Fitness Goals 2020

I feel like I'm at a good place, fitness wise, this year. I've been working on building a foundation, and though the payoff is slow, it is coming. Last year, I focused on conquering the Spartan Race, and I did it. But it came at the expense of my backpacking conditioning. I'm not going to let that happen this year. This year, the focus is on being ready for backpacking season, with more small prep trips through May and June so Ambrose and I are ready for the coast and so that I'm ready for the 2nd half of the Frank Church on the Idaho Centennial Trail.

But that focus doesn't mean that I can't have other goals. I can and I shall.

A year long goal is to attend 264 CrossFit classes. I did 259 in 2018 and 257 in 2019, so I know that's a number within my reach. I also know I won't make commitment crew for 2020 because I'm taking too many August vacations and also focusing on backpacking in June and July, which will reduce my summer months' attendance. That means I need to pick it up in the off season to make the goal. That's an average of 22 classes per month. With the lower numbers for sure coming in August, I'll be trying for 25 classes per month in January, February, March, October, November and December. If I can swing that, then I'll need about 18 classes per month for the remainder, which will be spread out since I doubt I'll even make 18 in August.

It's probably not great that I don't have a concrete plan for this one, but I still want a freestanding handstand. I've had this on my radar for a while now, but I do feel that I'm getting closer with my foundation. If I really want this one, I'm going to have to work at it. Figure out a plan and stick to it. So the goal is to figure out a plan and then pick a time to work on it.

Arbor CrossFit has a pull up challenge for January. I don't know that I'll actually be able to complete it, since I've never done more than 7 strict pull ups and the challenge ends with a set of 10, but I'm going to try and see how many I can end up getting on the challenge plan. I want to increase my pull up strength so I can get a strict chest to bar, one of the many steps on my long road to muscle ups.

I've been doing the 15 minute 3 pull up/3 dip EMOM with my girlfriends at Arbor, and I am starting to see some impact on my dips. I used to use the horns and bands, but since I restarted with the girls, I've been doing assisted ring dips, and I was able to do a negative ring dip and hold at the bottom last Sunday. That is a new thing for me, since it used to be when I tried to hold at the bottom, I would drop after less than a second - and that's coming into the position at the bottom, not after lowering from the top. So I'm going to put a strict ring dip on the Arbor goal board, because I think I'm close and I'm going to get there soon with the work that I'm doing.

Finally, I'm working on my weight and diet. I want to get a bit leaner, especially since I'm considering doing the next gains course, which will, by definition, increase my weight. There's not really a concrete goal with weight; more than I want to be aware and not continue to increase willy-nilly. I would like to lose some fat, and it would just be nice to get back into the 140's. I mean, for now, it's all about staying out of the 160's, but I think what I'm doing will get me back to the 140's. For now, I'm tracking what I eat and when, but not how much. I want to make this a sustainable habit, and calorie counting is just a bit more than I want to do for starters. As far as diet goes, I'm still figuring out which foods trigger my tummy, but the main food experiment going on to start the year is, which bars can I eat for backpacking? I have half a dozen so far to try, and I'll get more to try if necessary. I'm going to dial in my backpacking food in the off-season so that I don't get sick on the trail like last year.