Realistic Goals+Proper progression= Success

One big error I notice with many people out there is that they seem to workout without rhyme or reason. If I ask them what their goals are , then I commonly will get very broad answers like " I wanna get bigger" or " I'm trying to tone up" . That's great that you want to do that, but what exactly defines bigger? What is tone up?

In order to progress in the gym or anything in life, you need goals that are measurable. You need numbers applied to the goals. You need realistic time frames So for the guy who wants to get bigger, he should say something similar to : " I would like to gain 10lbs of muscle in 4 months". That is very realistic and time based. If you set your goals too high, then you will ultimately feel let down if you don't hit them. I always feel like it's better to shoot low, and then if you hit that goal before or by the time you want, then you can always modify your goals!

As for the person who wants to "tone up", first of all you beat them in the head until they realize tone is ridiculous word that means nothing. The word most people are likely meaning to say is "define". So the person who wants to define their body should say something similar to this: " In 6 months time I would like decrease my body fat to 8-10%, and also gain 15lbs of muscle mass."  Again, this is realistic, specific, and time based.

I know personally I am guilty of getting into these points in my training/life where I forget to actually sit down and think about why I am training. Yes of course I love to train, and I do it to look good as well as the many health benefits, but what are my actual goals? If you train without goals, then how do you know if you've achieved what you want, if you don't even know what it is that you want ? haha.

Today I had a brief discussion about P90X and Crossfit with some of my friends and fellow gym goers. We all seemed to agree that these types of training are not beneficial to athletes. Yes they can get you in shape, but they don't address any skill specifically and there is NO proper periodization or progression. It's all about competition in Crossfit. Some of the shit they have for their daily workouts like " Do 40 reverse burpees and 30  snatches as fast as you can" just blows my mind. What the fuck is the purpose of that? Snatches are a power exercise, not something you would do as fast as you can for high reps. Sorry, but shit like that just drives me off the deep end. Even  someone who is highly skilled in Olympic lifts would run the risk of injury at that speed and rep range.

Had to get that mini rant out. I will save the entire Crossfit rant for another article. I'm sure there are some certified Crossfit trainers out there who are smart enough to incorporate some form of proper progression into their workouts, but from what I've seen and researched, it just seems like a big money grab. Some may argue that MMA training is similar to Crossfit as well, but I would have to disagree. If you have a good coach in MMA, they are going to have legit reasons for the type of training you will be doing and make sure you are progressing in a proper manner. Yes MMA athletes have to be well rounded in every aspect of fitness, but they don't train like retards.

What this little article is getting at is that realistic goal setting with proper progression allows the body to achieve those goals in safe and scientific manner. A good trainer/coach should be able to give you reasons for everything that they put into a program, and if they can't, then they aren't doing their fucking job. If you're doing random shit all the time without any purpose then the body has no clue what it is supposed to do and essentially you are just wasting energy for nothing.

So sit down, write out your realistic goals, and train with purpose!

Demon