Sorta new here. I am preparing to start a few fitness-related goals and am just wondering how aggressive you all typically make your goals. As an example, I would like to strength train 2x per week and do cardio 4x per week. This is an OPTIMAL goal that I aspired to achieve as much as possible. I do know life will happen, however. Is this how you would set your targets? I worry that if I drop the cardio goal, for example, down to 3x per week (accounting for random schedule craziness, illness, etc.), I will mentally reframe this as the new acceptable amount if that makes sense.
I think there’s a post on the Beeminder blog about the optimal amount to beemind.
That being said I feel like this is going to be a very personal decision.
I tend to have different levels of aggressiveness depending on the severity of failure and how much I ~actually~ have to do. I’ve set aspirational Beeminder goals once or twice have backfired in a bunch of derailments and abandoning the goal/Beeminder altogether. I tend to err on the conservative side now and beemind what I know I really HAVE to do.
Beeminder works for me best for me when I see im going to derail and think “damn, I really do need to do that” vs “eh, that was something stupid past me wanted me to do”
I feel like you do have to take into account “life” as we don’t live in a perfect reality.
Some thoughts:
What are your motivations for doing this? If it is for health, probably consistency is better than big swings of activity/inactivity. What’s your risk for giving up if the goal is too hard to realistically achieve?
Do you have a particular goal you are trying to achieve with a fixed deadline? ie I Beeminded a 100mi bike race and I worked out how much I HAD to train to get through it and configured that into my goal before race day.
How often do you strength-train and do cardio workouts right now? Have you ever consistently done a 6X workout/week? ie is this a routine you’re familiar with and know how to get back on the wagon or is it aspirational and something to build up towards?
Could you Beemind the minimum acceptable amount and see if you do more? Or have a schedule where month 1: X workouts/week, month 2: X +1 workouts etc
Or beemind 3x/week and if you get too much safety buffer ratchet away some of the extra buffer?
How much are you willing to go in and schedule breaks for yourself when you know you have something coming up where you can’t meet the optimal schedule? Will you know in advance?
Lots of good thoughts above. I’m just going to babble a bit on top of that, I have tried a few different approaches over the years.
One option is to set the goal for the optimal, and just prepare yourself mentally to accept derailing once every few months. It’d cost a lot less than a gym membership, so if you can tell yourself it’s worth it (rather than letting it make you give up on the goal), then that’s great!
Another thing I’ve done at various times is make a goal which is more conservative than necessary, but tell myself I’m going to try to build up a lot of buffer. Then, whenever the buffer goes above some pre-decided amount, increase the slope or rachet it. (Heck, if you really wanted you could effectively have “4/week normally but 3/week when I can’t do that” by setting 3/week and committing to ratchet in a carefully-planned way.)
One advantage of ratcheting is that the time you do it is physically disconnected from having to work out, so the willpower necessary to ratchet and make this week 1 workout harder is still less than the willpower necessary to start a workout.
Thanks for the thoughtful responses. You’ve given me a lot to think about! I think I am in agreement – starting somewhat conservative and/or ratcheting might be the best way to go.
I am no stranger to exercise, but I have the uncanny ability to let 2 missed workouts turn into 2 weeks off. My aim is to become more consistent with fewer lapses. I tend to be all-or-nothing when it comes to fitness (I’m either training for a marathon or marathoning 9 seasons of a TV show). Starting a little lower than my long-term goal and increasing the target after a certain period of sustained success might the safer route.