Hey!! Today’s topic is an important one because it’s all about goal selection. It’s one of the biggest decisions you will make because it will dictate that actions you take from that point forward.
The Triangle of Goals show the 3 main ways to train…
- Visual – lose fat, build lean muscle, focus is how you look
- Performance – excel in sport or movement, focus is how you perform
- Health – optimize for longevity
Here’s why I share this…
You can have ANY of these goals but you can’t have them all at once.
The body wants to know how to adapt and when you train for one goal you are getting further away from another.
For example, bikini and fitness competitors LOOK really good on stage. But they are dehydrated and have been doing hours of cardio everyday. They are depleted and it’s terribly unhealthy.
They are at the far corner of the visual goal but they are far away from performance and health. They are probably very weak in the gym and don’t have ideal health markers for longevity.
Obviously, that’s an extreme example but it goes for all of the goals. People who are performing at their best (Boston Marathon, CrossFit Games, Olympics, etc.) can win gold medals but it’s also going to be taking on the body.
They don’t care about how they look, they’re not competing for a bodybuilding contest. They want to win in their sport or activity. But it often requires an unhealthy amount of training.
You have to pick which is the priority for you.
And you don’t have to go to the far corner of that goal. You can be between two goals. For instance, I know many people want to train for visual and health reasons.
If you are split between the two, you won’t reach the optimal state of either but if you make that your goal, you know that going into it.
You can’t reach peak results unless you focus on one.
Imagine you have a marker and you’re going to plot a dot on the triangle. Where would you put it? You can even point with your finger at the image. Are you dead center? Are you in the middle of two goals? Are you all in on one goal?
This is meant to make you aware of your own goals so you can take the actions needed to get you there. But it also makes you aware of what you are choosing to ignore…..for now.
It’s not a forever decision. You can certainly go through a season and focus on fat-loss for a period until you reach your fat-loss goal. From there you can focus on strength (performance goal) or health.
I’m not here to tell you which goal to pick but I want to make you aware of how the body works so you can mentally prepare. And you can get on a training and nutrition plan that fits that goal.
Thats’ where talking with your Coach comes in. You can share your goals with them and confirm that the training and nutrition plan you are following will help you to reach those goals.