Training and Performance Goals

We all need goals and objectives. They’re necessary because they give us a sense of direction, something to move towards. If we don’t have them, we can find ourselves drifting aimlessly like a ship without a destination, following every path we come across,

or not going anywhere at all and stagnating. Goals and objectives serve as targets for us to aim at, they’re a clear “This is what I’m working toward,” or “This is what I want to achieve.” Absence of goals can result in decreased motivation, haphazard training, lack of focus and concentration, and reduced performance potential. On the flipside, well-defined goals can increase your motivation, concentration and focus, and lead to improved performance. There are three primary types of goals:

Process Goals – These specify the processes in which you engage such as moving fluidly, keep your arms relaxed, changing the rhythm at which you are working, etc.

Performance Goals – These specify an end-product, such as increasing the striking accuracy of your punches and kicks to eighty percent, landing more interception counterattacks than parry-then-counter actions, hitting the opponent’s shin with a kick consistently with speed and power.

Outcome Goals – These relate to the outcome of something such as winning a mixed martial art competitive fight.

Process goals are the individual steps you take to reach whatever your performance goal may be and ultimately achieve your outcome goal. Building habits around process goals, such as hitting the heavy bag for a certain number of rounds each day while working on moving fluidly or keeping your arms relaxed, sets the stage for the achievement of performance goals and outcome goals. Process goals can be measured or assessed by subjective observation either by you, your coach, or both.

Performance goals measure your progress. Objective measurements could include such things as the number of intercepting kicks or punches you land in a training session or round of sparring. Performance goals are the result of, and larger than the process goals you complete daily. They’re also the hardest to control due to external factors and uncertainties – unforeseen circumstances, etc.

It’s important to keep in mind that these three types of goals are interrelated and should be used in conjunction with one another. Process goals and performance goals are essential elements in helping you to achieve outcome goals. And a particular outcome (such as winning or losing a competitive fight) can lead to reevaluating your training and establishing new process and performance goals.