If your fitness routine is stuck in a rut, here are 10 goals to focus your training, with Stephen Tongue
Do you ever get the feeling your training is stuck in a rut? Perhaps you’re getting demotivated because you’re not achieving anything significant? Have you been doing the same routine for too long? Are you ready for a change and a challenge but in need of inspiration? Stephen Tongue has got you covered. Read on for 10 goals to focus your training, refresh your routine, recondition your body, and re-motivate your mindset.
Life is busy and has a way of distracting us. It means that sometimes the opportunity to stop, reassess our situation and plan for the future just passes us by. As a result, we stick to what we know, go through the motions and tell ourselves we’re doing alright. A new challenge can have a refreshing effect on our minds and bodies, helping us rediscover our lust for life and the heights of our ambition. I want to tease your imagination with a variety of training goals I have used myself and with my personal training clients. I’ve really seen them ignite a fire in my clients and hope it might spark something inside of you. Let’s get after it …
- Movement mastery
I love observing human movement and I am amazed at what the human body can achieve when it’s pushed to the limit. My social media feed is full of amazing skills, feats of strength, mobility madness and people with unthinkable power. When I see an amazing mastery of movement, my thought process is usually “Wow! I wonder what it takes to be able to do that? I wonder if I could ever do that?” I must admit that on several occasions I got hooked and went for it.
It doesn’t have to be extreme; it may be a move or an exercise that you think is cool and you have just always wanted to achieve. Of course, you can’t just keep trying these moves in the hope that one day it will happen – there is always a process to follow, a pattern of progression with various mini goals along the way – so be sure to do your research. Inspiration is out there but here are some of the movement challenges I’ve helped people work on in the past:
- Full press-up
- Pull-up
- Muscle-up
- The splits
- Pistol squat
- The crab
- Shrimp squat
- Handstand
- Back lever
- Planche
- A race
If you have a competitive nature, then racing will put fire in your belly I have no doubt. The great thing about racing is that there is so much variety out there now that you can choose from myriad modalities and dozens of distances. Do you want to race on your feet? On wheels? On water? Even through the air? Perhaps a combination of race modes is appealing, like triathlon or something more adventurous? The events are out there, the training plans are out there; if you’re prepared to put in the miles and push through the pain barrier, then you could be great at racing!
- A record lift
Do you love your weight training but need to step out of your comfort zone? Training for a personal best lift could be your thing? Do you see your style as Olympic Lifting, perhaps Power Lifting or maybe you’re a Strongman at heart? There are different styles of strong, so it is worth taking time to think and experiment with different styles. What I recommend is that if you want to make lifting your goal, then set your sights on an amateur competition. The journey this will take you on will introduce you to clubs, mentors, communities and a lot of reward.
- A distance
If competing with others turns you off but you like taking yourself out of your comfort zone without having to compare yourself to others, then a landmark distance might be the goal of choice you have been looking for. It could be that you have always wanted to run 10km or that you want to know if you can cycle 100 miles. I have trained a lot of people for A to B challenges. In some cases, this has been an equivalent A to B such as rowing the equivalent of the English Channel on a Concept 2. In other cases, it has been an actual A to B challenge such as cycling across a country. There are some great apps you can use to help you plan and track your progress and you can put as much or as little pressure on yourself as you want to.
- Body fat target/figure focus
If you’re motivated by body shape and aesthetics, then you may want to look at setting yourself targets based on body fat percentage or progress photos. This is sometimes called Transformation training, which is a strict period of intense diet and training (usually 12 weeks) to get in the best possible shape you can. To add motivation, it is often finished with a professional photoshoot to show off your hard work. If you enjoy this process and you want to push it further, you should consider entering your first figure competition or body building event; working with a coach would teach you a lot about this fitness community and the strategies you need to succeed.
- Fitness competition
Fitness competitions have been around for a long time but didn’t really go large until CrossFit, in many ways the OG of modern fitness comps. CrossFit’s main aim is to be the best all rounder in all components of fitness by competing in multistage events that remain undisclosed until the day, testing everything and pushing you to your limits. The trending new equivalent is Hyrox, which has a pre-determined set of events in a set format but is also happy to push you and your community to your absolute physical limits.
- Time trial
If you feel the need for speed, then testing your times is the goal for you. This is great in the sense that you can choose just to compete against your own personal bests or race against others. Run, bike, canoe or whatever else tickles your fancy, just do it faster. 5km run time trials are really popular and can be done at a local parkrun for free. Bike and rower time trials have always been popular choices in gyms I’ve worked in over the years.
Stephen climbing near Tremadog, North Wales.
- Climb a mountain
I love the mountains and I think everyone should experience climbing a mountain at least once in their life. Going from base to summit gives you an enormous sense of achievement and you will get the full outdoor experience that outdoor enthusiasts rave about with such passion. The scale of the mountain is up to you (and often your budget) but certainly Kilimanjaro has been a popular choice for my PT clients throughout my career.
- Try new sports/activities
Is there a sport you have always fancied dabbling in but never gotten round to organising? Is there an activity you have put on your bucket list that you promise you will do ‘one day’ without ever scheduling that day? Well then take action, do the research and get it booked. If you don’t, one day you might find yourself too old or too ill and filled with regret. Life is for living so live. From bungee jumps to scuba dives, water skiing to motor racing. They all give you something to train for and something to get excited about.
- An event of significance
It’s very common to have a future event that you imagine being in great shape for. I have seen some clients train the hardest they have trained in their lives to get in tip top shape to tie the knot. Holidays, red carpet parties and significant birthdays are other common goals. What these significant events do is provide motivation, urgency and focus.
I do feel there is a theme here for everyone but, if you want to make this morsel of motivation work for you, then you need to sit down before the excitement fades and really refine what you want to do. The old SMART acronym (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timed) for goal setting is cheesy but it still works to give yourself 10 goals to focus your training. Write as much detail as you can about what you want to achieve, make sure you have some kind of data set to measure progress, commit to a solid deadline and be honest with yourself about why you want to do it. That 20mins of brainstorming will transform your workout regime more than any new gadget, social media post or new training partner ever could.
Seize the day.
