Fall 2017 Fitness Goals
Hello, hello!
Y’all after a solid year of becoming basically best friends and constantly talking about doing a collaboration, Caitlyn and I are finally making it happen.
Just in case you don’t know, Caitlyn is a fellow college blogger (College with Caitlyn) and fitness enthusiast. She’s a junior at Northern Kentucky University studying mathematics and computer science. I can’t really remember how Caitlyn and I “met”, but it was probably me bombarding her with messages on some platform. I would consistently ask questions and for advice, and eventually, we exchanged numbers, and here we are.
Over the past year, she and I have come to realize that we’re practically the same person. Cats, coffee, computer science, lifting, you name it, and we probably have it in common. Although, she is the queen of selfies and fashion, and I can’t say the same about myself LOL.
Enough about our friendship, let us get into what this article is actually about: fitness goals.
Now, if you’ve read any of my articles on fitness, whether that be any of my Beginner’s Guides or my periodic updates, you’ll know that I’m a big proponent of setting goals. Goals are what keep me going. Goals give me motivation. And goals are honestly why I’m still in this fitness game.
I’m not going to lie. Lately I’ve been really unmotivated when it comes to the gym. I just got back from a trip to Orlando where I took the entire week off from working out and my diet turned to complete crap. Am I proud of that? LOL nope. But it happened, and I enjoyed myself in the process so that’s really all that matters.
But it’s time for me to get back on track and set some goals for myself!
Find and Stick to a Deadlift Program
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve deadlifted, and that honestly makes me really sad. I started getting into deadlifting over the summer because the gym where I worked had SIX platforms.
Y’all I was spoiled.
Now that I’m back in school, the deadlift motivation has disappeared. I did have someone else writing my deadlift programming for a while, but things got complicated with that (that’s a boy story for another occasion), and now that deadlift program is no more.
Last time I tested my max, it was right around 160 lbs which isn’t that bad for only weighing 120 lbs. I would love to have that number approach closer to 200, and ideally, my goal would be 225 lbs. That’s two plates on each side, and tbh I just want to hit that so I look like a bada** in the gym. Is that bad??
Or who knows. I might just wing it and write my own deadlift program…
Make Eating Fruits & Veggies a Priority
When it’s the school year, I’m going to be the first to tell you that my diet is not ideal. When I’m living at home, we have a constant supply of fruits and veggies because there are four people living in that house and food is going to be eaten no matter what. There’s not really a problem with fresh foods going bad.
Now when I live on my own, that’s a whole other story. I try my hardest to make sure I’m consuming some form of vegetables every day, but it’s so hard to buy everything within a reasonable amount of time. So basically what I’m saying is that I need to be better at planning out my meals to avoid all of my food going bad…
It’s so much easier to just use pre-packaged granola bars and other carby snacks to hit my daily macro goals than to try and keep fresh fruits on hand for that purpose.
I think ‘make eating fruits & veggies a priority’ is a bit vague, so I’m going to use my SMART goal setting skills (LOL I cannot believe I just said that) and change it to incorporate veggies into lunch and dinner and have two servings of fruit a day.
Especially after that Orlando trip, I just want so micronutrients so daily fruits and veggies here I come.
Shoulder Press 22.5 lbs by December
A few weeks ago I hit 17.5 lbs on the shoulder press, and I was pretty ecstatic. I’ve yet to go back down to my trusty 15s, and everything is feeling great so far.
If I plan this out properly, 22.5 lbs will be an easy hit by December. I’ve got probably another week or so repping out 17.5s and then around mid- to late-October I will increase to 20 pounds. Based on how that feels, I’ll luckily hit 22.5 lbs at the end of November/beginning of December.
Cardio, Cardio, Cardio
Raise your hand if you’ve ever heard me complain (well in your case, read about me complaining) about how much I dread cardio.
But you know what? Over the past few weeks, I’ve started to kind of like it.
*gasp* I know, the world must be ending, hell must be freezing over.
In general, my opinion on cardio is that it’s a tool to be used on top of a solid diet and weight training plan to get me where I want to be in regards to my physique. I still have that opinion, especially in regards to physique-driven goals, but I’ve started to voluntarily do cardio because it feels good.
After a week or so of eating not-so-great-for-me food, I just feel full of salts and preservatives and junk. Cardio makes me feel like I’ve gotten rid of all of that. It’s like a breath of fresh air for my body.
I want to keep incorporating it in on a weekly basis strictly because it feels good, not because I’m trying to be shredded.
Accept the Changes
This one is probably going to end up being an entire post all on its own just because there’s so much I want to talk about in regards to chasing goals and accepting yourself in every part of the journey.
The other day I emailed Cristina about anxiety and all of her posts on mental health and how much they’ve helped me in the past few weeks to not feel alone in this and that what I’m feeling is okay to feel. Being the beautiful human being that she is, she replied with the longest and sweetest email ever, and there was one thing she mentioned that has stuck with me ever since.
“The gym, friends, the blog…they will all be there tomorrow, next week, three months from now, etc.”
With that quote, I’m learning to accept that it’s okay to not be on top of the gym and nutrition every single day of the year. It’s okay to have off days, off weeks, or even off months. But that doesn’t mean to stop trying.
Yes, my mental health has been not the best lately, and yes, that has directly led to me overeating and indulging a lot more than I should. But that’s okay. And I may not have those abs anymore, but I’m still strong, and I’m still passionate.
Accepting myself, being proud of myself, and embracing this unanticipated bulk, well, that’s all that matters right now.
As I was writing this post, I realized my goals are a bit different this time around, and I think that really represents the stage of life in which I’m currently living. It’s focusing on the all-around, it’s focusing on the mental perspective, it’s focusing on just doing the best I can right now.
So here’s to sticking through the hard times, and here’s to accomplishing those goals!
What are your health and fitness goals for the remainder of 2017? Anything specific you’re wanting to accomplish in these last three months?
~abigail gray
