Getting back on Track - 2011 Goals

If you are like most people you let yourself go a little bit over the Holidays. Between trying (or not trying) to choose healthy options while traveling, those mini quiches at your friend’s cocktail party, and the extra bubbly in your nightlife the healthy train is bound to get derailed momentarily.

Even as a fitness and health professional I’m no exception. I tried my best to be good. I stuck to gluten free (except a couple Blue Moon brews one night) and I got in a few workouts here and there, but after a couple weeks of extra nibbles and nightly debauchery followed by general daytime sloth this A-type girl is ready to detox and get back to work.

This is not to say that a couple weeks of maintenance workouts, Nor Cal margaritas, sleeping 9 hours a night, fine dining and searching out the best ice cream in town is without merit. It’s weeks like these that make me realize how much I value my healthy lifestyle. Because after a couple weeks of this I’m left feeling not quite like myself: Groggy, with a mild headache and a generally lackluster disposition. I come to fully appreciate all that I do for my body and I start seriously craving green veggies, sprints and back squats. Although I do admit the extra sleep is probably doing me a world of good.

So to start of this new year I’m re-installing my Healthy Rules For Grown Ups and adding some additional rules. Not only I am doing no sugar no alcohol on “school nights” but I’m also going grain-free. I’m already gluten free, but I’ve been a little slutty with the corn chips lately and I feel like it’s bogging me down. I was only having a little brown rice and quinoa before, but I always feel great when I cut out grains while in fight training, so I’m adding that rule into my program now. I’ve also been a bit adulterous with the ice cream and cheese (Hey who can turn down the seasonal flavor of McConnell’s eggnog ice cream or triple cream brie cheese and La Crema pino noir?… Mmmm) Yeah, I have weaknesses too. So yes I’m dropping the dairy too, unless it’s raw dairy or grass-fed whey (which I like to have in my smoothies sometimes) and I’ll allow myself the occasional goat cheese, which I seem to tolerate better. But yeah, much less dairy cause my sinuses will thank me. 

Every year I also make goals - some are fitness related some are not. Last year I made 6 out of 12 goals come true. The point of my goals is not to beat myself up if I don’t achieve them, the point is the have something to work towards and be happy when I get there. Many of my unachieved goals from the previous years make it back to the next years list. Sometimes I take off goals, and replace the because I have changed and so have my dreams and that’s okay too. 

Here are my 2010 year’s goals I made happen:

• Get Certified in Metabolic Typing and Functional Diagnostic Nutrition
• Expand my business to my very own space (actually happening this month)
• Take up ceramics again - so great to have a creative outlet
• 120 lb Clean and Jerk - I love this lift so much!
• Deadlift 225 lbs - Hit this one in November
• Take another fight against a top international opponent - I won in July against UK’s Sheree Halliday

Here are my 2011 goals:

• Run a successful, profitable gym - so excited to open up later this month
• Add another certification to my resume  - I already signed up for an Olympic Lifting certification in March :)
• Read one book a month - this was on here from last year. I really want to make time for this somehow, so important.
• Run a 6 minute mile - my previous time to beat is 6:30
• A 130 lb clean and Jerk
• Take another fight against a top international opponent - I have to get the gym running smoothly first, but hopefully this can happen by spring/summer
• A “Fight Gone Bad” score of 300 or more - this will be tough, my previous score was 278 I think… but I really want this, by far my favorite “met-con” CrossFit workout. 
• Spend 2 hours a week on writing (blogging, poetry, articles memoirs, fiction etc.) - this was on last years and I don’t feel I lived up to it so it’s on here again. I’m making Sundays my writing day from now on. 
• Save money and travel to at least 3 new places - I need to see more of the world, or even just more of California, there are so many places I have not been.

I like goals because they give me a direction to work towards.  I always write my goals and tack them up on the fridge so I can see them everyday. When I hit a goal I cross it off. Sometimes as I change I change my goals, but I make sure to honestly ask myself if the change is based in truth and not fear.

It wasn’t too long ago that I was a lost and troubled young twenty-something and I realize now that the only reason for my failures and my woes was that I lacked purpose in my life and I didn’t go after my goals on a daily basis. Dream big, but don’t forget that each single day is a opportunity to make things happen.  It’s the small steps that add up over the 365 days and make your small actions into big successes. Seeing your goal list everyday should remind you of this.

I urge all of you to make a promise to yourself to clean your slate and re-commit yourself to your health and fitness. No Guilt, No Excuses. Just write down your goals and enter 2011 with a heart full of passion, a head full of dreams and your pockets stocked with action and ambition. 

Go Get ‘Em!

Roxy

1 January 2011 ·

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• goals