How to Increase Your Grip Strength
Written by Hunter Britt 

Around 2017 the use of gymnastics grips in crossfit for the purpose of saving your forearms in workouts really took off. That is a two birds-one stone situation: save your grip strength and save your skin. 

Until they were recently banned, people were using them to save their forearms on deadlifts. The immediate performance increase might be causing a decline in future performance. Of course, be smart and save your skin so you can keep training consistent.  But you still need to make sure that your grip is getting the training it deserves. 

How to increase your grip strength 

You have two options to make sure your pinchers are ready to clamp down with maximum force. 

1. Perform some of your training, that is not going to rip your hands, without your grip saving gymnastics grips. 

Just like a lifting belt. There is a time and place for the assistance and performance boost. If you are always training with grips then you are missing out on a big opportunity to improve not just muscular endurance, but also absolute strength. Even the bottom of a muscle up or chest to bar is a fairly high strain on the forearms given the forces from the swing when you are at the bottom so think about when you can get some of the bonus grip training in and when you need to protect your hands. 

2. Regularly perform grip specific exercises.

Here are a few easy go-to sets to try:

• Five sets of:
  • Dumbbell Farmer Carry x 45-60 seconds (Maximum Dumbbell Weight)
  • Rest as needed

OR…

• Four to Five sets of:
  • Deadlift Overhand Hold (No straps or Hook Grip) x 20-30 seconds
  • Rest as needed
  • (You can take off of blocks or out of a power rack so you only deadlift the weight 1-2 inches to lockout)

OR…

• Your Dad’s favorite! Get yourself a set of forearm grips with a couple different resistance options and train your grip like other lifts.

Invictus Strength Program 

Ready to work on grip strength, among many other things? Check out the Invictus Strength Program. Spend dedicated time on building your base lifts – the squat, bench press, overhead press and deadlift.

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How To Stay Committed To Your Goals After January 
Written by Kelly Sekulovski 

During the month of January, new goals and resolutions are in the air. You feel more motivated than ever. Then January starts to come to a close… and so does your motivation. How do you stay committed to your goals AFTER January and the new year, new you rush is over? 

Tips to stay committed to your goals

Use your SMART goals

Creating measurable and quantifiable goals can help you to stay on track and clarify what it means to accomplish your goals. Vague and ambiguous goals lack a sense of accomplishment when they are achieved. You can learn more about SMART goals in the Invictus Goal Setting Guide. 

Reward yourself when you hit milestones in your goals

Have a fat loss goal? Each time you drop 5 pounds, get yourself a new piece of workout gear. Want to get stronger in the gym? Every time you hit a PR get yourself a treat. 

Using rewards is a great way to stay on track and motivate yourself. Just make sure you are giving yourself rewards that won’t derail your progress!

Find and remember your why 

To find your “why”, ask yourself why you want to accomplish this goal. Will it make your life better? Will it make you healthier and happier? Will you feel more confident? Whatever your “why” is, try to keep it written down somewhere that you can see it to remind you why you are putting in the work. Sometimes it’s easy to get wrapped up in the goal itself. When we forget the why behind it, that is when you can lose your motivation to carry on. 

Have a clear plan to get to your goal

A goal without a plan is just a wish. Or insert some other wise quote from a philosopher. Without having an actual plan we are aimlessly hoping that we will get to the goal without knowing if we are on the right path. Formulating a clear plan to help you get to your goal is key to being successful and not losing steam after the initial January new year’s rush. 

Accountability is key 

If you have no support system, or no type of accountability to accomplishing your goal then odds are you will fall off track. Help yourself stay the course until the goal has been reached by enlisting help from others. Find an accountability buddy, a coach or a friend who knows what you want to accomplish and reminds you to stay on track. A lack of accountability is the biggest barrier to success when it comes to your goals. 

Invictus Goal Setting Guide 

Want a free guide to setting and creating a plan for your goals? Check out the Invictus Goal Setting Guide, a free resource available for anyone looking to establish and accomplish a goal! 

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The Benefits of Personalized Programming 
Written by Holden Rethwill 

Raise your hand if you’ve ever come up with a workout for yourself. 

Now keep that hand raised if you’ve gotten to the gym after a long day, looked at it and decided “meh, not for me today” or “actually I’ll do this instead”. 

…I bet there’s a lot of you that still have your hands in the air. 

We’re all guilty of it. I am, you are, even the most elite athletes on the planet are (spoiler alert, that’s why most, if not all of them, have coaches). It’s crazy how easy it is to rationalize not doing something, completely changing something or even just being biased towards something when it’s you writing and deciding for yourself. 

Insert personalized programming  

Insert a coach into the situation and that narrative is completely flipped. Whether you’re an aspirational CrossFit Games athlete or just a general fitness enthusiast we all benefit from other people doing the thinking for us. At the end of the day less time wasted = more productivity.

This is why people buy programs from fitness influencers: so they don’t have to think for themselves. If you’re willing to pay for someone that doesn’t actually care about your progress or have extensive experience, why wouldn’t you take that money and invest in a coach that has a proven track record who actually cares about you and your journey?

The barriers you might have for personalized programming 

It’s expensive.

Yes, it is expensive, but so are hospital bills from neglecting your health. So are following dreams and aspirations that you may have. So is the time that you’re wasting following mindless programs that are mass produced just to make a quick buck. Expenses are everywhere in our world, nothing is free and the best things aren’t cheap. One thing that you should never slouch on or sacrifice is your health and wellness. We get one body and one life. Take care of yours.

I’m not a professional athlete.

99.999% of the world isn’t either. That doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from someone who actually cares about you and your specific progress. The vast majority of our program design clients, contrary to popular belief, are folks that have no competitive aspirations. Most of our clients just want to be held to the highest standard of not only programming, but accountability, that you can have in a coach/client relationship.

I’m injured.

Injuries happen. You know the best situation you can find yourself in when working through injuries? Having a coach that knows you, knows your abilities, cares about getting you healthy again and knows how to help you continue to progress while still in your rehab phase.

Insert any other excuse here and I’d love to refute it.

Basically what we are saying is that by signing up for program design with us you get so much more than a piece of paper with words on it. You get a relationship with a coach that is just as, if not more, invested in your health and fitness journey than you are. Our coaches have been around this industry for many years and have coached individuals on all ends of the fitness spectrum. We’ve worked with CrossFit Games level clients, semi-finals level clients, aspirational athletes, clients from completely different sports, and especially clients with no competitive interests whatsoever. That list goes on and on.

What do I get with personalized programming?

It all starts with your coaching consultation. You get to meet with your prospective coach in a one on one setting (either in person or via zoom). From there we get to learn a little bit about you, your goals, your fitness history, and so on. In turn you get to learn about us; our programming style, how you receive your program, our history within the fitness industry, etc. The consultation is also a great time to help you to establish goals if you are unsure as well as discuss how we as coaches can deliver you a product and relationship that is going to set you on the best track for success. 

Once you’ve signed up and are ready to go you’ll get weekly programming that is completely customized to your specific goals and needs. Inside that program you’ll have places to track your results, add input and feedback, leave notes, view movement demo videos and so on. 

Outside of the program you get regular communication with your coach. That part includes but is not limited to zoom meetings and check ins, video reviews, workout feedback, and so on. Every athlete is a little different regarding communication so in your coaching consult just be sure to discuss with your coach what is going to help keep you most accountable.

So who are your coaches? 

When you sign up for program design you’ll have your choice between two coaches. Holden Rethwill and Hunter Britt. Here’s a little bit about us…

Holden Rethwill

“I’ve been a coach with Invictus for over 8 years now. Prior to that I owned and operated a gym in Washington and before that I started in the industry working as a personal trainer during college. My background in athletics includes football, basketball and baseball (the former I played in college) as well as competing multiple times at the CrossFit Games as both an individual and on a team.

Post competitive career I have transitioned from coaching primarily group and specialty classes to running our Invictus Athlete program and being the head of our in house athlete development. I still coach a few competition classes but the bulk of my duties now involve the online programs, our in house games level athletes and my personal clients.” 

Hunter Britt

Sounding pretty sweet?

If I’ve piqued your interest but you’re still on the fence, it doesn’t hurt anyone to set up a call with a coach to see if this is going to be the right fit for you. Consults are free and it just might be what you need to get you on track to becoming the fittest version of yourself! Schedule your consult today.

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Giving New Gym Members a Winning Experience
Written Kirsten Ahrendt 

When a new gym member walks into your facility, making sure that they have a “winning” experience is up to you as their coach. We all remember how intimidating it was to walk into our first gym. You see fit people throwing weights around, and think “that will never be me”. This is why it’s so important for their first experience at the gym to be a special one. 

Use these tips to help a new gym members have a winning experience 

1. Make the gym member feel seen

• Give them a personal check in beyond the whiteboard group talk towards the beginning of class, during a warmup, or at the start of part A checking to see how they are feeling, what they still have questions about for the day, any injury history you might not be aware of. Use open-ended questions to help, like “how are you feeling about today’s training?”, or “What questions do you have about today’s movements or stimulus?”.
• Know their name and use it.
• Know something about them & reference it so they have confidence that even if you haven’t coached them before, you know their “story”.

2. Help the member to feel confident and empowered by simplifying movement

• Focus on what they CAN do, not what they can’t do. If they seem to have an “I’m the worst in the class” mindset, ask yourself…how can I give them a “win” in the class?
• SIMPLIFY. When the program is overly packed or has many ‘complicated/technical’ movements, remove stations. Take them from 4 movements to 3 or even 2 if necessary. Try to keep only 1 technically-demanding or “new” movement in their part A or part B as necessary so that they don’t feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of new things they need to remember. 
• Make subtle changes to complicated movements. Here are some examples: 
  • Use isometric holds instead of high repetitions
  • Make dynamic movements slowed down
  • Swap unilateral movements for bilateral
  • Give them something “hard” but “simple” if necessary. REMEMBER THE W-E-S Scale in StrongFit…Weight, Eccentrics, Skill… these are great variables to consider as a coach for new members to experience intensity without injury!

3. Follow up

• In-person after class, let them know what they did well. Provide any additional 1:1 coaching/cueing you wanted to follow up with them on. 
• Ask what questions still remain from the movements covered that day.
• Follow up with an email if necessary with any additional feedback or links to videos for them to learn movement better. 

Ensuring that a new member feels included, wanted and welcome is the best way to ensure that they have a “winning” experience and continue to come back to the gym! Provide them with the best possible experience and get them off on the right foot in their fitness journey.

Invictus University

Want to learn more valuable skills about how to improve your coaching, create great experiences for your members and feel more confident leading classes? Check out Invictus University, designed by Invictus Master coaches to help take you to the next level. Get on the waitlist for our next cohort!

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CrossFit Games Open 18.1 – Strategy & Tips
Written by Travis Ewart with Tips from Team Invictus

TOES-TO-BAR STRATEGIES
You don’t have to be a gymnast to be good at toes-to-bar. It’s about playing your own game and knowing what you as an athlete are capable of. In Open workouts, you want to have a plan on how to keep yourself moving continuously throughout the workout in order to achieve the highest possible score.

Here are a few different strategies you can use for toes-to-bar. Test them out to see which ones help you move the fastest and most efficiently throughout the workout.

1) Quick Sets with Short Rests
A quick set is different from athlete to athlete but what it means, no matter the rep scheme you use, is that you can knock it out and jump right back up into the next set with only a short rest in between. You know yourself best, so whether it’s sets of 8, 4, 2, have a number in your head for your sets that you know you can hit every time you reach for the bar. Clustering your reps this way is always better than doing a big set and staring at the bar for 20 seconds before you go again, because over the course of the set, you will actually spend less time on this station.

2) Singles!
There is absolutely nothing wrong with going to quick singles on any movement, toes-to-bar included. You would actually be surprised at how fast you can push through them as well as conserve energy. Whether its saving your lungs, grip, or just resting time in between, singles should always be something you can fall back on if your strategy from the start doesn’t go as planned. If you go with this strategy YOU MUST get back on the bar right away for your next rep – rests should be only a second, maybe two.

3) Never Go to Failure
Toes-to-bar is one of those movements that when they go, they go. Stay in your own lane, focus on you, and push yourself to your athletic abilities – not to the abilities of those around you. The last thing you want to do is burn out because that makes it harder, if not impossible, to get back up on the bar. Smart sets lead to a great performance so never push your set to the point of failing a rep or losing your kip rhythm (more on establishing rhythm below).

TOES-TO-BAR POINTS OF PERFORMANCE
One of the most frustrating things about doing toes-to-bar sets is getting rhythm established right from the first rep. It’s very common to jump up to the bar, hit a rep, but then the next two reps feel completely wrong. To avoid this, we here at Invictus Gymnastics have created a video to help highlight the approach to the bar for sets of toes-to-bar! This could very well be a game changer, especially for Open Workout 18.1.

There are many different ways to perform a toes-to-bar. Invictus Gymnastics coach Travis Ewart demonstrates in this video the differing ways you may see reps produced. Take some time to evaluate the goals you have put forth for yourself and see which technique works best for you!

For all your gymnastics needs you should enroll in the Invictus Gymnastics Online Program. If you feel less than adequately prepared for your gymnastics movements for this Open, it’s not the end of the world, but you should get a head start for the upcoming year to make sure you are maximizing your gymnastics potential. Yes, the Invictus Gymnastics Program can be used as a stand-alone program, but when you enroll you also have the option of joining the Invictus Gymnastics Facebook Group where you can post video and get coaching from our gymnastics expert of 21 years experience. Along with demos and tutorials embedded in the program and the additional coaching, it’s only $39/month to get better at all your gymnastics skills, no matter where on earth you are! Click here to get started.

Also Check Out…

The Science Of Visualization

4 Reasons You Struggle With Toes-To-Bar

3 Tips For Stringing Together More Toes-To-Bar

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Is Working Hard Working Against You in Your Squats? 
Written by Hunter Britt 

Stuck in a rut with your squats? 

How many squat cycles have you done and for how long have you been stuck at the same 1 rep max? The answer may not be to find the next and best squat cycle. The answer may be to just change your approach. Hard work and consistency are key to making progress, but when that hard work is suboptimal then we are just wasting a portion of our time on fruitless efforts. The other areas of making progress include targeting specific weaknesses and changing position. 

Changing your squat position 

Changing your position is typically easy to identify. Watch the best squats with similar builds to your own body and see if you look similar. If not, is it mobility, coordination, or a weak muscle group? Right now we are talking about weak muscle groups and working with your body type. If you are training your squats in positions that are not optimal for your body type then you are missing out on strength progress. Whatever position you train in and the muscles you are using the most is what you are targeting. This means that the other positions and muscles that are not getting as much work are the ones falling behind. But what if those other muscles and positions are the key to actually breaking through your plateaus. 

Disclaimer: Ego’s are often a huge barrier to fixing some of these issues because some of the solutions to the problems will require you to take a step back before leaping forward. 

Here are some common movement pattern faults for different body types:

Long Femur

Fault – You hinge over more than shorter femur athletes because you probably have a strong back and you just keep hinging more and more as the weight gets heavier. 

Explanation – You often perform your squats too far hinged over on maximum weights putting more the ideal load on your posterior and not getting enough quad activation. Either dial back your training at maximum loads to train the best positioning that your bones and mobility allow for or add in additional quad training exercises to allow for them to play a larger role in your future squats so you are not inclined to fold over as much.

Tight Ankles

Fault – You are squatting with a too narrow of stance because that is how the olympic lifters squat. 

Explanation – You have tight ankles that restricts you from getting into a low squat without significantly folding forward. Now you can not activate your quads. Wear Oly shoes and/or move your stance out wider. The oly shoes lift your heel to provide artificial range of motion in the ankle so your knees can travel forward and you can stay more upright. The wider stance will open your hips and not require your knees to travel as far forward.

Tight Shoulders

Fault – You put your hands too narrow, because again, that is what other people are doing. However, you are just getting a couple fingers around the bar or your wrists are bent back to their end range of motion.  

Explanation – A tight upper back is very important on a heavy squat. Move your hands out wider so you can get a strong grip on the bar. You should be using your hands against the bar to help create as much tension in your upper back as possible. This is especially obvious to notice when an athlete starts to grind a lift on the top half of the squat and then their upper back is making an arch that Roman architects would be proud of. 

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Muscle Soreness: How Sore Is Too Sore? Part 2
Written by Fritz Nugent

We’re back with part 2 of the series muscle soreness: how sore is too sore? If you missed part 1, make sure you go back and give it a read before reading this article! 

In part 2 we will discuss real life examples of being “too sore”, and customizing training volume to avoid excessive muscle soreness. 

Jumping back in too hard after time off = excessive muscle soreness 

There’s a member I check on a few times a month, and I saw them on a Monday working really hard, and had not seen them in the gym in a week. They were doing jumping alternating lunges, and they did all the prescribed reps. I went up to them and suggested they cut down the reps, and they said they’d be fine. But, I checked on them the next day, and they said they were really sore, and they planned to take a few days off before returning. 

Let’s analyze what happened: 

• This athlete completed too many reps at too high of an intensity
• They got really sore 
• Now they have to take another 3-4 days off before they feel ready for training. 

They went from a week off to training once, maybe twice that week. The holy grail of three days/week training is still elusive to them.

What if, instead of getting after it hard that first day back (maybe they were punishing themselves for missing the past week, and they want to force their body into submission and health), they instead dosed themselves with less? Now they feel good the next day and could train again, and if they are smart, they’d use the same approach of decreasing both volume and intensity, and again the next day they feel good. They build momentum. 

After another day or two, they hit a third training day that week using yet again the same approach. They feel great, their body and mind reward them through increased self-confidence, better dietary choices to support their training, and improved sleep quality. Now the next week they can’t wait to get after it.

This is what I hope our clients experience returning to the gym after a break. I want them to build good habits around exercise, and I would love for them to know how to appropriately dose themselves with training after taking breaks, which is something that we all SHOULD do from time to time. That’s right, taking breaks from training are necessary and beneficial. That’s why knowing how to intelligently return to training is useful!

I sent this client a message after they said they’d take a few days off training: “Any time you are sore or fatigued/tired the next day from training, you did too much. So keep track of how much you can handle while feeling GOOD the next day, and find a way to customize each class to obtain that stimulus.” 

I mean this for anyone wishing to get fitter, feel better, and improve general health. Extreme soreness is not helpful and should be completely avoided. Training to feel good is the optimal pathway.

Customizing training volume after a break from training

Our members average three training days per week. Sometimes, people fall off and go a week without training. When they return to the gym, many people wrongly assume that their fitness level is the same as when they left. It could be if they have a large training age and don’t have frequent and large breaks from training, but for the average person, after a week off, you will lose some fitness. When you come back to the gym, you must cut the volume of the training down to reduce soreness. 

I recommend starting with at least a 25% reduction in metcon training volume for a few training days after a week off:

• 1 week off: reduce training volume by 25% for about 1 week
• 2 weeks off: reduce training volume by 40-50% for 1 week, and then progress to a 25% reduction for another week
• 3 weeks off: reduce training volume by two thirds for 1 week, then progress to a 40-50% reduction for week two, and then a 25% reduction for week three 

That means if the workout specifies 200 reps of various tasks you 

• After 1 week off: 150 reps
• After 2 weeks off: 100 reps
• After 3 weeks off: 60-70 reps

If the run is 800 meters, you can cut this distance down by the same percentages, or you can adjust your intensity, or both. More on intensity next.

Customizing training intensity after a break from training

Intensity can also be changed to fit the needs of the client. In CrossFit, intensity has two distinct definitions. One, the percentage of a load from the maximum, and two, how hard someone pushes during the metcon. 

After a week off training, dialing back your metcon intensity is a smart move. I would recommend using an RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) scale to help guide your intensity when returning to training after a break. For example:

• After 1 week off: approach metcons for one week at a 6-7 RPE out of 10
• After 2 or more weeks off, approach at a 5-6 RPE

And for percentage of maximum:

• After 1 week off: decrease the percentage by 5-10%
• After 2 weeks off: take 10-15% off the prescribed training percentages
• After 3 weeks off: take 15-20% off the prescribed training percentages

For example, if the workout calls for back squats up to 90% for a single and then a back-off set at 85%:

• After 1 week off, work up to 80% for a single and hit your back-off set at 75%
• After 2 weeks off, work up to 75% for a single and hit your back-off set at 70%
• After 3 weeks off, work up to 70% for a single and hit your back-off set at 65%

I recommend taking the same approach here for progressions similar to how I reintroduced the training volume above. Each subsequent week back into training can be accompanied by a 5-10% increase in intensity.

Conclusion 

To summarize, extreme soreness is not a badge of honor, and does not lead to the gains you seek. Instead, seek to progress patiently and steadily towards your goals. This is the way.

The post Muscle Soreness: How Sore Is Too Sore? Part 2 appeared first on Invictus Fitness.

It’s time for some fun in the sun in Miami for the Invictus athletes. Wodapalooza is a fan favorite in the CrossFit world, and it’s no different for the athletes! Here are the Invictus Athletes competing at Wodapalooza 2024. 

Elite Teams 

• Jessi Smith, Devyn Kim 
• Chandler Smith 

Elite Individuals

• Dani Speegle 
• Emily Rethwill 

Masters Teams

• Tia Vesser, Sharon Anderson and Cherianne Benoit
• Kevin Koester, Pat Sprague, Ron Ortiz
• Jenn Ryan 
• Nuno Costa

Teens

• Marley Francis

Open Teams

• Tonya Blaire, Lexie Kowatch, Dani Forenza

How to watch Wodapalooza 

Watch the WZA coverage at the Loud and Live YouTube page.

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Muscle Soreness: How Sore Is Too Sore? Part 1 
Written by Fritz Nugent

Muscle soreness is normal in any training realm. Take a jog after a long period of not running? You’ll feel sore the next day. Pick-up game of basketball once a year? Soreness ensues. 

CrossFit is no different. If you are new to CrossFit, you will be sore. But how sore is too sore? And how can you navigate your gym experience to empower yourself to keep showing up? Hopefully this article will help you learn how to do just that.

Should you be proud to be sore? 

When I coached Track and Field, my athletes would get some soreness at the beginning of the season, but after the first few weeks, soreness significantly reduced. Their bodies adapted to the stressors, and we followed linear and step progressions to fan the flames of progress, and we changed the stimulus frequently enough to reduce accommodation, but not so great a change to induce extreme soreness. The slight changes from one training block to the next was perceivable by the athlete’s body and could result in some residual soreness, but not so much that the athlete’s next few days of training quality suffered. That’s never the goal. Frequent and high quality training is the pathway to long-term healthy progress.

Some CrossFit gyms have adapted cultures that pride themselves on how sore they can get. Perhaps they assume that soreness is correlated with the gains they seek. I will tell you with certainty that soreness and adaptation to training are not closely correlated. In other words, you can drive significant adaptations to tissues and structures over time while keeping soreness levels low or even nonexistent. In some instances, extreme soreness can actually catabolize muscle, meaning doing too much can cause your muscles to decrease in size.

Muscle soreness scale

When I onboard new members to the gym, I use a 10-point scale to explain soreness. 10 out of 10 sore is along the lines of rhabdomyolysis, a serious and potentially fatal condition where the kidneys are overwhelmed and cannot process all of the tissue damage. If your urine comes out like coca-cola after a workout, go to the ER.

Conversely, a zero out of ten is how your body might feel after a full week off from training. No aches or pains. You can move all of your joints with no sensations of soreness. I will add in here that you can feel this good while training three days a week, but it takes an acute attention to your body’s abilities and following a progressive training program.

After training, most of us fall somewhere in the middle between 0 and 10 soreness, and I explain to our new members that I expect them to be 2-3 out of 10 sore the day after training, or less! If they are more along the lines of 4-6 out of 10, then both of us failed to do our jobs. The client failed to tell me that we were doing too much, or perhaps their ego got the best of them and they really wanted to push themselves that day. And I failed as the coach because I should first take the time to learn the client’s training age, current training status, and any other pertinent information about them before taking them through their initial sessions. This allows me to give them what I hope to be a “perfect” dose of training. Too much, and they are too sore. 

Being sore does not equal great workout 

While excessive soreness can be a bonding experience and new members might feel like they are joining the club via trial by fire, I don’t like this approach, and never have. Sometimes, people don’t come back after being exposed to too high of a dose of training on day one. And if a member needs to be “sold” that the gym is intense enough for them by the coach smashing them to bits the first day, then that athlete and mindset will become prevalent in your community, and you’ll be dealing with a bunch of burned-out and broken athletes sooner than you think.

Stay tuned for part 2!

The post Muscle Soreness: How Sore Is Too Sore? Part 1 appeared first on Invictus Fitness.

How Billy Used Goal Setting to Crush the Chicago Marathon
Written by Kirsten Ahrendt & Kelly Sekulovski

It’s a new year, which means 365 days to establish and meet new goals that we set for ourselves. Whatever your goals may be: the simple act of setting a clear goal setting can help you achieve the results you are looking for. 

In this blog, we are going to talk about local Invictus athlete Billy’s success with accomplishing his goals in the Chicago marathon. But first, let’s talk about what to do and what NOT to do for goal setting. 

Common goal setting mistakes  

When you set a goal, are you being specific about your goal? Or are you generic in your goals, so that you can’t even tell if you accomplished them or not? 

Which goal sounds better and more measurable? 

a. I want to run faster. 

b. I want to run a mile in under 8 minutes by the end of next month. 

The obvious answer is B, the goal that established exactly how much faster, and the time frame that you want to accomplish this goal by. This gives you a concrete goal to train for, and therefore you are able to create a plan of how to get there. 

This is a great segway into introducing you to a SMART goal… 

SMART goals: the key to goal setting

When your goal is too broad to be useful, we can stray from the path to help us get there. This is why the S.M.A.R.T. goal format is used to set goals effectively. SMART stands for: 

• Specific
• Measurable 
• Achievable 
• Relevant
• Time-Bound 

Using our example from above, “I want to run a mile in under 8 minutes by the end of the month”, we can see if it is a SMART goal. 

• Is it Specific? – Yes because we know exactly how far we are running and how fast we have to do it. 
• Is it Measurable? – Yes because we can measure how far and how long it took us. 
• Is it Achievable? – Yes, with 2 months to train and being in reasonably good shape beforehand, this is achievable.
• Is it Relevant? – Yes, this will directly help you be a faster runner. 
• Is it Time-Bound? – Yes, you have two months to achieve the goal. 

Let’s get back to Billy, as a great example for SMART goals. 

Meet Billy 

Meet Billy, who has been a member of Invictus San Diego for the past 8 months. Billy recently put up an impressive and inspiring performance outside of the gym, completing the Chicago Marathon in 2:43.43 (W-O-W!).

“It’s taught me a lot, and it continues to teach me,” said Billy when asked about what marathons have taught him about himself. “It sounds cliche, but your self-perceived limits can be overcome. Pushing the limits of my body and mostly, my mind.”

Billy’s Marathon Goal Setting

For most marathon runners, their goals are a great example of SMART goals. If Billy set out to train for his racing saying, “I want to run 26 miles in under 3 hours by my race in November,” this meets all the criteria for a SMART goal. Once Billy set his goal, he was able to create a plan to get him there, including his running outside of the gym and his training inside of the gym. 

Billy not only accomplished his goal, but his Chicago time qualified him for the Berlin marathon, one of the biggest marathons in the world. 

Use the FREE Invictus Goal Setting Guide 

Want more tips like this to help you set effective goals for 2024? Check out the Invictus Goal Setting Guide. It’s free and here as a tool to help you solidify your goals. 

The post How Billy Used Goal Setting to Crush the Chicago Marathon appeared first on Invictus Fitness.