Public Fitness Goals – For Better or Worse

My Bike and Me - In Real Life

Cruising the fitness blogs and social media circles, I’ve been noticing a goal setting theme. I was struck by Lisa Johnson’s ideas on “Engaging your Tribe” for Challenge Week. And I’m sensing there is real power in building your community (digital or otherwise) as a way to gain support and be accountable.

My goals are actually around exercise activities I don’t like much, and I don’t like them because they are HARD for me. Achieving these goals will be a result of being stronger, healthier, and more trusting of my abilities.

So here it goes, for better or worse, my 5 exercise goals:

1. Jump rope for 2 minutes without tripping by the end of October. Why? I’m a bit uncoordinated and I should be able to do this, just out of principle, right? 2 weeks ago I couldn’t even make 10 jumps. I’m now up to 1 minute (on a good run), so that’s progress. Plus it will be good for my heart.
2. Complete one of Sonjia’s CrossFit classes by the end of October. Why? Why not? I’ve been working out with her 2x per week for a while. Why am I afraid of her class? I’m not sure. But I’m going to do one – afraid or not!
3. Do 10 x 10 of REAL burpees (jump up, jump out, push up, jump in) by the end of November. Why? The plyo aspect of this exercise is very intense for me – it will be good for my heart and improving my higher intensity endurance. I did 3 x 10 last night and was quite pleased with myself – I’ve never done 10 REAL burpees before, let alone 30 ;-)
4. Jog 5K by mid December using the Couch to 5K Plan. Why? I’ve never been able to jog – even as a kid – my shins HURT! I even took a jogging class in college thinking that I would eventually condition enough to like it. NOT. But I just got new shoes and I can trudge along for a short distance (like really short) without pain! This would be a huge accomplishment for me – both mentally and physically. And conditioning in this way to be able to integrate jogging into my lifestyle (heck, you can do it anywhere) would be a nice thing to have in my toolbox.
5. Be able to ride Poly Canyon on my bike by the end of December. Why? I want to be stronger on hills and more confident (not freaking out). (I recently remembered that didn’t ride a bike as a kid, so I was shocked at how bad I am!) For this goal, it’s ok if I stop and rest, but I want to be strong enough (mentally and physically) to not quit. I want to be better on my bike so that my boyfriend and I can head out and ride together.

What will it take for me to reach these goals? Practice and perseverance…. It’s just that simple. My regular activities need to incorporate a little time devoted to these activities. (Sonjia will be thrilled that I will volunteer for burpees and jumprope LOL.)

So thank you in advance for all of your fun chatter and support – it is much more fun being part of a community trying to make small changes towards a healthy lifestyle.

What are your goals? Have you gone public with them?

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