New goals: not just for lifting

With all that has been going on for me with injuries, competitions, and so on, I feel like I need to step back and really reassess what my goals are for myself. This isn't just about weightlifting, its about martial arts too. I've been reading everything I get my hands on, buying tons of books on amazon, upping my training, my stretching, and so forth, but I don't really know what I'm working towards.

My friend Patrick lefts this item on his own workout log.

WORKOUT GUIDELINES

1. Leave most workouts feeling better than you started.
2. Always break a sweat.
3. Want to do what you ought to do, then actually go and do it.
4. If it's not working, stop doing it. If it is working, keep doing it. Either way, don't make a decision until you've honestly tried it.
5. Intuitive training is great, but have some guidelines to help you keep focus.

1. This takes care of itself as long as I'm training what I need to train.
2. No worries there, lol.
3. Maybe I need a bit more work here. I tend to do what I want to do sometimes, and not what I should do often enough. Usually pretty good here though.
4. I'm usually pretty good on this front.
5. I'm a fan of intuitive training, but my intuitive training usually just devolves into maxing my lifts over and over until I stall.

I need some new goals. My goals for lifting should be easier so I'll tackle those first.

Weightlifting Goals:

I need to get stronger, more maximal strength. I need to increase my back and front squat, which will help increase my snatch and clean and jerk. I need to continue to work the snatch and clean and jerk to improve my technique. I specifically need to increase my one rep max in the squat, front squat, clean and jerk, and snatch. I don't need to increase my strength endurance or overall endurance.

Aside from that, I'd like to make sure that I don't neglect the parts of my body that are needed by not worked by the olympic lifts and squats. I need to continue to work my upper back so it doesn't collapse on front squats. I need to strengthen my shoulder so I get it back to full working capacity, and I'm almost there. I want to make sure my lower back doesn't lose strength. To counter all the squats, I should really do some more heavy ab exercises, because I tend to skip those.

Those goals in bullets:

• back and front squat strength
• snatch and clean and jerk strength and technique
• upper back, shoulder, lower back, abdominal strength

I need to ensure that the programs that I do incorporate something from all those areas. Since I'm still strengthening the shoulder, heavy Olympic lifts will be held off for a bit more, but I'm getting there.

Martial Arts Goals:

If I want to test for 3rd dan this winter, I need to set some goals to make sure I am ready. In addition to that, I want to make sure I continue to improve. The first goal here is to increase my flexibility. I've been stretching 7 days a week, doing harder stretches after lifting 5x per week, focusing on the front and side splits. I've already made some progress, and I need to stick with that.

I need to finish learning and practice my testing forms, and practice my lower level forms so I don't forget any and continue to improve them. In addition to that,  I need to take a look at the testing requirements and practice doing those so I know I am ready.

Aside from testing, I want to change my style of kicking with the instep to kicking with the lower shin. I have broken my foot in the past kicking elbows and I don't want it to happen again. Kicking with the shin requires a slightly different technique, and I need to practice that. I want to practice low kicks and sweeps, since I don't have much skill there. I want to improve my hand technique proficiency so I can fight with my hands and not just kicks. I want to continue to learn about different styles and try to incorporate what I find useful from them into my own style of martial arts - it doesn't have to be taekwondo, I already put wrestling and judo in there. Though some of these goals are harder to pin down, I'll try. 

In bullets:

• keep stretching
• review the testing requirements of USTF 3rd dan and practice them
• review older forms and master testing forms
• change my kicks with instep to kicks with the shin and the different technique that entails
• improve hand proficiency
• improve low kicking and sweeping
• keep learning about other styles and incorporate what I can