Goals: Making dreams come true

"Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them -- a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill."  - Muhammad Ali

I have found coming up with a good blog post takes some time and planning. On that note lets get into talking about my goals. Coming up with goals is not exactly one of the easiest things to do or is it? It is easy to come up with some sort of goal but is that goal realistic? If so have you actually came up with a plan as to how you are going to reach this goal? If not it might be quite difficult for it to come true. It could just be a dream that will remain a dream forever. To have a dream come true I think it takes setting the right goals to make that dream a reality.

What do I want to be when I grow up? Lets talk a little about trying to figure out what you want to be and what you want to do with your life. Me for instance.....I have gone back and forth with crossfit and olympic weightlifting. First I wanted to go to the crossfit games. I was introduced to olympic weightlifting through crossfit. I started training with my wonderful trainer Ramin Robinson to improve my olympic lifts and become more efficient. I fell in love with it. It is very challenging for me but I enjoy striving to make myself better. Olympic lifting challenges me both physically and mentally which in turn helps me with my life outside the gym. Now I have gotten off track a little but my point is if you really want to succeed at something you have to make up your mind that that is what you want to do.

So lets start with dreams that may be a little far fetched:
1.  Go to the Olympics:  When I was younger yes I did dream of going to the Olympics. At that time I dreamed about going for Tae Kwon Do. I had chosen to go to college instead. I am not saying this would necessarily be a bad goal but if that is what I am focused on at this point in my life I will spend most of my time being very disappointed since I am not even close to lifting at that level yet. Not bad to dream about it but not realistic to set it as a goal.
2.  Go to an international level compeition:  This goal would at least be a little more realistic then going to the olympics but still very far off. I think only a few get picked to compete internationally each year and those are the top athletes. My total is not even close to them.
3.  Total 200kg or more:  So if I did this then the other dreams above would probably come true. Again ok to probably think about these things but it would probably be more productive to think about smaller goals that will get me closer to the big ones. If I spend my time getting disappointed that won't help me at all.

Let get realistic........Goals:
1.  Keep bodyweight at 153lbs or below:  The main reason for this goal is because this is the weight I am happy with. When I start gettting above this I start to be a little unhappy with my body.
2.  Gain muscle:  Now I do understand that gaining muscle may equal gaining weight but if my body weight increases due to muscle I will cancel out my first goal as long as I don't look like I am on steriods.
3.  Improve technique:  Making sure I get my head through (not looking to the sky so my bar has no where to go but down), Keeping my elbows and chest up (those kind of go together....if elbows fall chest falls and in turn the bar falls to the ground which is not where I want it), Keeping my back flat (very important especially if I want to keep lifting for many years and not have a bad back), Push knees out (I know a lot of people have trouble with their knees going in so that they are almost touching but not going to help me complete my lift), Starting lift slow and controlled and finishing fast and smooth (a lot of the time I seem to think the faster I pull that bar off the ground the better my chance of getting it overhead. What I am finding out is this is not true. As coach Mike Burgener told me "Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast".
4.  Improve the mind:  Be able to visualize the perfect technique and apply it to my lift, Get better at clearing my mind and develping no mindness, Believe in myself and gain confidence, Have fun....not letting the stress make what I enjoy not be fun anymore, After having a failed lift be able to regain composure and get the next one.

So I have been working very hard on this post but while reading through it again it was kind of putting me to sleep. Weather that is because I have been working all day or because the post is too long not sure but hey I tryed and I am sure someone will find it interesting. If not I have my goals down in writing.