Setting Strength Goals for 2023
"New year, new me." It’s an exciting time to reflect on the months past and determine what you want to achieve. As a strength athlete, this will look different than the mainstream fitness messaging of extreme dieting and shrinking yourself: instead- a new year grants you the opportunity to set uncharted numbers in sight. To get stronger than you ever have, uncover some of those milestones you’ve been working toward, and continue to develop yourself as a lifter. Taking time to determine your intentions for the year, with specific markers to work toward, can help set you up for success. Read below for tips on how to go about this process.
Choose goals that are significant to you.
The most important & fundamental step in goal-setting is deciding on ones that are meaningful in some way. Otherwise, it’s an exercise in futility.
Chasing arbitrary accomplishments you have no attachment to is a surefire way to burn yourself out, lose direction, and spin your wheels down a road of inconsistency.
This journey is yours- and each milestone you set should be a marker on a path to a more authentic, improved version of yourself.
Strength progress parallels this process, where your self-development in the gym is mirrored outside of it. Bear this in mind when setting your intentions.
What numbers represent something more deeply to you?
What have you been chasing that excites you?
What’s the next step for you as an athlete- how can you continue up-leveling and reaching new heights?
Sure, a 300 lb deadlift sounds sexy and badass (because it is), but how does that connect to you personally?
A single number can represent the individual that you become in the process of achieving it.
The self-doubt and uncertainty along the way build tenacity and discipline.
The consistency, intensity, and focus demanded in achieving this number reflect how you can handle hardship- and come back from it.
The ability to put in hours of effort day after day, experiencing discomfort and struggle- for one single moment highlights your ambition, work ethic, and passion.
Maybe you underwent difficult moments in other components of your life simultaneously- whether stress-related, your job, relationships, etc., and watched those transform as a result of gaining strength. Multiple roads streamlining as one, inching closer and closer to unlocking a new layer of potential.
When your ambitions have roots of meaning, connection, and authenticity underneath them, you’re far more likely to adhere to them, and those achievements are extra special.
2. Choose a clear vision that defines your goals.
What do I mean by “clear vision,” exactly?
Rather than simply focusing on an arbitrary number or even a meet, determine what you truly want out of your training.
How do you want to feel?
What will that number give you?
How does this transfer over to other areas of life?
Maybe your real goal is to try something new. Getting on the platform for the first time, exposing yourself to uncrossed territory, and undergoing a challenge that is slightly terrifying- yet you know will be worth it.
Or it could be unlocking a higher level of yourself you didn’t know existed. You’ve done a meet before; you’ve been training consistently, but you’re hungry for something bigger. You want to discover more potential you have inside of you. This vision could result in qualifying for Nationals, breaking a long-time lifting barrier, etc.
Choose a couple of words or phrases that encompass these goals, giving them meaning to you- such as "experimentation," "raising the standard," or "confidence." Let that be your sense of direction- in all aspects.
Doing your first meet is a new experience, and you want to continue adventuring: so you learn a new language or travel somewhere you’ve never been.
You've taught yourself what you're capable of through your strength goals- so you start that new business venture and focus on building it.
Powerlifting provides a vessel to channel all other events in our life, where every component is intertwined along the same passage.
When you gain this clarity in the gym, you experience it everywhere else, too, truly being transformed by the barbell.
3. Come up with both numbers & secondary goals.
Number goals are sexy and exciting- we love this sport because it always gives us something to chase.
Yet, it’s possible to get too tied to the numbers- where you lose focus on your purpose in the first place. Additionally, we can’t constantly be hitting PRs, and having other objectives to pursue simultaneously can help keep you grounded and motivated for what’s to come.
If you’ve got specific SBD numbers in mind, set them. Manifest them. Write them down. Run after them (well, not literally). Put in the work to get them. Show up consistently, allowing every rep you perform to bring you closer to them. Live those numbers.
If you’re in an off-season phase (or will be soon), you can also determine secondary lift goals you want- maybe it’s a front squat, or an opposite-stance deadlift, to help keep you inspired when you’re not prepping for a meet.
Choose other habit-based goals that support your SBD targets and, ultimately, your vision:
Maybe it’s beginning to track your nutrition, so you can ensure you get enough protein.
Consistently sleeping 8-9 hours per night and going to bed at a certain time.
Learning how to respect RPEs, so you can stay healthy and build toward those numbers you want.
Not missing a training session, increasing your chances of reaching your PRs in mind.
Prioritizing your rest, getting recovery work in, and managing your stress, so you perform better in the gym.
If your over-arching goal is meet-related, that could include:
Registering for your first meet and just doin’ the damn thing.
Prioritizing yourself during meet prep, blocking out other distractions so you can focus on your training.
Take time to visualize your lifts during prep- so you feel more comfortable under the bar when the weights get heavier.
Notice how these actions connect to your fundamental ambitions- you can see the relationship between the two, which will help you be more consistent and eventually: make better progress.
When there’s a process behind each goal, you have a sense of direction- providing the capability to take those steps. A number is one thing, but a plan in place serves as a path to reach it and adds to its significance in the first place. Setting out to improve your habits will eventually take you where you want to go- even if you're not hyper-focusing on the numbers themselves.
4. Divide the year & set timeframes within your calendar.
While we can’t predict exactly when we’ll reach our goal numbers- our bodies work on their own calendars- you can use meets or other markers as a guide.
Determine what meets you want to compete in and what goals you want to hit in each:
Maybe your first meet of the year is to qualify you for Nationals, and your next one is a National-level meet.
Maybe your first meet is about redeeming your squat from the last meet, and your following one is just about having fun.
Maybe you want to try a different weight class for your next meet.
Of course, the goal is always to increase your total, but there may be other reasons behind your participation or strategy.
Viewing the year ahead brings focus to your training: you know what you’re working toward and what’s to follow.
That way, you can determine goals in each off-season: so you can stay aligned with your ambitions & help prevent possible burnout/lack of motivation during that time.
Look at your work seasons, vacations, and other life events to help you decide which timeframes are more focused on athlete-ing and which ones demand less pressure in the gym.
Generally speaking, 2-3 meets per year is a good range, and meet prep takes about 12 weeks. This time commitment gives you plenty of time to focus on less comp-specific goals while providing adequate focus during prep time. Decide what balance looks right for you, what non-SBD goals you want to set, what each meet means to you, and how it connects to your overall objective.
When you break a year into smaller chunks, each one seems far more manageable. There’s a direct course of action to take right now, you know what’s ahead, and you can anticipate it- rather than feeling overwhelmed and lost by the months in front of you.
5. Create a plan of attack to reach these goals & track progress over time.
With your coach, work backward on the vision for the year and how you want to approach it. If you’re competing, sign up for those meets, and get them on the calendar:
Determine what your programming needs to look like to reach your big, over-sweeping goals.
Control for your nutrition, sleep, and recovery in each phase- whether the focus is just on consistency across the board- or if each period demands something different from you.
Consider other aspects that may affect you: stress, the season of life, mental health, etc., and how you can account for each variable.
Meets are a great way to break up the year, but even if you’re not doing one for a while, there could be a testing phase or specific block you want to hit each milestone by. Create a general timeline- it doesn’t have to be set in stone- to quantify your progress rate:
Maybe your off-season is three months long, and you want to front squat 185 by the end of it.
The meet you’re doing in 4 months is when you want to qualify for Nationals.
Your next meet prep is when you want nutrition to be dialed- so you feel your best leading up.
These ranges provide you with distinct, straightforward efforts to take- and a marker for progress- so you can know how close you are to the destination you’re working toward. Each step guides you closer to the next: that way, you can make the most out of your 2023.
Once you’ve got a plan in place, all you have to do is execute it.
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Goal-setting. It can be both an exciting and overwhelming process. As an athlete, having some intention and direction behind your training is vital to your success, maintaining consistency- and gradual improvement over time. Choosing multiple types of objectives that are meaningful to you- and putting a plan into place- with progress trackers throughout the year- will aid you in this exercise. Setting arbitrary numbers with no reasoning is something we want to avoid- doing so won’t help you be a better athlete! Ensure that your goals are realistic, and remember, they don’t need to be highly intense or ultra-specific, but having an idea of where you’re headed will provide a more transparent path. The ambitions you have inside of the gym can very much impact you in many other ways- it’s a beautifully profound transformation of yourself as a whole. Spend some time brainstorming, put pen to paper, and have an idea of what’s important to you. That way, by the end of the year, you can reflect on how far you’ve come. Happy 2023- the year of getting really strong!
