We all have goals. We have different things we want to improve, in and out of the gym. And they change every day, week, month, and year.
Most things have a plan. School, work, landing that first date…
“alright, walk up to the pretty lady, smile, don’t wiggle hands too much, ask for her name when she looks up, Oh No! Forgot a breath mint…ABORT! ABORT! ABORT!”
…and fitness targets are no different.
First dates, 6-packs and pull-ups don’t happen by accident. Everything has a formula. The challenge for us is to, with so many things happening in our lives, figure out which of these variables makes the most difference.
If you achieve any bit of success, it is because you followed some program.
- Wanted a bachelor’s degree? You went to school for 3-4 years.
- Wanted to beat that final boss level? You bought the gamer’s guide.
- Wanted to learn a new skill? You watched an educational video on YouTube.
Simple. That’s it. Follow a program. Article over.
But that’s not it.
What I am going to share takes extra work, even more work than just going to the gym or hitting the pavement. Not only do you need to put the time in (maybe its 4-5 hours per week…or less depending on your intensity), but now, I am asking you to take your training further…spending another hour or two, reflecting on if your training brings your desired results.
I mean…
- You want to maximize gym time, right?
- You want to know if what you are doing is effective, right?
- You want to know if your exercise routine aligns with your goals, right?
…right?
Ready to challenge yourself?
As you get into your sport or exercise of choice, you may soon find it that it is exciting to tackle new challenges. You want to push yourself in a new area – competing against peers of your own age group – or targeting a difficult-to-achieve movements (full split, rope climb).
These are exciting times for you! Your motivation is high and you are very coachable.
But of course, progress takes time. You feel discouraged because:
You are not making progress
You are no closer than you were the week before
You convince yourself that some skills are just not for YOU!
But, what if I told you there was a way to figure this out…before jumping to conclusions, or worse yet, giving up too soon?
Enter FOTT.
WHAT the FOTT?!?!
The F.O.T.T. is a two-pronged approach to planning for and achieving gains. It’s not a magic pill but based on a scientific approach to your health and fitness.
It may sound nerve-wracking. It’s not.
Follow along…
PRONG #1 = Fitness Outcome
Your fitness outcome is a specific fitness-related goal that you are striving for in a specific time period.
When it comes to sports and fitness, you may want to:
- Learn how to do a pushup
- Back squat 2x your body weight
- Reduce your mile time
The key piece for your fitness outcome is the time domain. For goals, having a time-based plan is essential.
Why? For two reasons:
Why Your FO Needs to Be Time-Based Reason 1: Your FO marks a point in time that you need to reflect on how effective your plan or training regimen was.
Why Your FO Needs to Be Time-Based Reason 2: You build your training targets based around that FO – more on these below
Here are couple example FOs (the goals are in italics, the time period in bold)
- Example 1: I want to do a pushup within 3 months
- Example 2: I want to back squat my body weight within one year
- Example 3: I want to lower my mile time by 15 seconds by December 1st
The more specific the better. Notice goals aren’t: I want to get fit soon.
A statement like this is a start, but not an FO.
PRONG #2 = Training Target (TT)
Training Targets (TTs) are temporary actions that align with your FO. They are temporary in the sense that they are designed with the purpose of helping you reach your FO.
Your TTs are the mechanics, the parts of your daily training regimen.
Here are few examples of FOs with their TTs:
(This article is not about designing these various programs, but how to evaluate them…making sure you are get what you paid for)
4 Steps To Creating Your F.O.T.T. Plan
While you may be in the middle of a training cycle, it’s easiest to think of these steps as if you are starting off with a new fitness outcome.
Step 1: Select your FO
This is the fun part! What do you want to improve? Which aspect of your training is MOST important to you right now? Does it relate to volume, max weight, number of reps, quality of movement, time-based?
Step 2: Choose your training targets
This may be the difficult part. Which program do you want to follow?
It seems that every single personal trainer, running coach, or CrossFit box has their own formula for gains.
How do you know which program to pick? Which is good, bad, or a waste of your time?
It is terribly confusing. So much social media. It seems like everybody in an expert nowadays. So many tips and how-tos litter our feeds.
(This makes an approach like FOTT that much more useful!)
The best thing you can do is find one that appears comprehensive and structured.
If you need help picking something out, just send me a message.
Step 3: Graph your progress
Data, data, data. It’s only worth anything if you put it on a chart. The data are your paint, and the chart your canvas. You want to see the picture. Your fitness picture.
You are the Bob Ross of your fitness domain. Let’s paint happy FOs and TTs together now. See that squirrel hiding behind that tree? You don’t?!?! That’s your PR squirrel! Let’s give’em a happy home next that bush over there, that Y-axis.
The crux of FOTT relies on tracking your progress and slapping it together on an easy-to-understand graph.
Here is an example of what your Bob Ross Fitness Canvas can look like:
In this example, I also introduce pre- and post-test max attempts. This really enhances your program. Not necessary, but very valuable.
We can see that this individual completed 2 unbroken pushups before the training sessions. Then could do 6 following the training sessions.
Not bad!
Step 4: Evaluate your program
Stepping back. Looking for the forest in the trees.
What’s the big picture here? What is your fitness story telling you?
How effective is your training?
Producing the results you want?
Or do you need to make a change?
In the pushup example, we can be confident that the pushup training cycle was responsible for the increase.
Why? Because we identified our FOs and TTs and painted our picture. Sure, other exercises probably contributed, but the additional pushup cycle is probably responsible for the gains.
How often do you harness the power of the FOTT?
Maybe everyday…maybe weekly.
It depends on your goals. Do they require daily monitoring, or can you get by with weekly measures?
At the very least, I advise reviewing your F.O.T.T. at a minimum of every two weeks.
Go FOTT or go home!
Do you have to track everything…probably not. That’s unrealistic, and not the point anyway.
To review, purposeful training follows these 4 steps:
- Select your Fitness Outcomes
- Select your Training Targets
- Graph your Progress
- Evaluate Your Program
What makes this approach different? Why should I care?
You don’t have to, but I am offering an alternative to thinking about your fitness outcomes and training targets. For my money, it’s better to know what is producing gains than guessing.
If you are that athlete who wants to know what is producing your results, then FOTT away!
Keep moving!
-Nick
