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Tag: Stretch

Understanding S.M.A.R.T Goals

So you want to set some goals

The best way to get where you want to go in life is by having a map!  A map will guide you to where ever you want to go and will take the guess work out of how to get there!  Being successful at anything in life is no different, if you see the path to take and you stick to it, you’re sure to get there!  Which is why you always here me say ‘Know The Goal’, after all how can you hit the goal, if you don’t know the goal!  S.M.A.R.T Goals are the easiest way to breakdown what we want and how we get it!

So here we go, read the below to get an understanding of how we set ourselves up for success!

SPECIFIC: Having specific goals gives you a much better chance of hitting them then just something general.  There are six”W” questions you’ll want to answer to make a goal specific!

Who:      Who is involved?

What:     What do I want to accomplish?

Where:    Identify a location.

When:     Establish a time frame.

Which:    Identify requirements and constraints.

Why:      Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

EXAMPLE:  A general goal would be, “Lose Weight, or Build Muscle.”  A specific goal would say, “I will commit to workout 4 times per week at a fitness facility doing group exercise.”

MEASURABLE:  Give your self a solid criteria so you can measure your progress each step of the way and see your progress.  There’s no better feeling then progress or accomplishment and this will help you stay focused on hitting the goal!

A way to be sure your goal is measurable you can ask yourself questions like

How often do I need to do ‘blank”  to hit my target goal

How will I know when I’ve hit my goal?

Example: If you want to lose 20 pounds, you’ll need to know how you go about losing 1 pound per week, and then hitting you’ll monitor your progress and if you stick to it, you should hit your goal in 5 months or less!

ACHIEVABLE:  One of the most important parts of hitting goals is making sure you can hit them and they’re within your physical or mental limitations. Developing the attitude, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them.

I am 100% confident that you can hit any goal you set your mind to, when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.

RELEVANT: To be relevant, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and relevant you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress.

A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.

TIME-BASED:  A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there’s no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? “Someday” won’t work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, “by May 1st”, then you’ve set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.

Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.

So now that you’ve got a better idea of what a S.M.A.R.T goal is you can start to think about what goals you want to hit and in what amount of time you want to hit them!  Stay tuned for more information of setting specific goals!

‘KNOW THE GOAL’

How To Use A Foam Roller

Lets start with this….

If your muscles are not sore from working out, YOU’RE NOT WORKING HARD ENOUGH!!!

Says the trainer lol.

When muscles get worked, they expand in size and as they recover they retract.  This fluctuation in muscle size can lead to the pulling of other muscles in the body.  Most commonly when we feel weak in the lower back the pain does not stem from the lower back, but from the gluteus muscles, hamstrings and I.T Bands being tight, knotting up and pulling on the lower back.  This can also happen if you do work your upper back, rhomboid or shoulder muscles in the same way, as they tighten they pull on other muscles.

So what can we do to help alleviate the pain?

Foam Roll!

I recommend you watch the above video if you haven’t already to visually see how to hit each part of the body.  Below are steps of how to get your full body roll on!  Try to roll 10 times each way to start and get a feel for where you’re the most sore, then concentrate on the areas you feel you need it the most.

Remember that the recovery part of fitness is just as important, if not more important, than what exercises we do, we must listen to the body and help it become its healthiest by giving it what it needs!

Enjoy!

 

UPPER BACK – SHOULDERS : Place the roller at the base of the head along the Cervical Spine.  Press the hips and pelvis area up to the sky and slowly start to roll down your back to the thoracic part of the spine rolling over the rhomboids.  (Ladies be sure to watch that your hair does not get caught under the roll)

LOWER BACK :  This is an important part to be careful of, be sure to keep your chest at an incline so that you can control the weight over this part of your spine.  (See the video for example)

GLUTEUS MAXIMUS :  Your butt.  You’re guaranteed to be tight here.  Sit on the roller lean to the side slightly and roll back and forth.  Then switch the other side.

HAMSTRING :  Again, another place you’ll be tight.  Place the hands on the ground to raise yourself up allowing your full body weight to press down on the roller.

CALF:  Keep the same hand placement to allow full body weight compression.

TURN THE BODY OVER

SHINS:  If you’re a runner you absolutely want to be sure to roll out your shins to prevent shin splints.  Place your forearms on the ground as if doing a forearm plank.  Shift the shoulders forward and back to roll through the shins.

QUADS:  When working the quads use the same forearm hold shifting shoulders forward and back.

LASTLY COMES THE GRAND FINALE OF ALL FOAM ROLLING

ILOTIAL BAND (I T BAND) :         This is going to hurt, no, really, it is.

Place the side of your leg on the roller, with both hands on the ground and slowly start to roll down toward your knee.  Try to keep the feet off of the ground to allow the full body weight to press down on the roller.   Go slow rolling up and down and then switch sides.

It will be painful the first few times, but remember the more it hurts the more it means your body needed it.  In a few weeks it wont be nearly as bad!

 

Rise Up Today To Create Tomorrow

Rise Up Today:rise up image

Everything that happened yesterday happened exactly as it was supposed to so that your vision for tomorrow could be clear today.

You have no failures from yesterday, those are the blocks that will build the foundation for the future you will build today.

Take what lessons can be learned, use them, then let go of anything that will hold you back or hold you down.

Put the past behind you.  Today is the only day that matters, it’s what you do next that will define you.

Rise Up Today My Friends, Create Your Vision, Today Is Your Day To Shine!

–  Know The Goal