Creating Better Goals for Strength and Conditioning
There’s an art to goal setting for strength and conditioning training.
Photo Credit: Becca Heuer
Introduction
Goal-setting is a vital part of effective training programs. As a strength and conditioning coach, one of my first steps is using the SMART method with my clients. This approach helps create actionable and measurable plans. (Read here for more of my thoughts on the topic).
Structured goal-setting also extends to other areas like work, school, and family. This is one of the big benefits of sport performance. You're getting stronger, bigger, and fitter while developing valuable skills.
But goal setting can still backfire. In this article, I'll discuss how to avoid some issues you want to avoid as an athlete.
Goal Setting in Sport Psychology
Goals require you to consider why you're training and what you want from the experience. Many of my clients find that expressing what they hope to achieve provides clarity and meaning, whether in writing or discussion.
Ambitious goals also increase motivation. Let's say you set a stretch goal of 1500 lb in your next powerlifting meet. The gap between your current and desired numbers will force higher effort and consistency. The focus comes from wanting to close the difference.
Goals also provide structure and guardrails to your training.
In aiming for that 1500 total, you determine you have the most room for improvement in your deadlift. Your current technique, training history, and meet history indicate that a 10% gain is achievable. That amount will significantly affect your meet finish. You also know that bench pressing yields smaller gains and takes far more physical resources due to an old shoulder injury.
Based on this information, you can dedicate more training to the deadlift and less to the bench. Your goals dictate your training program, guarding against ego bench lifting and junk volume.
To read more about sport goals, read this excellent piece from the Association of Applied Sport Psychology.
The Risks of Goal Setting in Athletic Performance
While setting goals seems like an obvious step in every situation, like everything in life, it does come with risks.
A group of researchers describe these potential issues in a paper entitled "Goals Gone Wild." You can read the full text here.
While these faculty write in the context of business, I've observed many of these issues as a strength coach. Below are the relevant ones, along with key quotes and how they apply to strength and conditioning programs:
Narrow Goals: "Intense focus can blind people to important issues that appear unrelated to the goal."
Narrow goals pop up in my powerlifting coaching with clients who avoid aerobic fitness. A common misconception in many popular strength training programs is that cardio interferes with gains. They need to read the literature and the sport-specificity principle more carefully.
As a result, trains fail to develop cardiovascular fitness, which is the engine that drives long-term strength gains.
Inappropriate Time Horizon: "The effort to meet short-term targets [occurs] at the expense of long-term growth."
Have you ever been on the Internet? Nothing sells like the promise of quick results. However, basic biology dictates that our bodies prefer homeostasis. It takes a long time to create changes like increased lean body mass.
Risk Taking: "People motivated by specific, challenging goals adopt riskier strategies than do those with less challenging or vague goals."
This risk is more likely nearer to competition. Optimal performance requires calculated gambles with training closer to max capacity and failure. However, a good training plan will include some vagueness around effort or exercise selection. That's the point behind developmental blocks.
Goals Inhibit learning. "An individual who is narrowly focused on a performance goal will be less likely to try alternative methods that could help [them] learn how to perform a task."
In my experience, this is the biggest issue facing most athletes.
If you focus solely on hitting PRs each mesocycle in every training session, you will miss valuable learning opportunities.
For example, taking some weight off the bench press will allow you to identify new stimuli. The tradeoff for decreased weight might be increased muscle mass as you play with range of motion and tempo.
Or you might discover that trying new sports for 1-2 months keeps you fresh and engaged.
Better Training Plans Equal Better Goals
Periodized training plans help with performance and goals. They will build structured time for experimentation and also visualize results over a longer period.
You can avoid these pitfalls with smarter programming, either on your own or in partnership with a strength and conditioning coach.
Incorporate all elements of sport science into your goals.
Training includes more than one principle and more than one study. If you're a lifter, build cardio into your training schedule. It will improve how much volume you can do each session and how long it takes you to bounce back.
When setting SMART goals, objectively assess the "T."
Based on historical and predicated performance, define progress according to 6 and 12-month intervals. Draw a plan to visualize how your numbers will play out over this period.
Also, remember that your total time horizon should be decades, not months. No amount of pure willpower or drive will overcome the basic math of consistent progress over tens of thousands of reps.
Balance high-intensity training with periods of easier work
Pushing your limits at time is necessary for competition or achieving top-end strength. But you can't maintain 10/10 effort all year round. Include different training phases throughout the year. These include GPP blocks for building general fitness and moderate volume blocks for skill practice. Also, include time for tools such as mobility, which can reduce the risk of injury, translating into more consistent performance.
Explore your athleticism and what works for you.
Include experiments in your training plan along with plain old fun. You may discover that you develop helpful skills from other sports and gain insight into how you perform best. Trying a new workout or attending class with a friend is enjoyable and helps reduce stress, which is vital to improved performance.
Conclusion
Improved athletic performance requires goal setting. But the process requires more than just attaching specific objectives to a timeline. Whether you're a high school or masters athlete, you can manage the downsides of goals. Create a training program that develops all the right physical capabilities over the long term, leaving time for lighter effort and exploration.
If you’d like to talk about how I can help you on the goal and performance side of training, please reach out. I offer online strength coaching as well as personal training in the Evanston, IL, area.
