Complex and SMARTer Goals

So silly me, I set a challenge for myself, but I didn't set any measurable outcomes with it! I thought long and hard about it today and came up with what I want to accomplish fitness-wise these next 2 months...and also what I'm going to reward myself with if I meet my goals! But first, tonight's WOD.

Today we did "Bear Complex," which as a warm-up of only 2-3 rounds of 1-2 reps each I really like because you get to do a bunch of lifting. As a WOD, it's a different story. Here's what it looks like.

5 rounds of 7 reps each
Power clean
Front squat
Push press
Back squat
Push press

The idea being that one round counts when you go through each of those 5 movements 7 times without putting the bar down or resting at the bottom to regrip, just touch and go. You can rest as much as you want between the rounds, but you should get up to maximum weight by about round 4 or 5. My weight breakdown looked like this:

43 / 46 / 53 / 58 / 63

I was working with the 33# women's bar with 5# weights on each side, then I switched those for the "training plates" which are basically just 4# pieces of circular wood and some 2.5# plates. That's how I got the wacky 46#. Then I switched to the men's 45# bar with training plates and actual weight plates. By the last round, my shoulders were dead tired and I was dropping the bar from the push press onto my back for the back squat. Yowza! I probably could have done more weight because I felt like I was moving really quickly through all the movements and they weren't too challenging, but the sudden heat wave through Minneapolis has seriously sucked the life and energy out of me. Good thing tomorrow is my rest day!

Ok, now back to my paleo challenge and my goals and prizes. The key to setting and achieving your goals is to make them SMART:

Specific
Measurable
Action-based
Reasonable
Time limit

So the time part is already set - 2 months.  The action-based part is pretty much set too since I've devised a plan to accomplish my goals (better eating, CF on specific days, adding strength training; although, what I do at strength training may get more specific based on my goals below). I had to think of stuff that is measurable and that can be improved from some baseline measurement that I'm already performing at, and they had to be reasonable improvements. Now for the specifics:

1. Drop 2.6% body fat and get down to 20% body fat, based on my Bod Pod measurements from late January. I don't want to be too lean, but I want some measurable outcome of muscle gain and fat loss. Added bonus if I gain some weight in the process.

2. New Crossfit Total of 450. Currently my Total is 395, and I want to improve it mainly by upping my deadlift and working on my strict press. I seriously have no upper body strength, and that's definitely an area of improvement for me. So, new personal records for Total would be 70# strict press (60# currently), 180# back squat (155# now), and 200# deadlift (185# now).

3. Run a 400m in 1:35. Yesterday we did "Nancy" and that had 400m in it. My first one took 1:58 and my last one took a little over 2:20ish. Runs always slow me down in WODs and I want to get faster and less tuckered out. I think this goal is going to be mental for me than anything else.

This is the importance/hierarchy of the goals I'm setting for myself. Now for the prizes, arranged in first, second, third based on how many of my goals I accomplish. I'm only competing against myself and my will power here!

1st Prize: New Lululemon  workout outfit + one-night stay at some spa hotel. I have this awesome vision of just hanging out in a hotel robe, ordering room service and vegging in front of chick flicks after a "long day" of getting a manicure and pedicure.

2nd Prize: New Lululemon workout outfit. I mean the whole shebang: pants, tank top, maybe even a hoodie.

3rd Prize: Dinner at Solera Tapas Bar. I like this place, they serve really inventive Spanish tapas and GREAT wine!