What are your fitness goals?

[RoJoHen]

With the new year just around the corner, I have no doubt that many people will be coming up with New Year's Resolutions. Many people usually resolve to "get in shape," but they never make it past the end of January. Those first few weeks of the new year are always way too busy at the gym, and then suddenly everybody disappears.

I'm not big on New Year's Resolutions in general, especially in the fitness world, but this time of year does make me consider my goals. I like to set short-term goals, and I usually only focus on one thing so as not to overwhelm myself.

My current goal: to have visible abs by the end of February. I'll still do all of my other workout stuff, but I'm going to make sure to pay extra attention to my abs and make sure I'm doing more cardio every week. I haven't had visible abs since junior high, and dammit, it's time to get them back!

I feel like once I have them they will be easier to hold on to, so I won't have to worry about them as much in the future.

 

[Borgminister]

Take steps to stave off pre-diabetes...

But that's more an ongoing thing; I've learned not to make NY's resolutions.. i.e., promises I end up not keeping.

Any goals I might have will take the full year to realize. If it happens, I'll make a retroactive list for 2009 once 2010 rolls around.

 

[ian_tee]

To quote Lester Burnham from American Beauty, "I want to look good naked!"

 

[DarkHelmet]

To quote Lester Burnham from American Beauty, "I want to look good naked!"

Ditto. No doubt. I also like to look good in clothes, though.

But long term.. it helps me stay in general good health by keeping my blood pressure low without meds (I'm prone to be high) and to help keep my cholesterol in check.

RoJo - I also like short term goals. I have three of them to work on over the next three months.

1. Grow my delts ("cap" my shoulders)
2. Grow my biceps (specifically my biceps brachii)
3. Lose the last 10-12 lbs of bodyfat in order to look really good.

 

[thestrangequark]

I'm not one for New Year's Resolutions either, though the last couple of weeks I've found myself feeling more proactive than I have in a long while, so I made a list of goals and steps.

My main fitness goal has to do with sleep -- I guess it's more of an overall health goal. I have severe chronic insomnia and I'm trying to stick to stricter rules to improve my sleep hygiene. My second fitness goal is to try a new kind of exercise. I do a great amount of walking (between 5 and 10 miles every day), and hatha yoga, and I bike (between 15-30 miles a few times a week) when weather permits, but I want to try something else like swimming, or running.
I'm continuing my endless struggle to lose 10 lbs, but I'm hoping that improving my overall health with better sleeping habits and more cardio will help me with that goal.

 

[SmoothieX]

I had a bunionectomy on my right big toe on Monday. It was very painful and prevented me from running, playing basketball and anything else with repetitive impact or quick shifting motions.

My immediate goal over the next few weeks is to recover without complications and begin non-impact activity. After 3 months, I will supposedly be around 70% and can begin lightly running and such.

I've got a big, outdoorsy vacation planned next summer, so I want to get my strength and stamina back for that.

I would like to run a half marathon next fall. That's what I was training for last year when the foot problems started to develop. I was up to 10-11 miles before I had to shut it down.

 

[RoJoHen]

1. Grow my delts ("cap" my shoulders)

I'm actually going to add this to my list too. Shoulders were always one of my weakest body parts, but lately I've been focusing on them a lot more, and I've noticed a big difference.

However, my shoulder workouts have also made my chest workouts suffer. If I try to do chest/shoulders on the same day, one of them inevitably suffers because I run out of energy. If I do them on different days, my shoulders and triceps are usually too weak from the first workout to do the second workout very well.

 

[DarkHelmet]

1. Grow my delts ("cap" my shoulders)

I'm actually going to add this to my list too. Shoulders were always one of my weakest body parts, but lately I've been focusing on them a lot more, and I've noticed a big difference.

However, my shoulder workouts have also made my chest workouts suffer. If I try to do chest/shoulders on the same day, one of them inevitably suffers because I run out of energy. If I do them on different days, my shoulders and triceps are usually too weak from the first workout to do the second workout very well.

I had that same problem until this summer when I went to a 5 day split. I'm on a 4 day split now (just to change it up) but here's my solution to the above problem:

Monday: Chest/Triceps
Tuesday: Legs/calves
Thursday: Back/Biceps
Friday: Shoulders/calves

This gives me ample recovery time, and found that it really helps.

 

[RevDMV]

Like the TSQ I'm looking to improve my sleep habits. My first son suffered from digestive issues(mostly resolve now, whew), that left us with almost no sleep for the first two years after he was born. I've never really caught up since then with the birth of his brother and other life issues.

As far as gym work, I want to improve strength and flexibility to continue to have fun with my kids and enjoy my outdoor activities of choice. (mostly water and snow skiing)

 

[DBR]

Former athlete turned couch potato here!

My goals are to be active every day: I walk to work and back Monday through Thursday (about 40-50 minutes each way; it use to be about 30 mins before I switched jobs), and I ride my stationary bike in the morning seven days a week while I watch the news and wake up (plus it wakes me up!). And I take my dog out three/four times a day.

Walking to work is great for me. I've become a lazy SOB in the last few years, and it forces me to get out and be active. Plus I feel pretty darn good because of it. I almost always dread the walk home, but I'm full of energy by the time I get home.

I bought a punching bag in April, but I haven't even hung it up in my garage yet. Maybe I will get moving on that... when it is warmer... and when I have a couple someones to lift it up for me.

My future goals are simply to remain active, and to lose about 15 pounds--the later I think I could do just by eating healthier... but that is simply no fun.

 

[RAMA]

I have two main goals right now. Keep lifting heavy for another month and then start dieting down in Jan for the Arnold Classic in Early March. After that I want to improve my overall fitness, and increase my cardio.

RAMA

 

[archeryguy1701]

I have two big goals. First is to stick with my training program and get into good enough shape to complete the Big Horn 50km trail run in decent condition. My second goal is to get my upper body into good enough shape that I can last an entire archery contest.

 

[Finn]

I've been trying to bulk up my arms a bit and make my legs a bit tighter, oh yeah and the abs. I'm getting there. I need to do more intense workouts. I've been using the treadmill with barbells the past couple of days. I'll use the gym several times a week when I go back to school in a few weeks.

 

[tomalak301]

-Clean up the acne. I've taken steps to do that, but more is still needed.

-Work on the chest. It's a little too bulky for me and I'm not really happy about that.

-Work on the Arms. Pretty much build muscle everywhere but the arms are important.

-Maintain the 180-190 ibs. range. I'm 24 and feel I eat well but don't want to over or under eat.

Does anyone have any basic tips about starting a regimen? I occasionally work out but sometimes I wonder if I'm doing it wrong. Typically each work out focuses on one thing whether it's muscle building to cardio but I still want to incorporate everything together somehow. How many times should I go to the gym and how can I make it worth my while.

 

[backstept]

I want to lose 70lbs and get healthy

 

[RoJoHen]

Does anyone have any basic tips about starting a regimen? I occasionally work out but sometimes I wonder if I'm doing it wrong. Typically each work out focuses on one thing whether it's muscle building to cardio but I still want to incorporate everything together somehow. How many times should I go to the gym and how can I make it worth my while.

It really depends on your goals, whether it be muscle-building or cutting fat or whatever. It's often hard to do both at the same time.

I'd say 4 times a week is a good place to start. Each day you want to work a different muscle group (day 1: chest, day 2: back, day 3: legs, etc). 3-5 different exercises per body part, with 4-5 sets for each exercise. If you do cardio, do it after your weight training. If you do it before, you'll lose energy and you run the risk of injuring yourself when lifting the heavy weights. You can do a solid weight-training routine in 45 minutes to an hour if you keep up with it and don't spend too much time resting (no more than 2 minutes between sets).

 

[tomalak301]

Does anyone have any basic tips about starting a regimen? I occasionally work out but sometimes I wonder if I'm doing it wrong. Typically each work out focuses on one thing whether it's muscle building to cardio but I still want to incorporate everything together somehow. How many times should I go to the gym and how can I make it worth my while.

It really depends on your goals, whether it be muscle-building or cutting fat or whatever. It's often hard to do both at the same time.

It's more muscle building and then cutting calories. Is it good to do a cardio workout only one or two days and not combine them?

I'd say 4 times a week is a good place to start. Each day you want to work a different muscle group (day 1: chest, day 2: back, day 3: legs, etc). 3-5 different exercises per body part, with 4-5 sets for each exercise. If you do cardio, do it after your weight training. If you do it before, you'll lose energy and you run the risk of injuring yourself when lifting the heavy weights. You can do a solid weight-training routine in 45 minutes to an hour if you keep up with it and don't spend too much time resting (no more than 2 minutes between sets).

If I do weights a day, It's probably not going to be cardio too. Still, burning calories is a goal as well as building muscle and turning fat into muscle.

 

[RoJoHen]

If you're eating right and lifting hard, and assuming you're not terribly obese right now, you don't need to do much cardio. I'd say 2 days a week is good if you're keeping it separate from your weight-lifting workouts. You want to make sure that you're giving you body adequate time to recover, though, so I wouldn't work one body part more than once a week.

Also, fat does not turn into muscle. Fat is fat. Muscle burns a lot of calories, however, so the more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn.

I would say focus more on building muscle and getting your diet in order (diet is at least as, if not more, important than anything you do in the gym). With the right diet, you may not need to do any cardio at all.

I'd go into more about what a good diet consists of, but I'm going to be late for work, so...maybe later!