Why Physical Fitness Is A Terrible Goal

Physical fitness is a terrible goal.

I might ruffle some feathers with this post but it really is. Sure, it sounds like a great goal, but it’s a terribly misleading.

Lets break it down.

Why Physical Fitness is a TERRIBLE Goal

There’s a whole bunch of reasons.

It’s Not Defined

Physical fitness is a state of being, but it’s not a goal. It sounds nice if you could just magically float around in a state of fitness on a cloud while eating “healthy” foods and being fit, but it’s not a goal.

Physical fitness is not a definite goal.

It’s Not Measurable

Because it’s not defined, it’s not measurable. Physical fitness has no benchmark. You can never know if you’re actually there. There’s no metric.

Look at the following list. One of these things is not like the other:

• Deadlift 300lbs.
• Do 20 pull-ups.
• Run a mile in less than 6 minutes.
• Run 26.2 miles consecutively.
• Be physically fit.

All of these (except one) are incredibly specific. You can either do them or you can’t.

• Deadlift 300lbs: You either can do it or you can’t.
• Do 20 pull-ups: You can either do it or you can’t.
• Run a mile in less than 6 minutes: You can either do it or you can’t.
• Run 26.2 miles consecutively. You can either do it or you can’t.
• Be physically fit……….

The problem with being “physically fit” is it has no definition – it’s just is (whatever that means). It changes for different people.

Some people think it’s a certain weight, some think it’s a certain BMI or body composition. Others will think it’s the ability to do a certain distance race. For some people it’s to finally not being exhausted walking up the stairs, but until you define it for yourself, it provides no actual metric

But being “physically fit”, provides no actual metric for knowing how far you’ve come or if you ever get there. There’s no benchmark, so while it’s a nice ideal, it’s not really attainable.

You Learn Nothing

Most people try to be physically fit, but because they’re not measureable, and not attainable, they never properly orient their actions around their goal (because one doesn’t really exist). Instead of making concerted efforts in a choreographed manner, they do a little here, and a littler there, but they never actually improve or learn anything.

They try a few exercises for a few weeks, but they essentially stay the same person with the same knowledge when they started out.

Why Challenges

Because challenges are measurable  you’ll either complete a challenge or fail it. There’s no middle ground. You can either run the distance or you can’t. You can either lift the weight or you can’t. You can either succeed or fail. If you succeed, you set a new challenge and keep going. If you fail, you can recalibrate and make a new attempt at it.

If that sounds daunting, it’s much better than staying in no-man’s-land and never knowing. Failing sucks, but it isn’t fatal. At the very least it gives you feedback in one way/shape/form.

With challenges, you can either do it or you can’t. There’s no “maybe.” There’s no more questions of whether of not it’s possible. It either is or isn’t.

They’re Learnable.

The best part about challenges is you can learn from them. You can do anything for 30 days. You should be able to do anything for 8 weeks.

• If you want to run a marathon, you don’t have to dedicate your life to running marathons, you just have to spend 3 months training.
• If you have want to run a triathlon, you don’t need to become the top triathlete in the world. You just have to run your first one ever.
• You dont’ have to set a world record in deadlifting, you just have to set your own goal and then hit it.

Not only is this effective, but it’s a lot more fun.

It’s really hard to learn something while trying to be physically fit because your next course of action is blurry.

You might try a few different things, eat a few different foods and head to the gym a couple times a week, but you most likely won’t create focused routines, form habits, or make lasting changes. You can spend tons of time learning to get fit while never actually learning anything.

Because the goal is vague, your immediate next steps aren’t clear. Challenges change that.

• If you want to run a marathon, you practice until you understand running and are capable of running a marathon.
• If you want to lose 20 pounds, you get a framework and learn what you need to do to burn fat.
• If you want to add weight to your deadlift, you start learning how to deadlift until you get good enough to hit your weight goals.

You might be completely ignorant when you start, but by the time you cross that finish line/lift that weight/lose that weight, you’ll know infinitely more about yourself and the subject area than if you started from scratch.

The Real Problem With “Fitness” as a Goal

It’s Lazy. No, it’s not necessarily lazy with your workouts – it’s lazy goal setting. “Being fit” is a lazy goal. It’s easy to say and most everyone will accept it, but no one will call you out on it.

No one will hold you accountable to whether or not you do it, because there’s nothing to actually hold you accountable to.

• If you want a six pack, say it.
• If you want to be able to run a 3 hour marathon, say it.
• If you want to deadlift 400 pounds, say it.
• If you want to do a planche pushup, say it.
• If you want to do a firefly pose in yoga, say it.

Then go do it.

But, don’t cop out and pick a vague goal like “fitness” and wonder why you don’t achieve it. Be concrete.

The less specific you are with a goal, the less likely you are to achieve it. If you don’t say it or at the very least, write it down, you won’t do it. Have the courage to say what you really want. This goes for fitness. This goes for life.

The Real Power Of Challenges

The real power of challenges is they give you focus. They give you something to orient your behavior around. Fitness is a great concept, but its an unfocused goal and incredibly difficult to measure your progress. Set a challenge, then go do it and learn a ton of things along the way

If you want to set better goals, set more challenges.

Set impossible challenges, and then catch up with them! – Richard Branson

How do we do that? Simple. Follow this formula:

–> Pick a challenge. Pick a date.

Accomplish [specific challenge here] by [insert specific date here].

A few concrete examples of this include:

• LIft 100 pounds more by 3/3/13.
• Run a Marathon By July 1st.
• Get A Six Pack in 8 Weeks.
• Run A Triathlon in 3 Months.

Be specific about the thing you want to accomplish and the time frame you want to accomplish it in.

Don’t be lazy and set terrible goals. Be specific and set impossible challenges. Then catch up to them.

We’ll take an even deeper look at this in an upcoming post. Stay tuned.

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Big props to Mike for killing it in his Impossible Shirt