2010 Goal Results

There have been many topics over the last two weeks that I have wanted to write about, but with limited time and sharing the computer, I went without a post at all for more than a week. Now I am back at work and can take a few moments to write, but many of the things I wanted to write about have long ago left my mind.

One that is still fresh is a check in on my 2010 goals. I had thought about writing this for New Years Eve as it was the last day of the year, but it didn't happen. However, even four days into the year I still think it is a post worthy of a few minutes of my time.

At the beginning of 2010 before blogging, before triathlon, before losing  a pound, I sat at home one night and put pen to paper and listed my fitness related goals for the year. There were seven in total and halfway through the year I came up with an eighth.

As the year closed I still had two I had not attained. One of the two was to bench press, squat, and deadlift over 200 pounds. The importance of this goal is two fold. First, When in high school there was a board for the strongest athletes in the school. This leader board was tiered with different names for the levels- something similar to warrior, animal, beast, etc (I do not remember the exact names). Each level had assigned weights and lifts, as well as a t-shirt as a reward. For the first level you had to do three of the selected lifts with over 200 pounds. Most people did BP, squat, and DL. The other reason why this goal is important is since I have always had a lack of strength, especially upper body, now that I am under 200 lbs, completing the BP would be the first time in my life I might be able to lift more than my body weight.

I have been following the Mark Allen strength training plan for a few months and the 23rd was one of my regular strength training days. I had planned to do a max out day on new years eve but this day I felt super motivated and decided to go for it while I was here. Instead of attempting my three exercises on their own I decided to work them into the normal workout. I warmed up by going slightly lighter than usual on my first three exercises.

My fourth exercise was bench press so I did a few light weight reps as a warm up and then I went for it. I was already having some shoulder pain form my last time in the gym so I changed up the way I was going to do it. Instead of starting from the up position I moved to a bench that would allow me to start from the down position. If you are not familiar, this is a technique that power lifters will use to increase their max. Since the hardest part of the lift is the up phase, power lifters will spend time working on just the explosive section by starting in the down position. Doing it with this method I was able to complete three continuous reps with 200 lbs. Unlike a power lifter, I did both portions slow and controlled as normal. Afterward I attempted another set with a lighter weight and could not even lift the bar without pain.

As squats were my next exercise for the workout, I again went to max out. I was able to complete three reps at 200lbs. My form was not the best, but it was close to the full range of motions. After this i moved on to the deadlift. This is not a part of my regular workout. I loaded the bar up again and did one rep with 200 lbs. After the last two lifts I was hurting so i didn't bother trying to see how many I could do. it was ONE and DONE. After I was done I slowly completed the rest of my workout with lighter weights and went home for a well deserved nap.

The last goal for the year I had yet to accomplish was also my #1 goal for the year. This was getting my weight under 186 pounds. In the end I did not make this goal. My average weight for December was 192. I had two days at 189 and one day at 188. These days were as close as I came.

Am I content not meeting my goal? NO, of course not. Am I disappointed? No, not really. I still lost at least 63 lbs in the year. I think the best thing for me to do is to examine why I did not meet this goal. I believe the goal was obtainable, but I did not do my best. I came into the year strong, then in the spring I went to a lull and then hit it hard again after I started blogging (thank you for keeping me accountable). If I had worked as hard as i did the rest of the year during those three or four months i would have made it and more. Also, at Thanksgiving I put 9 pounds back on. I was able to get them off and at Christmas put 7 back on only to work to take them back off.

In closing, I need to take my lessons learned and apply them to this year's goals. Now that I have closed out the 2010 goals next on my to do list is setting my 2011 goals and my 2011 race schedule.

BTW- if you are curious about what the rest of goals were you can see them here.