How long did it take you to reach your goals?

[Ari Kestler]

The quick answer most of you will give me is probably "well I keep building new ones so..." That's great and all but I'm referring more to strength goals and some of my goals specifically..

2.5xBW DL
2xBW BS
1.5xBW PC
.75-1xBW SP
HSPU with a full ROM on bars (not just 1)
Muscle ups, something like 3x5...

The only reason I ask is because sometimes I have difficulty maintaining focus for the long haul...i.e. I like to see quick results, and I know that this sport does not lend itself to that, and that's fine...so I'm putting this thread up as a motivator and to help me keep my eye on the prize...

[Gant Grimes]

Those are good goals. Where are you now, where do you want to be in 1/3/6 months, and how do you plan to get there?

I usually set long, mid, and short term goals. The ST goals are attainable, and I can usually reach them quickly. From there I make new ST goals and adjust the MT goals, if necessary. My LT goals are mostly aspirational and may take years to achieve (if I ever achieve them).

My LT goals (with current marks) are:

3xBW DL (2.3x)
2.5xBW BS (2x)
1.25 Press (1x)
136 kg (300#) C&J (110)
100 kg SN (80)
Helen- under 8 minutes (8:52)
30 MU < 5 minutes (7:51)
Filthy Fifty < 20 minutes (24:11)
Grace < 3 minutes (3:40)
Free-standing HSPU (not even close)

My non-quantifiable goals are:
Simplify and stay happy.

[Mike ODonnell]

Originally Posted by Ari Kestler

The only reason I ask is because sometimes I have difficulty maintaining focus for the long haul...i.e. I like to see quick results, and I know that this sport does not lend itself to that, and that's fine.

If that's your weakness....then work on that. Exercise your greatest muscle...your mind. There are no quick results worth keeping....so understand that first of all. Second realize people do this for years and years...but to them they are in it for the long haul or lifestyle of it. Quick fixes never work for anything....because you not going to enjoy the daily challenge.....also guess what...you will get injured at some point....you will get sick....you will plateau....and that will be mentally devastating for any setback that comes along....but if you are in it for the long haul...those things are just part of the journey. You can have short term goals and direction....but if you do not enjoy the journey what good is it all? What's the purpose? That and if you reach your goals....then what?

Hence why you see few people truly excel at anything long term....because most everyone else get burned out when things aren't going their way quick enough or just go full force and mentally don't pace themselves. Ask anyone who excels and they will say they don't do anything special...but just wake up and live the journey consistently year after year. Slow and steady will win the race everytime....with of course the right programming.

[Leo Soubbotine]

I used to worry a lot more about goals, progress etc.

Now I'm more concentrated on enjoyment I get from training.
I still consider it would be neat to hit some numbers, but the process of getting them is fun. Numbers in brackets are current or the most recent.

Deadlift 500 lbs (462)
Squat 400 (385)
Press 200 (170)
C&J 300 (253)
Snatch 220 (187)
Fran in sub 3 (4:01)
Helen in sub 7:30 (8:48)
Annie in sub 5 (6:32)
30 Muscle ups - to complete
Iron cross (not even close)
Row 500 m in sub 1:20 (1:24.1)

[Dave Van Skike]

2.5xBW DL

It's been a year and a two months..I'm within 15 pounds either way.


2xBW BS

A year and a couple weeks.

1.5xBW PC

I'm a ways out. For me thsi is 300. I'm at 225-240 for a power clean

.75-1xBW SP

.75 came quickly, I'm several months out on the 1.

I completely grok the short attention span thing, when I start to grind away I do something radical...quit.

the whole simmons idea of rotating max effort work to go after weaknesses and the Pavel idea of "same but different" are at work here.

When you are just grindign at SP, use it as a warm up to push press or push jerks or incline bench or bench or whatever realted lift that can help drive the goal lift.

Same with squats, switch to box squats, olympic squats, front squats. change reps schemes, set PR's for doubles, triples fives and eights.

Do RDL's rack deads, halting deads progressive pulls, hi pulls, dumbell rows, barbell rows wieighted chins.......

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, except for in real life, where there is a bunch of shit in the way.

Find a way around it and keep it fresh by constantly improving your weaknesses and setting PR's .

[Steven Low]

Depends how heavy/tall you are.. not just what numbers you want. A 2.5 bw DL for me 5'8" 135 is gonna be harder than probably someone at 160 lbs although possibly harder for someone at 250 lbs. It really depends.

Muscle ups and HSPUs will come very quickly if you work rings a lot.. although you'll have to put in the time to get them. As for the weights.. you can always do strength cycles like SS if your strength is poor or some sort of linearized intermediate. That should get you to most of the goals you have listed.

Like people have said.. divide them into short term and long term. You can't do everything at once although you can generally focus well on 4-5 different ones at the same time (well, 2 push, 2 pull, 2 legs is generally a good concept).

[Dave Van Skike]

surprised more people don't share how long it actually took them. might be interesting too see for Ari what the spread is. I know it's taken me too long, in large part by not consistently training with people that are better. training alone can be a mind suck. it's contemplative, it's probably *healthy in whatever sense of the word you like but I think it often lowers our expectations.

Leo and Gant, how long have you been working on those goals?

[Mike ODonnell]

Originally Posted by Dave Van Skike

surprised more people don't share how long it actually took them.

Real life timeline....f'd up my shoulder and wrist 3 months ago....now just able to do a pushup with bodyweight and press things over my head. Will be another couple months to get back to where I used to be....

[Jane Michel]

It has been a bit of a strange journey for me...

I started with CF, and after a year had none of the fantastic results that many people have reported so decided to try building up the strength base with SS. Had no goals - just wanted to increase strength. Went from a 40kg squat to 62.5kg and 60kg DL to 82.5kg while BP, press, chinups/pullups stayed about the same. Gained lots of strength and mass but also bodyfat.

Started cutting and doing Kelly Baggett's Vertical Jump program. Halfway through started having pain in the shin and had to stop. Followed the CA WOD for awhile and gained strength and mass and bodyfat again.

Went overseas for 3.5 months and lived solely on pistols, pushups, chair dips, staircase pullups, dumbbells in backpack squat cleans, stair running, and treadmill running.

Lost muscle/bodyfat/strength but finally decided after trying out so many things that I and my body prefer being slim, agile and fast than big and strong.

I started out with goals but ended up finding out what I like most and what my body works well with. And I'm like Leo now... I'm just enjoying my training and messing around with rings and gymnastics. Now once in a while I like to have a do-whatever-I-feel-like-doing day like throwing medicine balls around, swinging on the pullup bar, box jumps, random things. I have goals but they're not imperative... it'd just be neat to reach them. It's also partly because there are further upcoming disruptions to my training schedule - in 3 months I'm going overseas again for a month and will be gymless.

[Darryl Shaw]

The only goal I have is a long healthy life.