Senior Fitness

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Still, most people see an acronym and either run, or think, "Here we go with an elementary school lesson" Automatically, it seems some psychobabble term that a therapist thought of to get you to take steps toward cleaner living. (We all know bodybuilders are not purveyors of cleaner living)

But acronyms are a great way to enact important steps. They may seem sophomoric in their conception, but in fact, they are really great ways to remember important steps in some more important big picture formula. Typically, skipping steps means certain failure in terms of formula, since the formula automatically changes once something alters its path. An acronym helps you to remember each step and take it. In this case, follow each step and you will engage in smart training practices.

Okay, so what's SMART stand for?

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time. It speaks to goal setting and how engaging in the correct process of goal-setting in the big picture and day-to-day arenas is crucial to success, progress, and achievement.

Specific

Be specific Most people begin doing something and don't really pinpoint what it is they want to accomplish. Saying things such as "I want to look better" or "I want to get in shape" is fine, but it isn't specific enough to really target a means by which to achieve it. One person's shape is another person's fat nightmare, or foray into anorexia. Being specific also entails understanding the scope of your life and how available you are to achieving those goals (See "R" and "T" for more of this). Nebulous terms such as "buff", "trim", "fit" or "toned" are confusing because they can encompass so much. Better to say something like: "I want to achieve a body fat level of 8%, look crisp and separated between muscles, but still full, and be between 176 and 182 pounds." If you're new at this, it may be harder to actually come up with something specific. Just be sure that you at least start with a body fat or weight value, or know visually what it is you're targeting. Even saying, "I want to look in as good condition as so-and-so" or "I want my abs to be as separated as so-and-so's abs" is more specific than saying, "I want to get into killer shape"

Measurable

Weights and measures do not lie. Weight can be your body weight or the weights you are able to lift. Measurements can be about your waistline or where your arm tapes out after a big set of biceps. Certainly a dunk tank that tests body fat, a pair of calipers, or a weigh scale are ways to measure progress, but even a mirror is a measuring device. Photographs are also measuring devices in terms of your progression from the beginning to the end of a training cycle, diet or other set-time goal. We suggest that you use all of these, and more. Try keeping a journal to measure your progress. It's like an ongoing story that has a beginning, middle and end, and tells the tale of you moving from one place to another.

Achievable

This step is closely linked with the next, and also with the last. Confusing? It shouldn't be. Achievable simply means figuring out HOW it's possible, not IF it is. The Ifs are in the next step. Determining achievability is simply ensuring that it is measurable in the scope of its possibility. It's something you definitely can do, provided that you ask yourself the questions - the HOW questions - that go along with it: "In order to look like this, what do I need to do in order to accomplish it? Lose 40 pounds first? Or lose while building?" "Is this possible to achieve this goal in this period of time, given the work schedule I maintain?" If these questions prove the HOWS to be untenable, it is possible to still achieve something by retooling it and looking at it through different eyes or from a different angle. Achievable is figuring out how it's possible, not so much that it is.

Realistic

Realistic is more about the WHAT than the HOW. It is looking at the goal itself, or the body itself, and not the means by which you achieve it. It is really asking you to look at what it is you're asking yourself to do, and putting yourself through a battery of questions about whether you actually can do that, all things considered. Some say "anything's possible". And while that may be true for certain types of things, it may be impossible for a 100 pound weakling with poor genetics to ever look like Ronnie Coleman. Some things just cannot be done. However, knowing your product (in this case, your own physique) is important, and can create a realistic goal. Also, keep in mind that some things aren't possible within a specific time frame. Losing 40 pounds in 10 days just isn't something the body can do, and remain healthy. But realism encompasses the scope of something else too: The way you approach something in order to maximize its realistic nature. For example, a 180 pound bodybuilder is trying to become a 190 pound bodybuilder so will "act as if" he is one, and begins to eat like a 190 pound bodybuilder in the hopes of becoming that. Acting as if is all a part of "becoming" and being realistic enables you to become' that thing.

Time

Goals require deadlines. Time is the measurement of deadline you need in order to achieve certain things. Time is measured purpose. Purpose is action. And action can be measured over time. Set goals based on small increments of time, and also by way of large increments of time. There is a macro and micro view of anything in life and time is the thing to bring it all into focus - via short term and long term goals. Small picture v. Big picture.

The fundamental reason to use the SMART (or any) acronym is to accurately plan and decide what it is you're going to do. Time is a part of the accuracy of any plan, as well as the frame within which you achieve your goals. But the who, what, why, where and when is also a part of every important plan.