Setting Physical goals

Having developed some familiarity with the strength for life program I am now about to go for the full 12 week blitz. What kind of physical goals should I be setting myself, I don't know what's achievable in this time frame.

I am a 33 year old male, weigh 10 stone 12 pounds, my body fat is 18% and muscle mass 41.7%. I have a good heart rate monitor so I could track my CO2 max but is it worth while doing this for a weight training dominated program.

Any advice on what stats to track (I'm a geek and this will help maintain my commitment) and what kind of targets that I should aim for, that are tough but achievable will be welcome.

Re: Setting Physical goals

hey,
 hopefully some more knowledgeable people will answer, all i can do is repeat stuff from the book.
how ambitious your goals are might depend on your personality, you could set them really high to inspire yourself (a surprising amount is achievable in 12 weeks!) or you could set em more conservatively and maybe get to happily exceed them.
i was pretty lax with the old tracking myself, other than the workout trackers i only kept waist measurements, i was happy with the strong subjective sense of progress.
how did you do your body composition measurements?
weekly photos from a few angles is a good idea, and of course you can do tape measurements of arms, legs, waist and chest.
i got a heart rate monitor but found the subjective scale more useful for the cardio portion, of course you can track your resting rate over the weeks.
personally, i exceeded some of my targets and fell short of others, but what really mattered was how much better i was feeling.
anyway, congrats on doing it, i look forward to seeing your updates!!
t

Re: Setting Physical goals

I have one of those scales that calculates body composition, if you program it correctly! In a recent gym test I discovered I am 2 inches shorter than I thought I was, so all my previous measurements are incorrect. Plus I have to consider if I have been in denial about my Tom Cruz complex! ;-D

Re: Setting Physical goals

ive never heard of those scales, id like 2 try, i think at the moment, like a baby seal im about 75% blubber!
are you doing the pre-cleansey thing?

Re: Setting Physical goals

search for body analyser scale and you should get the kind of thing I have.

As for the basecamp thing I am not doing it as I was in a bad state outside of the gym. My performance outside the gym can be directly related to my presence or lack of it in the gym and I hadn't been for sometime so I really needed to kick on. I was mentally and physically a pudding last week and today after 1 session I have my A game on, I know exercise doesn't cure my problems in the outside world but it boosts my ability and willingness to deal with it.

So feel free to PM me tomorrow and check if I went to the gym, I have to go across town to the sister gym as my local one only opens early on monday, wednesday and friday.

Re: Setting Physical goals

Hey guys… I thought I'd share a little blurb from my book here… I'm in the editing process right now ;-) but here's a small section on goal setting… some of the context maybe isn't necessary however you'll want to pay attention to the 9 tips at the end - they're important for actually setting goals. 

Big Love 
~Rob

PS: Please don't remove this text from this pod - thx :-) 

Goal Setting
Goal setting emerged in the research world as a legitimate topic in the mid 1980’s. As a result this discipline became understood more clearly by the scientific community as a significant contributor to both high levels of performance and more pronounced levels of motivation in sport. Goal setting has increasingly become part of the implicit and explicit performance culture in sports and beyond ever since and is an extremely powerful practice you are wise to employ in a variety of areas of your life where you are striving to move, shift and evolve yourself and your performance forward.   
Goal setting has four functional dimensions to them that make them pragmatically so powerful and efficient when employed properly. Clearly defined goals continually cause you to focus your attention on a task or skill that’s necessary to achieve your goal. This periodic or continual refocusing of your attention facilitates greater mastery of skills and performance improvements. In addition to facilitating you to effectively direct your attention goals are extremely powerful tools to mobilize higher levels of effort. Goals increase the effort you put forth into a specific activity because of a higher level of investment in achieving your goal. Effective goals also promote persistence. When you commit to a goal or a set of goals you return to the necessary tasks you might otherwise not focus upon during the course of life’s competing demands. Goals facilitate consistent practice and engagement over long periods of time, all of which are requisites for your own emergent Greatness. Finally, goals facilitate the development of new learning strategies. Goals provide challenges that frustrate your existing capacities and force you to learn, grow and evolve. 
The most effective goal setting requires an integrative approach, or what’s called a multiple goal strategy that employs all three of the major types of goals. The first type of goals are outcome goals. These are specific outcomes. For example winning a competition, finishing in the top 5, getting a promotion, landing that new job you are passionate about. Generally speaking these goals involve some sort of interpersonal comparison.



Performance goals are the second type of goal. These are end products of performance that are relatively independent of the influence of other people or performers. These may be goals, assists, split times, weight loads, completions, accounts landed. Just about any measurement of your personal performance and personal records. The third and final type of goal are process goals. Process goals are the bedrock of peak performance as they are the most fundamental to the articulation of your Excellence. Most elite performers will tell you that their process goals are the most important to them. Process goals are specific practices exhibited during your training and or theater of performance. A runner’s focus upon their breathing rhythm or a focus upon running form are examples of possible process goals for a runner. Regardless of what area of your life you are looking to improve and excel process goals are tools to focus your attention and engagement upon the fundamental elements you must execute upon, moment to moment, to perform at your highest levels.Seek an experienced professional or trained coach within the discipline you want to establish a set of goals for yourself. Their perspective and experience can help you efficiently move forward with establishing clear effective goals. Here are nine common principles to help you set the most efficient and effective goals possible: 

1. Make goals specific, measurable and observable.
2. Clearly identify time constraints. Chose a realistic timeline in which you will obtain your goal or set of goals. 
3. Use moderately difficult goals - these are vastly superior to goals that are too easy or extremely difficult goals.
4. Write down your goals and regularly monitor your progress - that’s to say consistently track your progress.
5. Use a mix of process, performance and outcome goals. 
6. Leverage short-terms goals to achieve long-term goals. 
7. If applicable, set team goals as well as individual goals. 
8. Establish both practice or training goals in addition to competition goals. 
9. Set goals that are intrinsically meaningful to you. If your heart is not invested in achieving a goal, assess the relevance of using this goal and choose goals that are deeply meaningful to you and your unfolding Greatness. 

Re: Setting Physical goals

Rob,

I work for a company that loves goal setting, but does it badly with minimum explanation. I found your writing informative and a good read, I'll be very interested to see the whole book.

I am particularly interested in putting numbers on my performance and outcome goals for a 3 month S4L season. For performance I was thinking of increase in weights used, for outcome I was focusing on decreasing body fat and increasing muscle mass. My process goals are using strict form & the fit cycle, I am not sure if sticking to a session schedule would count as a process or performance goal.

Re: Setting Physical goals

Right on, I'm looking forward to getting this book into  your hands!!!

Tell me more of what you're thinking on your process goals regarding your session schedule and I'll give you my 2 cents…

Big Love buddy
~Rob