'd or possibly 6% body fat or hey maybe it's both( it doesn't have to be CrossFit related it's just easy for me to use those examples)!!
Whatever it may be it should be something that is going to keep you in the fight for those 2-5 years.

Extreme long term goal- This is going to be the hardest to choose .. Because so many of the goals we have in mind usually can be accomplished within the other stages of goal setting. For me setting a goal in the specialization I hold dear, Olympic Weightlifting, is my Extreme long term goal. For me the idea of having a 125kg Snatch and 160kg Clean and Jerk, while not currently even close to being in sight, are attainable goals with lots of training and dedication. Will I ever reach that goal? Who knows, but it doesn't mean I will stop trying.

Lastly, if you have a goal you need to write it down and keep it in front of you, especially the short term ones. If I were to erase the goals board, which not nearly enough of you are using .. and you can't remember what your short term goal is, or even your intermediate for that matter, then you were never really trying to achieve it!! I mentioned Darin on the main page the other day because I know this guy sets goals regularly and goes after them without fear of failing. Here is a before and after pic of Darin over the last 6 months of training .. I would post his WOD stats too but honestly I would say the pics speak for themselves and all you have to do is watch the guy WOD and you can see a fire-breather in the making.