Back in December of 2015, I made a goal to gain 5 lbs. of muscle (while staying the same weight). My trainer thought I could achieve this in 4 months following his plan. After following his plan 12 out of 16 weeks and not gaining as much as a tenth of a pound of muscle, I began to reconsider this goal. The real goal was to get stronger. I needed a way to measure results, so I picked a “5 pounds muscle” goal arbitrarily. Problem is, I have been getting stronger. My muscles are getting more defined even though they measure the same (exactly!) and I can lift tens of pounds more with every limb. I began to wonder the validity of this “5 pounds of muscle” goal and spent a couple of weeks contemplating what I really wanted to do.
So. I established new goals.

Leg press my body weight in 2 weeks. What a fun goal! Nothing sounds cooler than lifting your own body weight, so this is a motivating one. It is also very attainable. I’m almost there. I remember doing this back in 2007. After I beat this one, I’ll make some new fun goals. Can I leg lift (quadriceps) my body weight? I am 2/3rd of the way there now.
Gain some amount of muscle. I have to gain something here, just for meet a goal for goal’s sake. I am curious to find out what it will take to make this happen. I am within 5 pounds of muscle mass of every body composition test I’ve ever taken, all the way from my first time when I was 18 years old.
Climb the Dexter hill without going below 10 mph. While it took years for me to be able to do this at all, I can now do it every time I try. But it is still really hard and my heart rate redlines. I want to try for it every time I ride the hill now.
Climb the Fremont hill without going below 9 mph. I have no idea what it will take to do this or how long the hill even is. See, for the past 4 years I’ve climbed this hill exclusively in the dark due to my work schedule. When I ride in the dark I use my headlight, which transmits a frequency that interferes with my bike computer. So I have no record of how fast I’ve been climbing this hill at all. I only know that it is longer and harder than the Dexter hill.