Finally, 2020 is behind us. What are your big goals for 2021?
Establishing meaningful goals can be challenging, but very rewarding when you achieve them.
At the start of 2020, my family and I sat down at our kitchen table and mapped out goals for the year. We established our goals around the 4 cornerstones of life. The four F’s, Fitness, Finance, Family, and Faith. I knew that I wanted to improve my life in each of these areas, so I wrote my goals on 4 small pieces of paper and copied them to a notebook I kept with me. The small pieces of paper ended up in a jar, along with my 3 daughters and my wife’s goals.
Last night, we opened the jar and talked about them over family dinner. Many of those goals were reached for each of us. Of course, some of the event goals never happened, thank you you COVID-19. But overall I grew as a father, as a Christian, as a leader and I became healthier.
We all know that 2020 was a unique year, and many people’s lives were affected. I am sensitive to these issues and I have tried to help through acts of service and financial contributions to the events in 2020.
As I wrote these goals out, I added a process on how I was going to achieve them.
One of the goals I achieved was to lose 6 percent body fat. Thanks to our Inbody scale, I was well aware of my starting point. It was the highest point I had ever seen. The steps I mapped out was to follow my Fuel Plan, strength train 3x/week, ride my bike 3x/week and practice self care each night.
THE PROCESS
The process is what helped me achieve my goal. The process was not done alone. Each step had someone helping me reach my potential.
Our dietitian Jessika Brown, wrote out my Fuel Plan and helped me find a balance of the foods I like to eat. In one year, I see how I changed my perspective on food. I now follow my body’s triggers and listen to them when I am hungry. I also eat more on days I have hard or long endurance workouts and eat less on days I only strength train or do recovery work. This took some getting used to and I self-monitored over the first few months. I used the app “My Fitness Pal” to track my progress and enter my food daily. Currently, I have not used the app in over 8 months but I am still at my goal weight and body fat percentage.
Strength training is something that I am very passionate about. I have been a coach since 2003 and I typically know what to do. But, I was in the routine of doing the same thing for a few years. I hired a coach, Craig Ansbach to hold me accountable and add variety to my workouts. I also wanted to turn my brain off when it came to working out. He helped me in the gym, at home, and beyond. We created movements that enhanced my ability to live a life beyond the gym walls.
In late 2019, I also hired a bike skills coach, Damian Calvert. In a few sessions, he helped me develop my skills to become a better rider and it helped me tremendously! I had been riding mountain bikes since 2006 and this was the first year I was confident descending some of the gnarliest lines in the east mountains.
For my bike fitness plan I subscribed to TrainerRoad and created a plan to keep my fit and prepare for 2021. The TrainerRoad workouts became the anchor to my plan and I integrated my other training around those workouts. I was able to increase my threshold and my fitness on bike has reached new heights. I bought into the TrainerRoad (TR) program so much, that we now offer discounted TR memberships for Performance Ranch members. We will also have a TrainerRoad Studio in the Performance Ranch for your cycling needs.
The final component to reach my goal was taking care of myself at night. That meant I spent many evenings on the living room floor with a foam roller, lacrosse ball, and the Hypervolt. These tools helped me reach my daily recovery goals and I also spent time with the family watching a movie or participating in a family bible study.
GRATITUDE
I am very thankful for the people in my life who helped me reach my goals. The three people named above as well as my friends and family that supported me throughout this process. None of this would have been possible without them in my life.
Every day is a gift and the more people I can help reach their goals and live a life beyond the gym walls is my lifetime goal. I will always try to find the best way to help people. I have always adapted to overcome obstacles.
Thank you for a great year and I hope to make this year even better.
Lawrence Herrera, CSCS*D, PES
