1822 Fitness: Have a PLAN!

We have heard in many occasions that "failure to plan is planning to fail" And this statement is totally true. The problem lies when knowledge never meets action. The other day I heard a mother say to her daughter "knowledge is power!" as she was dropping her to school in the morning. I said to myself "no, that's not true". If you have all the knowledge in the world and do absolutely nothing with it, is just knowledge or great information. But if you take that knowledge and put into action, becomes power. I have discovered that people talk about the importance of planning but few people actually take that information and apply it or put it in action. There are many reasons why planning your training program is important but I'm just going to touch a few of them. Having a plan every time you go exercising is very important because it will help you stay focused on your long term goals, it will help you with keeping track of your progress, it will help with time management, and last but not least, it will help you create a system, a life style. Let's start with the fact that having a plan every time you go exercising will keep you focused on your long term goals.

The fulfillment of a long term goal is the accumulation and achievement of many short-term goals. When we go to the gym with a plan in mind, and better if it's written down, of what we are doing that day, that becomes the goal of the day and when that goal is achieved you're a step closer to the fulfillment of your ultimate fitness goal.
Having a plan when going exercising will help you keep track of your progress. Specially with the technology we have now a days, like phone applications where we don't need a piece of paper or a training log to keep track of what we've done that day; it's really easy to record and save your weights, reps and sets, body composition, etc...Everything within the palm of your hand.
Another benefit of having a plan when going exercising is time management. We live in a very intense, busy society that everything has to be done quick. I call it the "microwave society". We can't afford to be in the gym for 2-3 hours every time we go. And many times that's the very reason we don't go because we know it will take us 2-3 hours to complete the workout. If we have a written down plan of what we are doing that day we can get it done in 30-50 minutes and gives us almost 2 hours that could be spent with the ones we love. When I workout, I always bring a stopwatch and do my workout routine in a 30-30 format. I've done full body workouts in 20 minutes and walked out of the gym like if I did 1:30 minutes of work. Next time you go, bring a stopwatch and do a 30-30 and let me know if it's not a great workout format that saves time and produces results.
Finally, the advantage of creating or having a plan every time you go exercise helps you create a system. And systems are vital for success. Once you fall into the routine of having a plan every time you go to the gym, eventually that routine will become a habit, and that habit a lifestyle, and that lifestyle will get you to where you always dreamed to be.

So, next time you go to the gym, have a PLAN!!!