Goals change with age. But I’ve stopped framing goals. I chase skill and adaptations.
I’ve seen my goals go from training for vanity to training for strength to training for skill to training for maintaining physical capacity and skill.
There are five key points:
1. You will never have enough time to do all the activity you need to do.
2. I will never get to say mission accomplished when it comes to exercise and training. Bodybuilders have competitions. Power lifters have meets. Athletes have wins, losses and tournaments. Celebrities and influencers have shoots, movies, reels and roles. The general population has a mirror to stare at, niggles to soothe, clothes to fit in, medical check ups to get through and a day to get through.
3. Longevity is a nebulous goal. You can maintain decent body composition. Aim to be pain free. Maintain stable joints. Be able to produce force in many positions. And have a level of conditioning that gets you through most outlier demands (hikes, treks, chase a bus). Longevity like performance is a nebulous goal that allows people to send you down an increasingly complicated and obsessive rabbit hole that leaves you agonising over all that you can’t afford to do to feel a certain way.
4. Most of us are carrying way more fat than we realise.
5. We are not as active as we think are.
I’ve seen my goals go from training for vanity to training for strength to training for skill to training for maintaining physical capacity and skill.
There are five key points:
1. You will never have enough time to do all the activity you need to do.
2. I will never get to say mission accomplished when it comes to exercise and training. Bodybuilders have competitions. Power lifters have meets. Athletes have wins, losses and tournaments. Celebrities and influencers have shoots, movies, reels and roles. The general population has a mirror to stare at, niggles to soothe, clothes to fit in, medical check ups to get through and a day to get through.
3. Longevity is a nebulous goal. You can maintain decent body composition. Aim to be pain free. Maintain stable joints. Be able to produce force in many positions. And have a level of conditioning that gets you through most outlier demands (hikes, treks, chase a bus). Longevity like performance is a nebulous goal that allows people to send you down an increasingly complicated and obsessive rabbit hole that leaves you agonising over all that you can’t afford to do to feel a certain way.
4. Most of us are carrying way more fat than we realise.
5. We are not as active as we think are.