We need to set goals and timelines. For that, we need to answer a few things honestly.
- where are we currently?
- where do we want to be?
- but where should we be aiming for?
I'll use myself as an example. In 2007, I was about 70 kilos and 85-90cms waist. My goal was obviously to get a six-pack. I was 25 years old, out of shape and clueless. Seems a reasonable goal (I am mostly joking but I did not know better back then).
For what knowledge I had, for the amount of work I was willing to do, for the amount of money I was willing to spend - this goal was gonna take a reasonable amount of time. Most importantly, it required doing smarter things - like walking daily and strength training, in addition to and not only CrossFit metcons.
And so, as Coach Dan John says, the six-pack can be a point Z and not a point B. Figuring out point B, and then point C and making forward progress towards the goal is well, a bit complicated. That requires a lot of thinking or being coached.
If we don't measure the right things, and don't set the right goals - how will we know if we are doing the right thing?
The Journey
And all of these can change.
As I found out for myself, goals evolve and get smarter. That happened once I could interpret and understand what the smart people were saying, and took a while to be honest. Continues to happen today too, obviously (see Journey).
This is different from changing your workout routine (you cannot call it a training plan if you randomly keep changing it), from setting "Mass gain" as the goal, and then a few weeks later, you decide you want to do that new leaning out diet, and flip over to that one.
My goals evolved. Being stronger, working on different skillsets on strength and conditioning became more interesting, than just fat loss. That happened only after I was able to check fat loss off though. Once my love-handles, my constant companions since college, disappeared and once I was able to see that six-pack that I had seen only in photos before - I was able to move on.
It is hard to play the long game. To do the right thing about 80% of the time, to make the right choices about 80% of the time. To be patient, to trust in the process. One thing that helps is to understand that this is a journey. And you will always be making forward progress. Not linear progress, sure. But you will keep working at it.
It is important to not think of all this as an on/off switch. Maybe all the work you can put into this right now is
- walk 10 minutes a day
- drink water
Sure. That's fine. When you can, build on it. This is your what and how much, for now.
The Quad plug
We have the BootCamp, virtual mostly now. We have the Daily9, our gamified nutrition coaching programme. They help you solve different portions of the puzzle, but the doing is the thing. We make it easier, we make it more fun, we do the nerdy stuff and steal from giants in the field and adapt it for you. We help you set reasonable goals. And most importantly, celebrate your successes.
That's what you need coaching for. It is not mandatory, but it makes the process a lot easier, a lot more fun, and someone else is along for the journey, on your team, and doing some of the thinking for you. And only when you are on board will we move.
The key is you. You can do this. Start anywhere. These questions should help you get a start. Even if you are already on your journey, I think you will find them useful.
Without you doing, there's no movement. A coach cannot do that for you.