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MyFitnessPal Community

2017 Goals

Fittreelol

Post your goals for the year here!

Better late than never

Replies

ErinRibbens

I just started StrongLifts over again Jan 2 after a long hiatus of crazy schedule, surgery and hip pain. So, right now my goal is just to stick with it 3x a week, being careful of my form to avoid injury and be consistent. The numbers will get higher with that consistency. I've made the mistake before of reaching for impressive weights and doing more harm than good. Then again, I would love any advice on how to set goals that are achievable and safe. I'm not really sure what to even shoot for right now. ☺️

Fittreelol

ErinRibbens wrote: »

I just started StrongLifts over again Jan 2 after a long hiatus of crazy schedule, surgery and hip pain. So, right now my goal is just to stick with it 3x a week, being careful of my form to avoid injury and be consistent. The numbers will get higher with that consistency. I've made the mistake before of reaching for impressive weights and doing more harm than good. Then again, I would love any advice on how to set goals that are achievable and safe. I'm not really sure what to even shoot for right now. ☺️

Novel incoming:

I recommend a combination of milestones, SMART, controllable factors.

Milestones are exactly what they sound like, and something I see a lot of people do on MFP in regards to weight loss. They want to lose 50 or 100 or maybe only 20 lbs, but they break this down into more manageable chunks or milestones of 5 or 10 lbs.

I've always been a fan of SMART goal setting. If you're not familiar it means: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-based. So your goal of lifting 3xweek safely is specific, measureable, attainable, and realistic. I would maybe add a time based component in such as "for x weeks/months" and then re-evaluate.

I read a business book once that talked about "lead measures" and "lag measures." The entire book pretty much boiled down to focusing on what you can control. You cannot directly control the number on the scale, but you can control how much you eat and exercise which influences the number on the scale. Same goes for lifting all the things.

So to put this all together into an example regarding my imaginary friend Jane.

Jane just started with SL 5x5. She saw a post on Staci Ardison and how she can deadlift approximately a million lbs. Jane thinks if she ever even deadlifted 300 lbs she would explode with happiness. It's way out there, but you know, someday.

She sets her milestone goal at 135lbs. Big girl plates. That would be super cool too. She sits down and thinks about what she can control that will enable a 135 deadlift. Well she needs to work on form to remain injury free, she needs get her SL training in, and she needs to get enough rest to recover from the workouts. She turns these lead measures into smart goals. This turns into the following goal list.

Ultimate goal: deadlift 300 lbs.
Milestone goal: deadlift 135 lbs.

SMART goals:
For the next two months Jane will:
Perform stronglifts workouts 3xWeek
Sleep at least 7 hours a night
Buy 3 sessions with a trainer to learn correct form
Video working sets to ensure proper form is maintained

After two months Jane re-evaluates. Has she progressed toward or attained her 135lb goal? Is 7 hours of sleep working for her? Does she feel she has a grasp on basic form? Is stronglifts still working? If everything is great she can renew her current SMART goals, and if not she can adjust.

ErinRibbens

Perfect, thank you!

Boxn_n_Bellydancn

I just started today, been reading up on this over the weekend. Thanks for the thread!

krokador

I have been really, really afraid to set goals this year.

Due to, like, everything falling apart last year and me failing pretty bad at all the things I set up for, I guess?

So it really is not late in my case. Cuz I'm just now popping me head back into the forums.

But i still gotta put some thought into it (like, actually sit down AND PUT SOME THOUGHT INTO IT) so I'll get back here with a list in a bit.

I think I'll get some kind of movement in first, though. Eep. Where did the time go?

mustb60

Thank you for this thread! My goal this year is:
1. To lose 44 pounds.
2. To strength train minimum twice a week,no excuses.
3. To run 10 km in or under 60 minutes.

krokador

Ok, I've waited long enough, the goals are in my head and won't change, so why fret over it? I make it, I don't... at least I'll have tried!

1. Finish the year under 190lbs, 36% BF (current: ~205lbs, 40-41% BF)
-> We'll start this by going for under 200 by the 1st week of april. I need to start tracking again. At least a few days out of the week. Hoping for under 195 by beginning of summer. We'll see where we go from there. The hope is for a 5-4-4-4-3lbs loss over the next 5 months, which would put me near or around 185, but then I know I tend to fall off track and slow down a lot after about 6 weeks, so... we'll see.

2. Finish editing my novel (not fitness related, but hey. And yes, it's been a goal for a few years. Shhhh... >_>)

3. Get a pull-up without assistance and without jumping (slow and steady wins the race, right... *cough*)

4. Fix my hip/lower back and get back under the barbell. No weight goal. Just want to get back at it for now. I've lost some muscle mass and definitely some strength over the past few months, so setting a poundage goal would probably just lead to frustration/disappointment/another injury. Nope. So instead I will focus on the process here: keep working on my mobility/flexibility/stability, make sure I do my core work, and keep building back up the strength and stamina with bodyweight, DBs and KBs so I can work on my weaknesses and fix imbalances in a safer manner. No touching the barbell until I can bend without fearing making my back angry,

5. Run a sub 30 min 5k, sub 8 min mile, and a 10k at some point over the summer. My current program is like 5 days a week and already has a "cardio" day, and it's still fairly cold out, so for now I'm not going to fret over this one too much, but once my hip feels better and I don't have to spend 30-40 minutes a day working on it, I'll start working on sprinting again. Then add in some distances. But since I find those mostly boring, it'll probably be just a once a week type of thing. But I wanted to run a 10k once in my life, so I'll do it. I don't have any OCRs I'm registered for so far this year. I may not have the money to do them. So I'll just make my own races. Haha. I *did* register for the color run in september, but that's not the type of "race" you go for a best time. I just wanted the unicorn medal! Haha >_>

Woo, a novel for 5 measly goals. Yep, that's me!

Katiebear_81

Hello! I'm back to stronglifts, 3x a week, for 3 weeks.

My goals are as such:

1. SL 3x per week, for 6 months. After that, I'll re-evalue to see if I'm still on track towards my overall goals.

2. By the end of 2017, squat over 100 lbs (currently a sloppy 65). I think this is too "easy" of a goal, but I do want to give myself room to de-load to work on form, etc. as time goes on. This can be achieved by following goal 1.

3. I want to increase my deadlift. I have no idea what a reasonable weight is. I can pull 105 lbs right now with good form for more than 1x5, so I feel like getting to 1x5 with 200 lbs by the end of 2017 should be achievable? I mean - everyone is different, but someone please tell me if that kind of gainz are impossible.

4. I seriously want to consider entering into a strong-man type competition in 2018. I am a little bit concerned whether I will be competitive, as my other "big" goal is to change my body composition (less body fat, more muscle). I feel concern that if I continue to re-comp, I won't make the strength gains I want. But if I do a bulk, I am concerned that I will be really unhappy with my overall shape/look. Has anyone else done this before? Have any insight?

krokador

Katiebear_81 wrote: »

Hello! I'm back to stronglifts, 3x a week, for 3 weeks.

My goals are as such:

1. SL 3x per week, for 6 months. After that, I'll re-evalue to see if I'm still on track towards my overall goals.

2. By the end of 2017, squat over 100 lbs (currently a sloppy 65). I think this is too "easy" of a goal, but I do want to give myself room to de-load to work on form, etc. as time goes on. This can be achieved by following goal 1.

3. I want to increase my deadlift. I have no idea what a reasonable weight is. I can pull 105 lbs right now with good form for more than 1x5, so I feel like getting to 1x5 with 200 lbs by the end of 2017 should be achievable? I mean - everyone is different, but someone please tell me if that kind of gainz are impossible.

4. I seriously want to consider entering into a strong-man type competition in 2018. I am a little bit concerned whether I will be competitive, as my other "big" goal is to change my body composition (less body fat, more muscle). I feel concern that if I continue to re-comp, I won't make the strength gains I want. But if I do a bulk, I am concerned that I will be really unhappy with my overall shape/look. Has anyone else done this before? Have any insight?

Well, you're mostly just starting out, so you can milk those noob gains right up and lose fat as you build muscle and strength for sure. The one thing is, though, you have to make sure you fuel yourself properly, otherwise you will hit a wall fairly fast. The trick with recomp is to be consistent and keep the deficit fairly small, so you also have to be very patient, especially in the beginning.

I'm just going off your profile picture here, as I don't know much about you (yet!), but it doesn't look like you have a ton of weight to lose, so you can probably afford to eat real close to your tdee. If you time your nutrition right to go with your workouts, you don't have to eat a ton to get the performance benefits, either. (The time I made my best gains and lost fat at the same time, I was eating in a pretty serious deficit, but I was eating a big meal the night before my workouts - in the wee hours of the morning - so I was never running on empty during them. Made a good difference

)

The other thing worth noting here is: it's just you vs you. You're doing this for yourself first and foremost. So even if you're not quite on par with the others in the competition, you'll still be taking part, you'll be making progress yourself, and that's definitely something to be proud of! So set your sights on what you want and go for it!

Katiebear_81

krokador wrote: »

Well, you're mostly just starting out, so you can milk those noob gains right up and lose fat as you build muscle and strength for sure. The one thing is, though, you have to make sure you fuel yourself properly, otherwise you will hit a wall fairly fast. The trick with recomp is to be consistent and keep the deficit fairly small, so you also have to be very patient, especially in the beginning.

I'm just going off your profile picture here, as I don't know much about you (yet!), but it doesn't look like you have a ton of weight to lose, so you can probably afford to eat real close to your tdee. If you time your nutrition right to go with your workouts, you don't have to eat a ton to get the performance benefits, either. (The time I made my best gains and lost fat at the same time, I was eating in a pretty serious deficit, but I was eating a big meal the night before my workouts - in the wee hours of the morning - so I was never running on empty during them. Made a good difference )

The other thing worth noting here is: it's just you vs you. You're doing this for yourself first and foremost. So even if you're not quite on par with the others in the competition, you'll still be taking part, you'll be making progress yourself, and that's definitely something to be proud of! So set your sights on what you want and go for it!

I'm currently eating around 1550-1650 calories. I have a fairly sedentary day, except for when I'm working out. I *think* I can continue to squeak by with this deficit for a little while. What I'm hearing, correct me if I'm wrong, is that if my lifting stalls or I am not seeing progress, I should probably add in more calories and eat closer to my TDEE. My current BMI is 26.5, so I'm certainly not in the "normal" range, however, I'm perfectly ok to ignore the weight numbers in general for a little while, and see how I look/feel. I would like to look like I weigh around 140 lbs, which is about a 30 lbs loss for me. I know that I will likely end up weighing much closer to what I weigh now... just with lower body fat %. That's my aesthetic preference. However, the strongest girls... they don't cut (in the competition that I went to!).

So far, I have been able to power through my work outs without an issue. I am using espresso as my preworkout, an electrolyte/creatine mix during, and then a protein shake with BCAA's after.

Yes - my greatest competition is myself. And realistically, not all the girls competed in of the lifts. I'd just like to be able to make the minimums, the first weight. Which is, like 100 lbs+ for overhead press, etc. So it will likely be a year or so to make the gains required to be able to do the min. But any PR is still a PR, regardless of competition, etc.

fostersu

2nd time around with SL and its been so long that I'm starting over. Goal is to complete 12 weeks and squat 200 (made it to 190 last spring) and DL 225. Getting my weight down another 25lbs will be a big bonus!

nexangelus

I am back in here after a 4 year break. Put some weight on and am back in the gym lifting heavy. I cycle to work every day so have that tiny bit of cardio. Am tracking macros and food again and feeling a lot better after just a week in, tomorrow. Am starting from scratch even though I know I can lift heavier on each lift already. The bench, row and deadlift seem to be the easiest, but am resisting the temptation to do anything rash. Keeping workouts short and sweet and not doing any extras for now. Energy and general mood has improved somewhat.

My goals for this year are (these are also posted on my profile):
To get my mojo back
To gain strength and fitness again after a long break (emotional stress due to cruddy relationship dynamics)
To get to goal weight of 140lbs (10 stone) and add some more lean mass to my frame
To complete a full 12 week cycle (mid-August) of stronglifts 5x5 and get my lifts to:
Squat 107.5kg (236.5lbs)
Bench 62.5kg (137.5lbs)
OH press 62.5kg (137.5lbs) <<<< could not get past around 42.5kg last time...
Barbell Row 72.5kg (159.5lbs)
Deadlift 125kg (275lbs)

Am excited. Best o' luck to everyone else!

VeryKatie

Ooh ooh!
Goals:
Have baby in June.
Restart Stronglifts as soon as I'm cleared.
Get ripped* while on mat leave lol.

Make it back down to pre-pregnancy weight.
Then recomp.

*as ripped as possible in 8 months with standard progression and plan using Stronglifts. And probably not trying too hard with the food thing.

SemperAnticus1643

Get back to where I was weight wise, lifting wise and body comp wise prior to getting pregnant. And then continue getting leaner.

lostonfifth

I will do this for me, to get in the best shape possible, for me. Putting aside my hang ups, 1 (really bad )divorce, 2 heart attacks, I will do this, I am one bad add mommy!
With the help if this group. Please.

dandelion39

Only a few months left of 2017 (!) but I'm just re-starting Stronglifts after several years. My goals:
1. Get my muscles back
2. Make them show (aka lose about 10-15 lbs of fat)
3. Be consistent with my workouts--SL 3x per week; Yoga 2x per week minimum

Hi all!

julieclarksfitnesspal

My goals for the last third of this year.
Lift 3 x weekly
Yoga 2 x weekly
Eat at a Deficit

adtherock

New to the group! Just started SL and loving it already. My goal for the rest of the year is to complete the 12 weeks doing the 5x5 workouts three times a week, lose another 10 to 15 lbs by December... kettlebell workouts twice a week and increase my general activity levels...do more walking, swimming, etc.

jayemes

I'm new

Starting SL 5x5 today. SW 205. CW 182. GW south of 170.
Since June I'm down 23 pounds and want to start working on holding onto my tiny tiny muscles while losing another bunch of weight.
Then I want to pick more heavy things up and put them down and get stronger and more fit.
My goal is to be able to do a pull up unassisted by my 45th birthday in April