Wow, I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of all this fitness goal talk. I have fitness goal fatigue. What the heck dude? Aren’t we done yet?
One of my favorite authors, Steve Magness, said this on Twitter a few weeks ago.
Who the heck am I kidding? I’m a journeyman by even weekend warrior standards.
So maybe I shouldn’t get caught up in all of my bullshit. Let me apply the words of Magness to myself, if I were to simplify my life…instead of overcomplicating it, that is:
- Do XT 150 times
- Eat more fruits and vegetables
- Sleep at least 7 hours a night
Maybe that’s all I need. Why don’t I just stop there? Simple. Basic. Effective.
Right?
That’s no fun though. I really love doing a lot of this deliberating and such.
Listen, I waste a huge amount of time researching places to hike, bike, run, climb, paddle, and play tennis. Time I should be spending hiking, biking, running, climbing, paddling, and playing tennis … or sleeping and not eating junk food.
But hey, I’m human. I’m pretty aware of how the “productivity trap” can effect my happiness (thanks Jon and Chiesi USA for highlighting this on your LinkedIn). As the article says, I know there is a risk of “hedonic adaptation” happening in my fitness life. Even if I achieve some of these goals I’ll never be satisfied. But these are different from work and personal productivity goals. I’m setting goals for stuff that is innately fun.
Dang it. I’m setting goals that involve being outside in nature with other people. Any anxiety I feel about not achieving these goals will certainly be offset by the joy of trying.
I’ll keep telling myself that.
So I’m pressing forward. Making 2022 goals that I will or will not attempt to achieve. My success will depend on how I fair against the typically human diseases like a short attention span and idleness.
In the end, I just want 2022 to feel better than 2021 does right now. That’s why I’m doing this. I want to be sitting here next December reflecting on killer adventure races and multiple epic days that pushed me to the brink.
So what do we have left? Well, if we’re buying into this, let’s just pick a few other things to work on in our fitness lives and make a valid effort to keep ourselves on track.
Me? Yeah, I’ll try and do the aforementioned increase in fruits and veggies and more sleep, but deep in my heart I don’t think I have big problems in those areas. I already get around 7 hours of sleep regularly and I had some broccoli the other day. I’m going to focus on two other things in 2022.
First, I’m going to dabble in cold exposure. I’ve heard that you can get the benefits of cold exposure in as little as 11 minutes a week. That means I could turn my shower to cold for 2 minutes a day and get plenty. That’s a start. How hard could that be?
Second, I’m going to dabble in increasing mobility and flexibility. I’m going to start by trying to increase my ankle range of motion which will allow me to deepen my squat (which will allow me to incorporate more of my posterior chain, which should help my ongoing hamstring problems). I’m also thinking of doing arm circles (unweighted) a few times a week until my arms feel like they’re going to fall off, you know, to bulletproof my shoulders.
Just some ideas! What you thinking?