Set one performance goal and one life goal, both due in twelve weeks, both written so a coach can program toward them and both checkable without a scale. Get fit is a wish; ten full push-ups from the floor and carrying both kids up the Lonsdale hill without stopping is a goal. The first tells a coach which patterns to load and how fast; the second tells them why you will keep turning up when February is dark. Bodyweight is a poor first goal because you cannot train it directly, it moves for reasons that have nothing to do with training, and it hides the wins that arrive first.
This page is about writing the goal. Measuring progress against it, and what the first ninety days feel like, are covered on their own pages.
Outcome goals and process goals
An outcome goal is what you want to be true at the end: a push-up count, a hill, a hike. A process goal is the behaviour that gets you there: two booked sessions a week, held for twelve weeks. A coach programs from the outcome and manages you by the process. In a first block the process goal matters more, because attendance is the only variable that reliably predicts whether the outcome arrives. Write both, and put the process one at the top.
Why twelve weeks
Twelve weeks is one training block plus a re-test. It is long enough for strength to show up in numbers you can see, short enough to feel real when you write it, and it fits the North Shore calendar: a block started in September ends as ski season opens; one started in March ends as the trails dry out. Goals are rewritten at the end of every block, so the first one does not have to be right for life. It has to be right for twelve weeks.
One performance marker, one life marker
A performance marker is measured on the floor. A life marker is measured on a Tuesday. You need one of each because the floor number proves the program works and the life number proves it was worth doing.
| Performance markers | Life markers |
|---|---|
| Ten push-ups from the floor | The stairs at the SeaBus terminal without a pause at the top |
| A goblet squat with the next dumbbell up, for eight | Lifting a suitcase into an overhead bin without asking |
| Twenty minutes of incline walking at a set grade, no handrails | Quarry Rock and back with the kids, no next-day knee complaint |
| A thirty-second dead hang and a chin-up progression | Getting up off the floor without using your hands |
| A farmer carry the length of the room with a set pair | Sleeping through the night more often than not |
Why weight is a poor first goal
Three reasons. You cannot train bodyweight directly; you train strength, movement and habits, and weight responds to those and to food, sleep, salt and the calendar. It moves for reasons that have nothing to do with the program, so it will punish a good week and reward a bad one. And it is silent about the wins that arrive first: the stairs, the sleep, the loads on your sheet. If weight matters to you, make it a second-block goal once the training habit exists, and read what a realistic timeline looks like before you write a number.
Three readers, three first goals
| Reader | Process goal | Performance marker | Life marker |
|---|---|---|---|
| A new parent | Two booked sessions a week, same slots, twelve weeks | Ten push-ups from the floor | Car seat in one hand, groceries in the other, up the stairs without a rest |
| A 58-year-old hiker | Two strength sessions and one hill walk a week | Thirty minutes of incline walking at a steep grade, no rails | A Lynn Valley loop with no knee complaint the next morning |
| A desk worker | Two sessions plus a ten-minute mobility routine on work days | A thirty-second dead hang and a full chin-up progression | A workday without the afternoon neck ache |
Each of these can be programmed on day one. Get fit cannot.
How the goal gets rewritten at the end of the block
At week twelve the coach re-tests the performance marker and asks about the life marker. Three outcomes, three next moves: hit it, and the next goal is a step up on the same line; close, and the block is extended a few weeks rather than the goal abandoned; missed by a distance, and the goal was wrong, usually because the process goal was not met, which is the more useful discovery. Measuring progress between those two points has its own page.
Write both goals on your phone before the free fifteen-minute consult. The consult is where a coach turns them into a recommendation, 1-on-1 or small group, and it is a better conversation when you arrive with something more specific than fit.
Common questions
What if I genuinely do not know what I want beyond feeling better?
Start with the process goal alone and borrow a performance marker from the table above. Feeling better becomes specific within a few weeks; the coach will hear what you mention first after sessions and turn that into the outcome goal.
Can my first goal be an event, like the Grouse Grind?
Yes, if the date is at least twelve weeks out. An event supplies the deadline and the life marker; the coach adds the performance marker that predicts it, usually an incline-walking benchmark.
Should I tell the coach my real goal if it is about how I look?
Yes. It changes nothing about how the program is written and everything about how the coach talks to you about progress. Appearance goals are ordinary, and the same strength work serves them.
Is one goal enough, or should I have several?
Two, as above, and no more in a first block. A third goal is usually a way of avoiding the first two.
What if I hit the goal in six weeks?
Then it was set slightly low, which is the correct mistake for a first block. Tell the coach; the block continues with a bigger marker and the re-test stays at week twelve.
