Last week was all about underestimating your own abilities in order to achieve the perfect form. This week we will be looking at goals and how important they can be.

Anyone can achieve anything as long as you’re willing to work hard at it and devote enough time to achieving your goal. So what kind of goals do you have within weight training?

Well you might want to gain the body of a cover model, become a power lifter or even just get into shape. No matter what the goal you set you can achieve it. Body types have an affect on the type of weight lifter you may be better suited to, but that doesn’t mean you have to strictly adhere to those rules.

Goals are important because without them you have nothing to aim for; nothing to make you get up and go to the gym on a day when you would rather just stay in bed and watch Netflix. Without goals all you will do is try and maintain any progress you have already gained, this is one of the worst things you can do. You must never aim to maintain. If you want to build muscle that is fine, but once you achieve that you should change your goal and maybe aim to cut up and get a more defined look. You should try anything to avoid maintaining.

If a power lifter is what you want to be then you want to be lifting heavier weight with less reps, aim for about 4-6, on occasion you can go below 4 reps but it isn’t advised to do that too often. This isn’t recommended for beginners because your body won’t be ready to lift the kind of weight you will want to lift just yet. You still have to strengthen your muscles before you head down this route. But as you start to see results after a few months you may be ready to start training towards this. You can still lift weight that might not necessarily be heavy for a power lifter but it will still be heavy for you.

For a more defined look you should aim to do a challenging weight but more reps. I would try and stay above 8 reps, but don’t do anymore than around 12. The weight needs to be enough to challenge you but also can’t be too heavy that your left unable to finish the set. Also depending on your metabolism and your body type you may have to look at doing 30 minutes of cardio about 3 times a week and also making sure you eat very well.

Next week I will be provide information for women who want to use weights but are afraid that in doing so they will put on too much muscle.