Goal setting and the gym

Losers have goals; Winners have systems.

    The quote listed above outlines a method in which to obtain goals. The act of setting goals is as old as time.

 What is your goal?

 Money?

 Job?

 New car?

 New house?

 Fitness?

 Goals can apply to any situation in life. Buying a house is a goal, making a million dollars is a goal, getting promoted is a goal, fitness is a goal. Since my scope of practice is fitness, I’ll be more focused around those goals.

        Goals can be separated into two umbrella like terms: Process and Outcome.

Process goals

    Process goals are things that you can control. Your attitude, actions, and effort reflect on process goals. Sucess in these goals are mostly derived from effort. Effort could also imply skills or technique involved in the particular sport. A sprinter focusing on knee drive or a basketball player focusing on dribbling with their non-dominate hand are examples of process goals. If you're a fan of college football, then you can remember Nick Saben talk about the "Process" while coaching at the University of Alabama. He routinely mentioned the day-to-day effort needed by his players to play at the highest level, The daily effort associated with practice, lifting, nutrition, and recovery in order to become better. Saban was the master of treating five-star athletes (five star is a rating system associated with high school football players. The more stars then typically the better the player) to work like a two- or three-star recruit. The results speak for themselves with seven championships during his coaching career.   

Outcome goals

    Outcome goals pertain towards goals that are typically out of the athletes' hands. Winning for example is an example of an outcome goals. Even in one-on-one sports like boxing outcome goals are more geared towards winning. Too many variables can be included that is out of the boxers' hands to affect the outcome. The opponent, the referee, the judges, the corner men all play a factor into winning that are out of the athletes' hands. Forced movements, playing tight, overthinking the outcome are all results on focusing purely on the outcome. A weight room example is simply completing the set instead of focusing on the technique associated with the lift.