Use Performance Goals To Attain Health
By Sandy Sommer RKC on in Training Tips & Tricks
I’m 48 years young. I move better than I do when I was a college football player. Better range of motion in every joint. Better flexibility and certainly as strong.
I weigh less now than I did in high school and am almost certain that my body composition is better.
I don’t share this to brag. It’s just fact. I’m not extraordinarily gifted genetically. But I’ve always been a hard worker. I enjoy the stress and strain associated with an intense workout session. Never is it a burden. It’s always a joy.
So what’s the point of sharing this with you? Darrell Green, the former NFL superstar, ran a 40 yard dash at age 50. He did it just a few days ago. And he blazed through the tape at 4.43 seconds. Still fast enough to play at the highest level if he so chose.
Apparently in August, he promised himself that he would train and be able to run a sub-4.5 second 40. I’m almost certain that he trained with a purpose, as he had a specific measurable goal in mind. I’m guessing he wrote it down on paper to remind himself each day what was required to meet the objective. I am also certain that he knew exactly how he was going to train each day in order to be successful. He busted his ass but he did it with intention.
He didn’t just go out and run without a plan.
If you have no idea where you want to go, then you can take any direction.
How about this? Why don’t you define what you want. When you want it. And how you are going to get it. Forget Green’s goal of a scorching 40 time. How about your health? Have you defined what you really want? To lose weight isn’t a goal. To lose 15 lbs of fat is more like it.
I think everyone would be much healthier if they had performance goals instead of the more common goal of losing fat.
Do you have performance goals? How about I am going to dead lift 2.5 times my bodyweight by the time by August 24, 2011. Specific enough for you?
If you have performance related goals you’d better be eating well and with your goal in mind. If you say you want to be able to do 100 kettlebell snatches, then you may want to give up cigarettes. You see, if you have a working goal, then the health takes care of itself.
Stop chasing your tail.
Please let us know what you want and when you want it by?
Train with purpose,
Sandy Sommer RKC
3 Comment(s)
By Gary Horn on Feb 19, 2010 | Reply
I’ve been thinking about the kettlebell stuff and wondering how a person sets goals in the area of strength. I want to figure out what I’m pursuing. I’d like to have more strength and endurance, but what are some real-life goals for this?
It seems a lot easier to set body weight or BMI goals, activity level goals (like 10,000 steps/day), dietary goals (calorie intake or foot group intake), but how does a person decide how strong they want to be? How do you set a strength goal? What would be a strength goal for a “normal” 52 year old male?
By Sandy Sommer RKC on Feb 19, 2010 | Reply
Dear Gary,
I’m not sure what normal is anymore! LOL We are all so unique in our body type and proclivities. Certainly, in many ways it would be easier to set a body weight or BMI goal but why stop there?I also feel that performance goals by their nature are more positive and thus healthier. Just my humble opinion.
Often, we can reverse engineer our way into a performance goal. One of my goals is to dead lift 2.5 times my body weight by age 50. I can assure you that I am built as well for powerlifting as Albert Einstein. So it is challenging but I’ve designed a long term program for success by knowing the goal and backing into it. I have a coach who is helping me. We all can use coaches no matter our own level of proficiency. Tiger Woods has a coach for goodness sakes (maybe not the best example these days) As I get closer to my goals my health gets better and better.
Maybe someone wants to get stronger and build endurance. A kettlebell and its exercises would certainly be a wonderful modality for such an ambition.
First you would need to know what you can do today and set a goal based on being realistic. I have another goal to press the 48 KG kettlebell or Beast as it is known.. My max for one rep is currently 40 kg. My periodization schedule reflects that desire. A good place to start for kettlebell strength and conditioning is an appointment with an RKC. In lieu of that you may want to look into Enter The Kettlebell.
Train with purpose,
Sandy Sommer RKC
I hope that this helps.
By Mike on Feb 25, 2010 | Reply
Gary,
Your strength goal would be different than every other “normal” 52 year old. Much would depend on what you would like to be able to do, say in a certain period of time and your genetic’s.( We all know guys that look great without any effort). A coach would be a big help, keeping the training focused and not too dogmatic. That being said, I would opt for a basic fitness program, with ever increasing workload. it doesn’t have to be much but I think you would be suprised at the results.
I’m a BIG kettlebell fan. Start with that and following eating with something like Primal Blueprint. When you start seeing what your body can take then decided what your goal should be.
Mine was to get control of my weight, gain some strength and than take it from there. I started at 293 lbs and I am down to 227.