Written by Michael Reavis Jr., MS, RD, LDN

Athletes are intrinsically motivated by the desire to improve their performance and capabilities in their respective sports. Yet, when setting the goal that will lead to said improvement it is usually a singular goal: get stronger, get faster, get leaner, etc.

Although these are all perfectly normal goals, they are limiting in nature due to the fact that they are difficult to measure in this form. What I mean by this is strength, speed, body composition, and endurance have numerous avenues of measurement. There is no set way to measure these goals or know if they have been achieved.

In working with clients, focusing on their nutrition for one or more of these goals, I often see frustration, especially in early stages when the goal may not happen. But, did it actually happen, and the athlete did not have the right form of measurement to recognize this?

Let’s take an athlete focusing on body composition, which many athletes measure by the use of weight or the mirror. For this example we will say the athlete does precisely this. In working with the athlete and analyzing their nutritional pattern we set goals focused on improving body composition. As the RD I am thinking of how to increase lean body mass and decrease fat mass. After setting the goals the athlete follows them “to a t,” yet in the mirror and scale nothing changes. The client is appropriately frustrated, feeling as though the goals and methods we set were pointless and not beneficial to them. However, if we had set measurable goals that were indicative of the main goal, we may have found that they were working. This saves the client from frustration, where they may stop thinking nutrition was important or even part of this process. 

So what could these goals be? Specifically for body composition we could look at strength output in a certain area (10lb increase on deadlift) or endurance increase in a set distance (holding a better time for multiple 200m sprints). These show muscle mass is changing and becoming more efficient and powerful, these also tie into body composition and weight change. Even at the same weight, we could increase muscle mass and decrease fat mass. 

This is why measures matter. The athlete needs to have goals that they can see progress with. This is internally motivating and allows the athlete to see the purpose of the path and the changes. Whether you are a coach working on performance, a dietitian focusing on making nutrition change for improved output/performance, or the athlete themselves, setting measures in a goal not only is vital for continued success but also to maintain the motivation you had when you set the overall goal. 

Examples of strength measures:

Speed replication in multiple sprints

Increased weight in a major strength movement

Examples of body composition measures:

Increased strength output

Increased endurance capabilities during practice or performance (Running longer, feeling great end of practice)

If you are an athlete struggling to meet your goals, reach out to us today! We are accepting new clients both in person and virtually and are more than happy to help.