Musubi Fitness

This post was supposed to have been done in November of 2025, but life got in the way and I got distracted, so here it finally is in August 2026…

Greg Everett of Catalyst Athletics posted about having intentions and goals, not expectations. He probably more succinctly expressed my previous post on having appropriate goals. To paraphrase Greg, expectations set you up for failure. If things don’t workout as expected, the logical conclusion is that your ability wasn’t up to expectations, i.e., “YOU SUCK(tm)!”. This does not lead to growth or increased motivation.

Many (most?) things in life is out of your control. Shit happens, and there was nothing you could have done about it. All you can do is put in the work, which is what intentions and goals set you up for. It’s a fine line between goals and expectations. Many people advocate for SMART goals. Specific. Measurable. Achievable. Reasonable. Timely. However, for physical goals, I really push back on the Timely aspect, as this can turn the goal into an expectation. I find that the Reasonable and Timely aspects of SMART goals are often in conflict. By putting a deadline on physical goals, you run the risk of injury and overtraining by pushing too hard and not listening to your body.

A personal example makes this clearer.

It is an intention/goal of mine to compete in the 2027 IMWA World Masters Weightlifting Championship in Kansai, Japan. I’m pretty new to Olympic weightlifting having only really started seriously practicing the snatch and clean & jerk (the two Olympic lifts) since November 2025, although I have a decent strength base (124kg 1RM back squat). The current qualification for my weight class and age is 162kg total over the snatch and clean & jerk. This works out to around a 70kg snatch and a 92kg clean & jerk. In November, when I started I only had a 50kg snatch and a 60kg clean & jerk. So there was a way to go.

I set my intention in November of 2025 to TRAIN to qualify. That’s it. There is no expectation that I will qualify. I just need to put in the work. Train, compete, and try to get better. I may not get to 167kg in time, but that’s okay, because the even longer term goal is to stay strong and healthy. The interim goal is just to keep things interesting so that I continue to exercise and move. I know myself, I get bored easily. I need some short-term goals to work toward to keep me motivated. Competing in weightlifting is a short-term goal.

The longer term goal of staying strong and healthy plays an important part on how I train for the short-term goal. I’m 47. I don’t recover as fast as a 20 year old, so I can’t train as hard as them. I’ll need a longer time frame, and may need to incorporate more breaks/de-load weeks to allow my body to recover so that I can keep training. I listen to my body and adjust the training to suit. Better to have a light(er) day in the gym than to have 2 weeks not going at all due to a shoulder injury.

That’s not so say that I don’t push myself. I still really want to qualify and I compete almost every 2-3 months to see if I’m on track. But I don’t hold my identity/self-worth to being able to get to the qualifying level. If I don’t make it on time, so be it. I might be disappointed, but I prefer to have tried and fallen a little short than to have gone too hard and crashing out.

So as a result, I find that I can train weightlifting 3, max 4 days a week. I focus on technique since that is where my weaknesses lie since the base strength is there. I do cardio, calisthenics (specifically the GMB Integral Strength program), and/or mobility (GMB Mobility program) on the days I do not train weightlifting. I’ll also play pickleball, run, or bike for the social aspects also. I follow the process and the intention.

As of today, August 11, 2026, it’s looking a bit tight. I’m only at a 57kg snatch and a 70kg clean & jerk. There’s more there, for sure, but the question is whether I can get the technique down fast enough and comfortable enough to handle heavier weight. There’s only 3 more competitions in BC to go before the December 15th qualification deadline. But that being said, I’ve made progress, and I can say that I’ve tried!