Not Just Fat Loss Goals

The first post I did on losing fat came after I read an article on the power of using the mind to really take yourself to places you have never been. It was one of the side articles that came in my Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle book. I wrote down a draft of my goals and they were basically appearance-based but there is a lot more to it. I think to reach the fat percentage goals and such I really need to have other strength and conditioning goals simultaneously.

I read an article in Men's Health that had the title "A Fit Man Can ...". The idea was a number of physical feats a "fit" man should be able to accomplish. Some are dealing with pure strength (like bench pressing 1.5 times your body weight), some with conditioning (running/swimming) and others with flexibilitiy (touching your toes). Some of them have become good goals for me and I have some others to add to the list.

1. Run a 10K in under 48 minutes. This goal is one I created for myself and the date is the date of the Capitol 10K next year (first week of April, 2007).
2. 40 pushups. This one came from Men's Health. I have started working on this the last couple of weeks. The suggested workout in the article had someone doing a set of 40 pushups no matter how many sets it took them but the idea is to lower your rest time each time so eventually you get 40 done in one shot. I have seen great progress. I started at about 20-25 in one shot and after a week I was up to 35 before needing a break. I should have this one complete in a couple of weeks.
3. 10 front-grip, shoulder-length pullups. I made this one up. I have never at any point in my life been able to do 10 pullups in any grip. Back in '96, I got to 8. I weighed 180 then after doing ridiculous amounts of cardio. My muscle tone was not great. Anyway, this is a big one for me. I bought a power-deck to practice them.
4. Run a mile and a half in 10 minutes. This on is also from Men's Health. It goes along with #1, but I think getting my speed up will help my fat burning as well.
5. 20 dips. Another weak exercise for me, but I can get 12-14 now in one shot. This one should fall in line as I get #4 in order.
6. Bench Press 1.5 Times Weight. This one is from Men's Health. This will be difficult without a workout partner, but is a good goal. Once I get to 180 lbs, that means I should be able to get 270 to reach this goal

This is a good start. I suspect more goals will come to mind as I make improvements. Sometimes I think about swimming goals or biking goals, but I am not ready for that yet.