NEW YEAR, NEW MEEEEEEEE

Yeah….I’m a little early on this 2019 thing, but hey, in my defense, Wal-Mart puts out the Christmas stuff in October.  This means that I am perfectly in the clear to talk about the upcoming new year this early.

For 2018, I only had one major goal.  I wanted to take everything I had learned from my ISSA education apply it to myself.  I wanted to write my own workouts and plan my own nutrition and just see what would happen.  I think I did pretty well with sticking to that goal. I wrote monthly workouts, as well as a 3 month workout plan that was centered around a goal for the sumo deadlift (and I met that goal).  Something else happened that I didn’t plan: I reached 100% on my PFT test at a doctor appointment earlier in the year.  I didn’t think I would hit that number for a few more years, and I did it this year.  That’s a major accomplishment for me.  These things made me start thinking about what I would want to do in 2019.  If I don’t have any goals or any plans to meet those goals, then I’m not going anywhere.  I’m just spinning my wheels in neutral and the car isn’t moving forward.

I sat down and made a small list of goals I would like to work towards in 2019 regarding health and fitness.  So yeah, this bloooog is more for me than anyone…to make sure that I stay on track.  I’ll share with you what my goals are:

1. CONTINUING EDUCATION – It’s always good to keep learning.  I never want to stop learning in the field of health and fitness.  I was certified with ISSA, but I want to go with a more recognized certification: National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).  Strength and conditioning seems more up my alley.
2. TRAINING TO BE BATMAN – Not only is it good to expand in my education, but it is also good that I expand in my training.  I’m very grateful for the things I have learned and applied, and I want to keep expanding.  Some things I would like to do in the next year is rock wall climbing, ninja warrior stuff…not actually competing (I would get my butt kicked) but just adding the stuff they do to my arsenal.  Things like the salmon ladder and swinging stuff and grip stuff.  I would also like to learn more about boxing/MMA stuff….again, not to fight, but to add it to my arsenal.  What good is it to train your muscles if you don’t know how to use them?
3. THE MATTCAVE – Look….Batman has a batcave, right?  What good is Batman without his batcave?  If I’m going to train to become Batman, then it’s only logical that I have a batcave of my own….only mine will be called the Mattcave.  In 2018, I made part our garage into a home gym.  To prepare for the winter season, we moved the gym into a smaller area of the garage so I could heat it.  Now it truly does feel like a cave.  I finally got some flooring put in.  I really like how it’s coming along.  As the new year goes on, I plan on having some more equipment.  We’ll see what happens.  I love having a home gym.  I can get my workouts done so much faster than I can in a public gym.
4. BIRTHDAY CHALLENGE – According to the wizards of smart, the average age of someone with CF is 37, but I’ve also seen in other places that the average age is 41, but then I’ve also seen that it is 47…..so I’m not sure which one is right.  At least it’s going up.  All I know is I’m doing very well at my age.  So, to celebrate, I am starting my own little birthday challenge in 2019.  It will involve a certain exercise that I will do on my birthday (February 11th) and on every birthday thereafter.  Each year I will add to it so that it will be more of a challenge than the previous year.  I’ll show you what I mean in February.
5. EXPAND MY WEBSITE – Right now, I have a site that is just a blooooog site.  I’ve been sharing some of the things I have learned because I like helping people and I want to make sure I can explain the things I have learned.  It’s been a good challenge and I have enjoyed it.  I’d like to see it expand next year.  I’d like to not only share information that can help people, but also share workouts that can help people with getting in shape.  I’m not ashamed to admit that I am an online idiot.  I have no idea how to do website stuff.  It’s a miracle that I got this blooog site up.  Maybe I will have to educate myself more on the matter of website building.
6. PARTICIPATING IN EVENTS – I’ve participated in a few Great Strides events over the past few years.  One in my hometown in Ohio and one in Tennessee.  Perhaps I will do another one next year.  I was looking into some other CF fundraising events and am interested in their extreme hikes and what looked like some stair running events.  The extreme hike is an event where you hike at places like the grand canyon for money that goes to CF research, and the stair climbing events are at stadiums where you just run the stairs for money that goes toward CF research.  I’ve also thought about doing a spartan race or a tough mudder.
7. OWN MY OWN GYM – This is last on my list, but it’s certainly not least.  I don’t know how or when or where this will happen, but it is the overall main goal for my life in the arena of health and fitness.  Not only would I enjoy owning a gym with a low monthly fee for people to come and train to stay in shape, but I would really love to have a gym that is FREE for people with a fatal disease (like myself) to come and fight their disease with exercise.  It can make a huge difference.  It has with me.  If you had a disease like Cystic Fibrosis or Cancer, and exercise could help you fight it, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to go to a gym somewhere that was FREE and not have to worry about paying for it?   I can’t begin to tell you how much exercise has benefited me and how it has helped me to keep my boot on CF’s throat so that it cannot fight back against me.  I would love to help others in their fight, and owning a gym to make it possible for them is the major goal I have.

It was pretty neat to look back at 2018 and see what has happened.  It will be interesting, in a year from now, to look back at 2019 and see how much of this list I accomplished.  How about you?  Do you have any goals for the upcoming new year?  I’m not talking about a New Year’s Resolution, but an actual goal.  Feel free to share in the comments what that may be.  If you liked this blooooog, feel free to hit the “like” or the “share” button.

Until next time,

STAY TUNED