7 Actionable Goals To Make Massive Gains in 2022

How do you set goals so that you can actually get stronger, make gains, and feel better? One of the biggest reasons people struggle with new year, new you type of goals is because they do not set realistic, actionable, and attainable goals.

In the weight lifting world, a year of training is a lot of time where you can make massive gains. In this article, we’re going to help break down how to create actionable goals to get stronger, eat cleaner, and feel better in 2022. 

What is an Actionable Goal?

Before we create any goals or make steps towards our objectives, we first need to understand how we can actually create an actionable gains-based fitness goal.

Let’s start with an example. 

Joe is thinking about weight training and creates the goal of “ I want to get stronger”, and “I want to see my abs”.

These are super common goals ‒ but the biggest problem with them is they are not actionable. Whenever we create a new goal with the intent of training harder, eating better ‒ or anything in the health sphere, we want to create the goal so that we can track the progress.

This all sounds complicated so let’s break it down.

Actionable goals need to:

• Have a measurement system (time, weight, etc)
• Be specific (clearly outline the goal ‒ one sentence is good)
• Be attainable (factoring in the timeline, is the goal you created possible?)

Using this as our guide to Joe’s goals ‒ we could modify his fitness goals.

Instead of getting stronger, we could say, “Joe wants to bench press his body weight in 12 months”, and “Joe wants to be able to hold a plank for 5 minutes in 12 months”.

Both of these goals have clear measurements, they’re specific, and they’re attainable within the timeline of a year. Now that we have a better understanding of how to write actionable goals, let’s take a look at 7 actionable goals to make massive gains in 2022

7 Actionable Goals To Make Massive Gains in 2022

The following goals are in a progressive order. Whenever possible (if you’re writing your own goals) try to make the goals so that they can build on each other. The idea here is to let momentum work in your favor.

Think about it like this… It’s easier to keep doing something you have done for 2 months, then start something brand new every week.

Start with something simple that helps you establish yourself and create change ‒ then build on this and slowly make progress towards your gains goals. 

Goal #1: Create a Simple Routine for More Movement

Before we can get into the gym and start lifting heavy weights, we need to create simple routines in our day to emphasize more movement.

Here are some simple routines you can modify to emphasize more movement: 

• Reorient yourself in your house so that you don’t sit on the couch for extended periods of time, 
• manually change the channel on your TV,
• Use smaller glasses of water so you have to get up more often,
• Use the stairs at work,
• Stretch every morning,
• Start doing a strength exercise before bed (pushups, squats ‒ something simple) 

These routines may all sound like they won't make a huge difference, but we need to start with something simple and attainable to give us confidence moving forward. These small, initial goals will also help to give us momentum for our next goal. 

Goal #2: Skip High-Fat, High-Calorie Foods

Our next attainable goal for gains is to start eating more appropriate foods. Try removing foods like processed meats, butter, baked goods, cereals, and other high-fat, high-calorie foods.

Emphasize eating whole foods like lean meats, eggs, legumes, nuts, vegetables, whole grains, and fruit.

Cutting your intake of high-fat or high-calorie foods will help to restart your metabolism and put your body in the correct position for our next goal. Think about consuming the bulk of your calories as vegetables and fruit, followed by lean protein sources and complex carbohydrates. 

Goal #3: Use Strength Training 4-5x/week

Time to hit the gym. You’ve developed at-home routines, your diet is better, and now it's time to get under the barbell. Start with strength training sets that allow you to progressively build up the weight.

We’d recommend using a strength training split that allows you to train 4-5x/week. Prioritize bigger muscle groups like legs and back as this will help you to build a solid foundation for the more complex exercises that help you define muscles down the road.

Trainer Tip:

Strength training works with sets and reps. Most people should start with 8-12 reps for 3-4 sets. As the weights become heavier and your goals move closer towards size or definition, you can modify the sets and reps appropriately.

Here's an example of a basic Strength Training workout. 

You can make this more difficult over time by:

• Decreasing the rest times between sets
• Increasing the weight for each exercise
• Adding more exercises or performing inter-set cardio accelerations
• Modifying the tempo in each exercise (rep speed)

Goal #4: Keep a Daily Record of Food and Fitness

This goal isn't necessarily something that is going to directly help you today. Tracking your food intake and weight lifting sessions is something you do to help you 6 months from now.

Think of your daily tracker like a data tool.

Using your data tool, you can look back at weeks and see where you were getting strongest ‒ the fastest. Chances are, the weeks where you were making the best progress were also the weeks you were eating the best foods and intentionally moving more.

Get yourself a journal and track as much as you can every day. Be sure to track everything properly with dates and times so that you can easily look back and modify your goals. 

Goal #5: Use Volumizer Supplements

Volumizer supplements help to initiate growth in the muscle by promoting muscle protein synthesis (usually through more nitric oxide or through greater ATP regeneration).

The most popular and powerful volumizer supplements are Creatine Monohydrate, L-Arginine, and L-Citrulline.

Each supplement has a unique way of volumizing the muscle cells. While some help to vasodilate (open up the blood vessels) allowing for more oxygen and nutrients to the muscle, others work to promote volume through nitric oxide production.

These supplements should be on your daily supplement intake and you should record which ones work best for you in your daily tracker. 

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Goal #6: Find a Training Partner

Batman needs Robin, and Robin needs Batman. A training partner not only gives you someone as a spotter, but it's also someone to help motivate and keep you in check. On days where you just aren't feeling the workout, your training partner can help get you under the bar and on track with your workouts.

Trainer tip:

Having a workout partner also allows you to do more complex (and fun) working sets like drop sets, cluster sets, or supersets (all of which can provide better gains than traditional sets/reps). 

Goal #7: Achieve Lifestyle-Based Dieting 

The last goal is one that is, more or less, open-ended depending on the person. Dieting is something that a lot of people struggle with ‒ and every culture has a different view on dieting and food.

Your goal shouldn’t really be to “diet”. Your goal should be to find a way to eat foods you love that put you closer to your health and fitness goals. We like to look at this as lifestyle-based eating. You still have the ability to eat foods you love without feeling guilty and falling out of your training cycle.

Try giving yourself a break from traditional dieting 1-2x/month. Go out, eat whatever you want, and enjoy the subtleties of soul foods.

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