My 2010 Fitness Goals

We have recently challenged our athletes at CrossFit Léman to compile a list of their fitness goals for 2010. I’m curious to see what they come up with, but in the spirit of the times I also want to publish my own goals for the coming year.

My overwhelming goal is to improve my mobility and flexibility so that I can squat (i.e. back straight, good lumbar curve and knees tracking over toes)and deadlift (i.e. good lumbar curve) with proper form.

Currently my squat looks like the one on the right. I want it to look like the one on the left.

In the squat my back starts to round just before parallel while in the deadlift I can pull from a raised position, but not from the floor without a rounded back.

I’ve always been very inflexible, especially around the hips but most of the time I just ignored it. That meant that in the gym instead of squatting or deadlifting I would do the leg press or hack squat. I think that is ok if you want to train for form, but I am much more interested in function. Not only that but perfect form in the squat and deadlift (among others) is a cornerstone of our philosophy at CrossFit Leman. As a trainer, not only do I need to talk the talk, I need to walk the walk.

Good mobility, especially at the hips, is the foundation of all athletic movement and I’m sure that if I can get a decent range of motion in my hips it will lead to much improved performance.

This leads me to my second major goal which is to get stronger.

I have always been fascinated with strength athletes like shot putters, strongman competitors and olympic lifters. In my experience strength gains come much slower than cardiovascular improvements and need more time, commitment and smart programming.

My current strength levels are, to be honest, poor and I want to improve them markedly. 

Specifically I want to hit the following numbers by July;

1. • 85 kg push press (my current best is 65 x 5)
   • 100 kg bench press (my current best is 87.5 x 3)
   • 160 kg deadlift (current best is 120 x 10)
   • 100 kgs front squat (current best is 80 x 3)

How am I going to hit my goals?

My plans to improve my strength are pretty straightforward. I will prioritise this in my training plan so that I peform four strength sessions per week focusing on the front squat, deadlift, bench press and push press. I will go into more detail on this in a subsequent post.

In terms of compliance, that means that I want to have finished 112 strength workouts by July before I retest my maxes. In addition to the strength sessions I will do a minimum of two metcon workouts per week.

The mobility issue is a bit more complex as I definitely need outside help here. I have been seeing an osteopath to try to help loosen me up for a few weeks and he has now referred me to a sports physiotherapist.

Foam rolling will play a major part in my attempts to loosen up

I’ve had issues in the past with physiotherapists who do not understand sports. Usually they would tell me that my range of motion is perfectly acceptable and I shouldn’t worry about it. Unfortunately they mean perfectly acceptable for general function like sitting down or walking. When I talk about sports performance or improving my squatting or deadlifting their eyes usually glaze over, if they even know what I am talking about.

That is why I am quite excited to meet this new sports physiotherapist. Not only does she come highly recommended, but she works with a lot of high level athletes. I have an appointment with her on the 22nd January so I will definitely write a post on that afterwards.

So prong one of the attack on improved mobility is seek outside help. Prong two is to do something every day to help improve my mobility. This may change once I see this sports physio, but at the moment that means the following:

• Devote at least 50% of my workout to foam rolling, dynamic mobility drills and stretching
• Foam roll at least once per day
• Stretch my hips and lower back at least twice per day. Usually I do this in the office, much to the befuddlement of my colleagues…
• Perform at least 30 plate squats per day

Once again compliance is key. It is not enough to simply stretch after my workouts. I’ve had mobility problems for over 30 years and stretching four times per week will not help. I need to attack this every day on a consistent basis and hopefully I will be able to turn things around.