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“The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that
look like they cannot be done.”
-Arnold Palmer
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Goal Setting:
Planning and Execution (Part III)
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By Jim Bell, PhDc, President, IFPA
In
Step 1, you determined “Where you are at!” (see FitBit, Friday 1/7/05).
In Step 2, you determined “Where you want to be!” (see FitBit, Tuesday,
1/11/05). Today, in Step 3, I am going to share a simple process for
making dramatic changes to you, your personality and your life. This
process has worked for hundreds of years, is working now and will
continue to work for hundreds of years into the future. This process
has been used by many of the world’s great achievers and is, in fact,
the secret behind their great success.
Surprisingly, this process was never meant to be a secret. In fact,
Benjamin Franklin detailed this process in his autobiography. (“Ben
Franklin’s Autobiography” was on the recommended reading list I prepared
for you in one of last years Fitbits). Ben Franklin meant to give you
and all mankind, a stellar process for self-improvement. Ben desired to
impart his wisdom on you to give you the opportunity to maximize all the
talents given to you. Not just for you to share the joy of great
achievement, not just for you to share the joy of becoming a mighty
force of nature, but for you to use all of your talent to make the world
a better place.
If you
are going to use this process, you must make some attitude adjustments.
It is unfortunate that we live in such a negative world, with so many
negative people and ideas. You cannot be positive if you are surrounded
by negative. You must extricate yourself from the negativity. You must
disassociate yourself from negative people, regardless of who they are:
family, friends, coworkers, employers, employees, etc. You cannot rise
to the clouds if your associates are dragging you through the mud.
Associate yourself with positive people of the highest quality. It is
far, far better to be alone than in negative company.
Whether you begin this process alone or with a few high quality people,
you must dedicate yourself to this process of fulfilling your destiny.
You begin this process by review of Steps 1 and 2. Pick one of the
personality characteristics that you want to improve. For example: You
are an impatient person that constantly interrupts and cuts people off
when they are talking to you. You want to become more patient. You
want to stop interrupting.
Take a
sheet of paper, small notebook, journal or something similar that you
can keep with you at all times. Write “PATIENCE” at the top of the
sheet. Draw a line down the center of the sheet vertically. Divide the
rest of the sheet horizontally in seven sections representing the seven
days of the week. Designate each section by the seven days. When you
finish you will have seven sections to the left of the vertical line
that you will label “+” at the top and seven sections to the right of
the vertical line that you will label “-“.
Beginning Monday, you will give yourself a checkmark on the “+” side
every time you exhibit patience and you will give yourself a checkmark
on the “-“ side every time you exhibit impatience, at the end of the day
before you go to sleep you will add the “+” and “-“ checkmarks and put
the totals in the appropriate section. Whether you are pleased or not
with your performance is irrelevant. The process is to strive for
improvement everyday. This process does not require perfection. All
that is required is that you keep taking action everyday to take
“patient” action and avoid “impatient” action. You only need to keep
taking appropriate actions leading to the result of becoming a “patient”
person.
Work
on your “characteristic” for a full week. After the week is over you
can decide if you want to continue or move on to another
“characteristic”. The same process works on every other goal you set
for the year. For example: You want to develop expertise as a “Sports
Conditioning Specialist”. You determine the best course of action to
accomplish your goal. One of the IFPA’s most popular certification
courses is the Certified Sports Conditioning Specialist, but I noticed
that the completion rate is somewhat lower than that of the IFPA
Certified Personal Trainer course.
You
can make all of the excuses you want and come up with some very good
reasons why you can’t get it done, but it always comes down to
discipline. The process provides you with discipline and
accountability. Use this process to force yourself to spend some time
everyday working to complete your goal. Use this process to complete
ALL your goals!
I have
provided you with a very simple and remarkably natural process that will
lead you to accomplishing all your goals.
Now I
must warn you that regardless of how much you may “need” to use this
process, you must “want” to use this process. It is far, far easier to
go home every night, watch T.V. and fall asleep. It is far, far easier
to remain precisely where you are and not make any effort to achieve
anything. That is commonplace. I warned you when I began that over 97%
of people fail to achieve their goals. If you are going to be among
those high quality, positive few that choose to be uncommon, it is going
to require courage, indomitable spirit, steadfast determination and
perseverance.
- Transformation:
- How to Take Them from Sedentary to Active - Part
3
By Wayne L. Westcott, PhD
HOW TO
TEACH: CREATING THE DIALOGUE
Most
exercise enthusiasts are self-motivated and require little more than
good instruction to initiate a regular training program. However, the
typical sedentary individual needs both education and motivation to
become an exercise participant. We strive to provide a positive,
productive exercise experience for our new members. The following 10
teaching guidelines have proven helpful in this regard; they will take
you through a useful “dialogue” with the new exerciser.
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Clear Training
Objectives. Let trainees know specifically what you expect
them to accomplish during the workout. Example: “Tim, this is exactly
what I want you to do today.”
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Concise
Instruction/Precise Demonstration. Tell and show participants
precisely how to perform the exercises. Example, “Tim, this is exactly
how I want you to perform the leg extension exercise.”
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Attentive
Supervision. Many inactive individuals lack confidence in
their physical ability and are reticent to perform exercise without
supervision. Observe them carefully. Observation is a motivating
factor for most new exercisers. Example: “Tim, I’ll watch as you
perform your leg extension repetitions.”
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Appropriate
Assistance. To assure proper exercise performance, it is often
necessary to provide some form of manual assistance. This may mean
assisting participants onto a machine, helping them fasten a seat belt
or guiding them through an exercise movement. Example: “Tim, I’ll
guide you through the first repetition to establish the proper
exercise form.”
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One Task at a
Time. Projecting a series of performance tasks may be
confusing to new exercisers. Give one directive at a time to increase
the probability that they will successfully complete each task.
Example: “Tim, all I want you to do is exhale as you lift the weight.”
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Gradual
Progression. Progress slowly when teaching people with little
exercise experience. Don’t introduce a follow-up task until the first
task has been mastered. Example: “Okay, Tim, this time I want you to
inhale as you lower the weight.”
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Positive
Reinforcement. Most new exercisers experience uncertainty over
their training efforts. Positive comments, personal compliments or
pats on the shoulder are simple reinforcers. Example: “Good job, Tim.
You are making excellent progress.”
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Specific
Feedback. Positive reinforcement is more meaningful when it is
coupled with specific feedback. Giving a reason for your positive
comment increases its value as an educational and motivational tool.
Example: “Good job, Tim. You performed every repetition through the
full movement range.”
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Careful
Questioning. New participants may not volunteer information
that could be useful in their program design, so ask how they
are responding to the exercise experience. Example: “Tim, tell me
where you feel the effort in this exercise.”
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Pre-
and Post-exercise Dialogue. Try to sandwich the exercise
experience between an arriving and a departing dialogue. A couple of
minutes before and after each workout to obtain the participants’
perspectives is time well spent. Example: “Tim, thanks for exercising
with us today. I think you did a great job, but I would like to hear
your impressions of the workout.”
TRANSFORMING
THE INACTIVE
Generally speaking, fitness professionals have not so far had a major
impact on the majority of Americans who are essentially non-exercisers.
However, through our efforts at the Y, we have discovered it is
possible to create successful programming for new exercisers.
You can
use your expertise and imagination to effectively reach out to this
unique group. You are likely to find—as we have—that little can compare
with the satisfaction of helping inactive clients transform themselves
into regular exercisers.
Wayne L. Westcott, Ph.D., is fitness and research
director at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts, and a
strength training consultant to several professional organizations. He
is the author of the college textbook Strength Fitness, as well as
several other fitness and exercise books.
www.ifpa-fitness.com
- This e-newsletter is intended strictly for IFPA certified members,
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- IFPA faculty and those who request a subscription via our website.
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