The Super Bowl is the climax of the football season. The winner holds the prized and coveted trophy…. A game in which over one thousand professional athletes strive to take part in every year. Every year those athletes know what they are aiming for and why they are doing it - a chance at winning a Super Bowl, a Super Bowl ring, and even an MVP award. They didn't get there by chance. They had to strategize and plan how they would reach their end game (no pun intended). And the athletes didn't do this by themselves. These players have trainers and coaches who manage their schedules and micromanage their practices.
As a personal trainer, I am required to complete continuing education classes every two years. This year I'm studying for a post-rehab specialist certification. I often work with people who have undergone surgery, had physical therapy, and need personal training to continue to recover their strength. While I know most of the information and am able to apply it in practice, reading an anatomy text online is truly a great way to catch up on sleep. It's been a struggle to read through the course material and very easy to find seemingly more important things to do. I recently received an email from the professor who wanted to check in with me. He wanted to let me know that it had been six months since I started the class and to see how my progress was coming along. That was just the jolt that I needed. Rather than wait until the last month to cram everything in, I've put myself on a 30-minute schedule Sunday-Thursday. So far, I've kept up with the reading and quizzes for the past two weeks. It's not easy. There are always distractions or other things that I would like to be doing, but I know what my goal is, and I want to achieve it.
Rachel and I are personal trainers and very capable of putting together our own workout plans based on periodization. Let's say that we set our fitness goals for a calendar year. We would take the twelve months and break it down into several months-long programs. Within the programs, we would have weekly schedules. Each week would be further broken down into individual workouts that would all lead us toward the fitness goals we set for ourselves. Easier said than done. We do it for our clients all of the time. But it's much harder to put a plan together for ourselves. We would end up putting in all of the things that we LIKE to do, not necessarily the things we NEED to do. So, for the past few years, we have been using training programs created by other trainers that meet our needs and push us just a tad outside of our comfort zone. In the COVID era, when Rachel and I meet up via FaceTime to workout with each other in our own home gyms, we have a plan for the day, the week, and even a few months.
Everyone's workout needs a plan. Without a plan, we can't achieve our fitness goals. Pre-COVID, I would train clients and workout at a local gym. There were many different characters (those are stories for a different day). Almost daily, I would notice someone come into the gym, look around, wander around the equipment. They would pick up a set of dumbbells, do a few bicep curls and then wander around again, maybe schmooze with an acquaintance. It was all very aimless and a waste of time. As opposed to the person that would come in with a notebook in hand, ready to tackle their workout. They were prepared and knew their plan.
Planning doesn't stop with workouts. Our meals need a plan, too. If not, we often find ourselves scrambling for a last-minute meal or snack. This risks high calorie, low nutrient food choices. To avoid this pitfall, I try to put together a menu for the week. I go to the grocery store and shop based on the menu. This saves me money, time, and stress when the week gets hectic.
Once you know your why or whys (see last week’s post What’s Your Why?), begin to devise a plan. We can't all be professional athletes with many coaches, being told what our plan is. We need to know our why, set our goals, and make our plan. It's our roadmap to success. So, how are you going to meet your goal(s)? Do you have a long-term goal that can be broken down into smaller achievements?
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