What do you want out of your workout?

When you show up to exercise, what do you hope to gain?

For the vast majority of people, the goal of going to the gym is quite broad, for example, "I want to lose weight," or, "I want to stay in shape," or, "I want to get back in shape."

As we've learned through our journey through practical goal-setting (SMART goals), these broad targets may not be extremely helpful or motivating, resulting in many people giving up on their goal due to any number of reasons, including running out of time or feeling frustrated or intimidated by maintaning an exercise routine.

Whether your exercise of choice is powerlifting, bodybuilding, boxing, Crossfit, or any other kind of strength or fitness training, whether your exercise routine includes barbell lifting, kettlebells or dumbbell lifting, or even just bodyweight pullups or other calisthenics... we all face the same challenge: how do I start, and maintain, an effective fitness routine?

At the risk of over-simplifying the answer, perhaps we may simply ask: "Who do you want to become?"

Do you want to become big and bulky with muscle? Then bodybuilding may be your thing.

Do you want to become light, fast, and fighting fit? Maybe kettlebells and functional fitness with some boxing training may suit you better.

Do you want to be generally strong, in shape, and capable for any task? Then strength training such as powerlifting may suit you.

The answer lies within your own ability to envision a desired future, believe that you can achieve it, make a plan to get there, take action steps, and then persevere till you get there!

As I sit writing my own re-worked exercise plan, I wonder if I am over thinking the changes I want to make. After all, it's always easier to do what you've already been doing than to do something you haven't done yet!

But in evaluating my workout routine, I observed that, post-illness and post-injury, my raw strength had decreased noticeably, therefore I shifted into a powerlifting 5x5 series for a few weeks plus some rehab work. Now I find that my strength has increased, but my speed is lagging for kickboxing and MMA. I have a goal that I'd like to restart more formal martial arts training sometime this year, meaning that I want to become both strong AND fast. Therefore I will need to modify what I train to match who I want to become.

I hope that provides a helpful overview of this concept for you, as well as a real world example.

We'll plan to check in next time with an update on how the speed work is going and how it relates to our inner spiritual life as well.

Peace.