Planning to Fail or Failing to Plan?

[Spook]

How do you guys do it? How do you guys get the most out of your workouts, plan out your routines, your goals, your cycles, or whatever? What’s your roadmap to achievement?


I’ve heard the above expression about failing to plan many times, so lets see how we plan things out. We all know that when we first get involved in the gym its easy to get the idea in our heads that we will be muscle bound freaks in a few short months, but in reality that just doesn’t happen…unless you’re BK or BIGRIG who were probably shot out of their mothers’ wombs curling dumbbells.


I have heard an acronym used before too known as KISS, or also known as Keep It Simple Stupid. When we plan things how complicated do we get with our plans? Do we make plans that span across several months that read like a calculus book only so we can get disappointed when we don’t reach our goals? I’d suggest keeping our plans simple for what we want out of ourselves. Make short term goals, write them down, then you can get a little more complicated when you want to figure out your diet and routines to achieve that goal. Keep the goals more like monthly. Sit down and determine for yourself what you want to achieve for that month and keep it realistically attainable. Do this before even considering a cycle of anything (you might not be disappointed when you reach your goal that way). Lets look at an example goal:


MY GOALS TO REACH BY JULY 31, 2002:


I. Increase strength by whatever measurement you use.

II. Increase a realistic amount of lean mass (say 5 lbs).

III. Increase circumference of arms by 1 inch (or chest, legs, calves, whatever)

IV. Lose 3 % body fat.


These goals are only examples, but from this point then you can start breaking down your diet for what you want to accomplish. If you’re wanting to gain mass and don’t care about fat, workout and eat accordingly. Make out your diet maybe on a weekly basis (so it doesn’t get boring) but keep it within the limits of reaching your goals. Make your menu on a daily basis (so that maybe the “same ‘ol same ‘ol” has a different flavor each day). Start mapping out your routine for the next 4-6 weeks, a routine that is doable and can help you achieve your goals. You can always increase the weight you lift as you go.


Next, before setting out to conquer the world, why not take some measurements like on the arms, legs, waist, hips, chest, body fat %, lean mass, etc? It might be hard to know whether you achieved you goals if you don’t know where you’re coming from first. Don’t get paranoid and do these measurements every week either. Wait for 2 weeks if your curiosity is killing you and then make adjustments if necessary, but try not to get disappointed in 2 weeks time either if you don’t see things happening (if you’re taking AAS then you may not notice anything for 4 weeks). This brings me to another option for you. If you’re planning things out you could also plan your goals for 6 weeks or however long your workout routine lasts. I still think 4 weeks is sufficient though.


For other goals, maybe you have a certain way you want to look ultimately. Who doesn’t? Don’t let it get you down if you don’t end up looking like your desired mental image in one month, or even in a year. You can use that mental imagery to help motivate you to stick to your guns and push yourself until you get there. You might be surprised in a few years if you don’t end up looking better than how you pictured yourself looking 3 years prior.

*** "Why is it that when I'm in deep thought I have the same look on my face as when I'm constipated?" ***

[This message was edited by Spook on 04-06-03 at 02:00 PM.]