New month = new goals

 (source)

Already a week into November and I haven't mentioned my goals.  For this month (and most likely next month, too) my goals are very "performance" based rather than scale based.

In a nut-shell, here are my November goals:

• K.I.L.L. my upper body with weights
• jump rope for 20 minutes straight
• increase max push-ups from 17 to 20
• limit eating out to 2x/week

In a kinda-long-not-so-much-a-nutshell, here are my November goals:

• K.I.L.L. my upper body with weights
• A lot of times my full-body weight workouts are very lower body focused.  For example, I usually run through a circuit of alternating lower-body and upper-body movements, but a lot of times my upper-body movements also involve my lower body, ie. squat curl to presses, squat and dumbbell swing, etc. I focus on my lower body on purpose because it's the first place I see muscle definition so I love to work it out.  This month I'm going to dominate my upper body with a killer circuit workout 2x a week (third day of lifting will be full body). My lower body will get enough of a workout from HIIT/plyo/hiking/cardio. 

Feel free to throw in some cardio moves like jumping jacks, squat jumps, and high knees in between circuits.

• jump rope for 20 minutes straight
• If you've never tried jump rope as a cardio workout, DO IT!! There's a huge difference compared to just running on the treadmill.  For the last couple of months I've been using my jump rope for interval training (30 seconds speed roping followed by 60 seconds jogging in place) but I would love to be able to jump rope for 20 minutes straight.  Right now I'm up to about 8 minutes straight so we'll see how far I can get by the end of the month.
• increase max push-ups from 17 to 20
• Pretty straight forward... I want to increase the number of push-ups I can do in a row from my toes.  I've never really trained for endurance (max reps) as far as push-ups go, instead, I've always trained for strength, maxing out a 10-12 reps with a weight plate on my back.  I can't wait to work on this.
• limit eating out to 2x/week
• Again, pretty straight forward.  Currently I eat out about 4-5 meals a week and even if those meals include a salad, it's an extra expense (and hidden calories!) I could do without.