Invictus Blog

The Athlete, The Goal & The Plan: Meet Haider
Written by Performance Blog Follower Haider & Michele Vieux

As coaches, we see many come to us in the beginning of the year with resolutions and goals for the upcoming months and years. And many of us have very similar goals, we thought it would be a good idea to share some common ones with the rest of you in hopes of not only helping you achieve your goals, but also to show you how to turn a goal or resolution into a SMART one.

Haider has followed our Performance Program online from Saudi Arabia, since July of 2018, and has volunteered to take part in this series called, “The Athlete, The Goal & The Plan”, where the person being profiled will write the Athlete & Goal parts and the coach (in this case, me) will help come up with the Plan part. We will pick three to four people with varying goals to follow over the course of a year to see how they are coming along, provide examples to others with similar goals and to talk about how the plan changes as the goal progresses (or even plateaus). Italics are written by the coach and normal font is written by the athlete.

The Athlete

I am in my early 30’s and started CrossFit in the beginning of 2016, when I was overweight. I stopped all kinds of sports after the Open 2017 (for some reasons) and resumed back in February, 2018. However, that almost one-year gap kind of ruined of me. It put me in worse shape than I was when I started CrossFit.

I’ve done some hardcore CrossFit programming and the Keto Diet for a couple months then decided to follow the Invictus Performance program in July 2018, and have been consistent with the workouts since then, training six days per week, except when I am on vacation when I still follow the workouts but for fewer days each week. I was considering joining one of the Invictus 8-12 week program cycles to develop more but thought Performance is tough enough for now.

I am good at most strength and lifting stuff, but bad at gymnastics and cardio stuff. I like Performance because it usually has two parts: Strength and also Conditioning/Metcon. Because I have faith in the program and because It is not customized to me personally, I feel guilty if I miss a workout knowing that it might affect me somehow in not developing. This has always been my challenge. And, I have been following a nutrition plan for the last three months or so.

I work five days a week, ten hours a day. Therefore, It is hard for me to spend more than 1.5-2 hours a day at the gym in total. So it felt difficult for me to choose an additional program to the Performance where the workout actually keeps me beat everyday.

The Goal

My main goals currently are to lose fat (which is still high) and gain strength to do gymnastics, but mainly is actually the ability to perform gymnastics. I am at a stage of looking at my overall fitness.

The Plan

Coach Michele here, taking over to talk about creating Haider’s plan and how to attack it through the SMART Goal Setting standards. If you don’t know much about SMART goal setting, then I encourage you to take a look at our previous posts on the topic. We also offer a FREE Goal Setting Guide that walks you through not only the SMART process but also how to identify your “why” and other important factors in making sure you attain your goal(s).

Right now, Haider has a pretty good start on his SMART plan – we just need to fill out a couple of the pieces a little more. As we’ve discussed in previous posts, one thing that will help him stay on track when he is tempted to give up on the goal or not to complete the daily tasks required to reach it is clearly defining his why. So I ask…

What is your “why”? Why is being able to do Rx gymnastics movements so important to you? Or you could think of it as, what would be different if you could do these gymnastics movements?

I have three main reasons – all of these reasons will make me healthier and more fit overall, which is a priority and value I hold for myself.

1) I want to be able to perform workouts with less transitioning time, hence, enabling me to do more reps in shorter time because I won’t have to spend time getting in and out of bands or off of boxes.

2) Gymnastics is raw strength that will help my upper body develop, hence, enabling me to do bigger and better lifts in the future.

3) It will require me to continue with my fat loss because losing body weight will make gymnastics movements easier.

Once the “why” is defined, we can get on to setting the goal in a SMART way. Each step of the SMART plan has its own mini-steps and things to consider within. So I now ask for each of the steps…

(S) Specific: What is it that you SPECIFICALLY want to do? You said you want to be able to do gymnastics movements. Which movements do you mean? Actually list them here and also where you are in the progression with them. Knowing this will help me better prescribe a plan and it will also help us set a realistic time frame for achievement.

– 1 Strict Handstand Push-Up (I currently do them as pike on a box using my toes)
– 10 Strict Pull-Ups (Right now, I can do 2 unbroken)
– 7-10 kg fat reduction (currently I am at 29 kg body fat)

(M) Measurable: There are many ways you can measure progress and if you have reached your goal if you have specifics listed above. Progress measurements can be anything but you MUST be able to measure them in some way. This one shouldn’t be too hard if you’ve completed the step above. For example, you can check a Handstand Push-Up (HSPU) off the list once you’ve completed a HSPU! There are a million more ways to measure. What do you think are good ways to measure your progress and if you have reached your goal (so that you can check it off the list)? Keep in mind that goals like “getting HSPUs” have mini-goals or milestones along the way. It’s important to measure these as well so that you continue to be able to see your progression up until the actual HSPU occurs. For example, if you struggle to hold a supported handstand for more than 10 seconds, holding for 30 or 60 seconds would be a mini-milestone toward the HSPU that you could check off the list and measure your progress toward your end goal.

Strict HSPU
Mini-Milestone: Hold a supported handstand for 90 seconds
Mini-Milestone: 5 Wall Climbs with less than 5 seconds rest in between reps
Mini-Milestone: 3 reps of HSPU negatives @ 51A1 tempo (added by Coach Michele)
Mini-Milestone: 6 reps of HSPU negatives @ 51A1 tempo (added by Coach Michele)
I can check this goal off when: One, unassisted/unmodified strict HSPU is completed

Strict Pull-Ups
Mini-Milestone: 60-second static hang (added by Coach Michele)
Mini-Milestone: 5 reps of pull-up negatives @ 51A1 tempo (added by Coach Michele)
Mini-Milestone: 10 reps of pull-up negatives @ 51A1 tempo (added by Coach Michele)
Mini-Milestone: 90-second static hang
Mini-Milestone: 30-second chin-over-bar hold (added by Coach Michele)
Mini-Milestone: Perform 5 strict pull-ups
Mini-Milestone: Perform 8 strict pull-ups
I can check this goal off when: 10 unbroken, strict pull-ups are achieved

Weight Loss
Mini-Milestone: Lose 2.5 kg of body fat
Mini-Milestone: Lose 5 kg of body fat
I can check this goal off when: My body fat is under 22 kg

(A) Actionable: Yes – it can be achieved! People have done it before. And it sounds like you have the strong desire to achieve this. Now to just list some actionable steps…Look at how you plan to measure above and let’s create a list to be able to achieve these measurements. This is where I can help once I know where you are with each of the specific movements you have listed above. So leave this blank for now and I’ll help you fill it in…unless you already have some ideas…then I can help you refine them.

(R) Relevant: Is all of the above relevant? Meaning, does it get you closer to being where you want to be? If so, how? If not, what needs to change above?

All of the above is applicable to me as I aim to develop my CrossFit Skills and be able to perform a wider range of workouts as I seek better overall health and fitness.

(T) Time-Bound: How long do you think this will take to achieve? You can even set a time for each of the mini-milestones in your plan. When you look at what you write down, consider if it is feasible, what might hold you back, whose help you’ll need. I can help with determining the timeline once you’ve given me the other information above. But definitely state when you would LIKE to have this achieved by and we can make sure it is a realistic goal that you have a solid plan in place to achieve.

Strict HSPU
Mini-Milestone: Hold a supported handstand for 90 seconds by July 2019
Mini-Milestone: 5 Wall Climbs with less than 5 seconds rest in between reps by July 2019
Mini-Milestone: 3 reps of HSPU negatives @ 51A1 tempo by September 2019
Mini-Milestone: 6 reps of HSPU negatives @ 51A1 tempo by November 2019
Goal: One, unassisted/unmodified strict HSPU by January 2020

Strict Pull-Ups
Mini-Milestone: 60-second static hang by April 2019
Mini-Milestone: 5 reps of pull-up negatives @ 51A1 tempo by April 2019
Mini-Milestone: 10 reps of pull-up negatives @ 51A1 tempo by July 2019
Mini-Milestone: 90-second static hang by July 2019
Mini-Milestone: 30-second chin-over-bar hold by July 2019
Mini-Milestone: Perform 5 strict pull-ups by July 2019***
Mini-Milestone: Perform 8 strict pull-ups by end of September 2019***
Goal: 10 unbroken, strict pull-ups by January 2020

*** = Dates Coach Michele asked Haider to consider pushing back a couple months in order to make them more realistic.

Weight Loss
Mini-Milestone: Lose 2.5 kg of body fat by April 24, 2019
Mini-Milestone: Lose 5 kg of body fat by July 24, 2019
Goal: Body fat under 22 kg by October 24, 2019

Enlisting the Help of Others for Social Support

You will likely also need to enlist the help of others – one “expert” (I can be that person) and one cohort – to help keep you moving forward and also to provide valuable input and expertise. Do you have someone you train with or see on a daily basis that can help support you with your goal(s)? Who is it and what kind of support are you looking for from them? To learn more about the different ways someone can support you, check out this post and let me know if you have any questions!

I train in a box and have coaches or friends who can support with my goal. I usually ask them to check my form or to correct me if my movement is wrong. However, in gymnastics, I feel most of the work is on my shoulders (LITERALLY).

Haider has a solid start on his SMART goal already and now we can create his plan together – making sure we take into account things like where he currently is and his busy lifestyle so that we set him up for success. You’ll get a chance to see what’s prescribed to him in the next couple of weeks so you too can partake in the fun if you have similar goals. Then we’ll check back in April to see where he is with his mini-milestones!