Ruby Slippers - 4 Ideas For Mastering Your Fitness Destiny

This morning, Seth Godin wrote about Ruby Slippers.  I see so many people at the gym who just spin their wheels for hours on end, week after week, and don’t seem to make any progress.  They don’t know how to use their Ruby Slippers.

I’ve talked about this before.  It’s the difference between training and working out.  You train for a goal.  You want to achieve a specific end.  You work out to pass time in a vague attempt to “improve” in some way.  You’re spinning your wheels.

A training goal is kinda like the wish you would use your Ruby Slippers for.  If you don’t know what you want, what’s going to happen when you click your heels?  Nothing.  If you don’t know why you’re in the gym (or park, or track, or rec room, or wherever you do your exercise), are you going to achieve anything meaningful?  Nope.

You may think goal setting is something reserved for elite athletes, but it doesn’t have to be some lofty or complex goal like winning an Olympic medal.  Not long ago I wrote about how I designed an entire cycle about getting one of my small coaching groups to the point where they could do 5 Rounds of Forward Pressure in 5 minutes.  The first time I introduced the material, they did three rounds in 20 minutes!  I set a target of 6 weeks to achieve the goal.  They did it in five!  All their energy was poured into that goal.  They would tell me stories every session about practicing the routine at home or about trying to teach it to their husbands.  It was great.

It’s easy to set a goal around an athletic pursuit.  If you want to win a canoe race or get the MVP award for your Ultimate team, there’s built-in motivation and focus.  But if you don’t have a specific competitive target in your life, there is a tendency to flounder in your health and fitness pursuits.  But there are many ways to come up with goals that don't require formal competition.

4 Ideas For Determining A Fitness Goal

1. Density - Like the Forward Pressure example above, choose a routine or an exercise, determine a volume you would like to accomplish and a time you would like to do it in.  Some great ideas for this are FlowFit®, Clubbell® Swings (or any other Clubbell® exercise), my Sandbag In 6 Degrees routine or this CST Bodyweight routine.  You’re only limited by your imagination as to what you can choose.
2. Sophistication - This is an oft forgot option.  Take what you are doing now, and set yourself the goal of learning and perfecting a version that requires more motor sophistication.  If you are doing push ups, learn the Screwing Press Up.  If you are doing deadlifts, learn and apply the Bruiser Clubbell® Swing to your training.
3. Stats - Play the numbers.  If you are looking to lose fat, set a measurable target.  A lot of BER success stories have used belt sizes to measure their progress.  You can also go a step further and take on a coach who can accurately measure and follow your bodyfat percentage. 
4. Feat - After discovering CST, and coming to realize that there was more to training the pressing heavy weight in two dimensions, one of my proudest moments was when I first achieved the Elbow Lever.  Picking and working towards a “Feat of Physical Mastery” is an outstanding way to bring focus and motivation to a training regimen.

Scott Sonnon performing elbow lever

Whichever path you choose, make sure that it is enough of a challenge to drive you forward, but realistic enough that you don’t become despairing of your ability to achieve your chosen goal.  This old acronym can help you with the process of clarifying your objective - S.M.A.R.T.

Specific: Define exactly what you want to achieve.

Measurable: How will you determine if you have achieved it?

Attainable: You know you can get there, but it’ll be tough...

Realistic: Does it fit into your life? Can you do what needs to be done?

Timely: Set a deadline!!  When will you cross the finish line?

And if you really want to accelerate your progress, in a future post I’ll teach you how to be a S.M.A.R.T. - A.S.S.  This add-on deals more with the process of actually playing out the achievement of the goal.

Don’t leave your results to chance.  Make sure that when you click your heels, something wonderful is going to happen.  What will you wish for when you click?