The aesthetic goal is unquestionably the most popular of all fitness pursuits and often the sole motivation behind any training and dietary program. But when considering both the outcome and our day-to-day behavioural goals -  does it make sense for us to pursue this?
 
Not really.

In exactly the same way that different training methodologies will help or hinder us in achieving a particular goal, so will our point of focus. I’m not looking to rain on your swimsuit parade, but mindset always decides success or failure, and one of the problems with an aesthetic goal, is that your focus will be on the wrong thing; and that wrong thing is usually a number.

 
Sorry, wrong number.
 

• Scale weight

If ever there was a false metric for determining success in any fitness endeavour, aesthetic or otherwise - it is scale weight. You can make dramatic changes to your body-shape with no corresponding change in scale weight whatsoever. 

Furthermore, weight loss is never linear. Some lose weight initially and then hit a plateau. Others may struggle to lose any weight and then have it shift rapidly. Both represent progress, but if you are measuring your success by this number what happens in the weeks when it doesn’t drop? What happens in the weeks when it goes up?
 
Unless your goal is insanity, losing weight does not precisely describe what you want and pursuing a number on your scale is not the path to success.

• Calendar date

The fast-approaching special occasion or the annual collective delusion of January 1st are common goals. And another wrong number. So you are getting married in three months, but your focus on a deadline is going to do what?

Make you stressed - which does what?
Increases your cortisol levels - which does what?
Makes your body retain fat - which does what? (see number 1)

As for waiting around until January 1st goes - you are kidding yourself. If it's important to you, start today. Holiday season sure as hell isn't going to help.

• Measuring tape

 
Although magnitudes better than weight as a guide to body shape, your measurements still represent a number over which you have no direct day-to-day control. Use it as a guide, not a tool.

Rather than representing the small achievable wins of progress, these numbers are more likely to be an obstacle to staying on track. You can't decide what the scale says, how you’ll look at some future date, or can’t decide what your waist measurement is. But there are other numbers that you do control.

Prime numbers
 

• Decide you will exercise for 5-7 hours per week

• Decide you will meditate for 20 minutes every day.

• Decide you will follow PN guidelines for 90% of your meals

• Decide to do breathing exercises for 3 minutes every night before sleep.

• Decide you are going to get 7 hours of sleep every night.

 
Then do it.

Note - these numbers are scaleable and represent the finished product - what you are working towards, not where you start. Start small, doing just enough to elicit some change, then make no further adjustments until you stop seeing change. Then repeat. If you are intent on changing your body shape that's how you do it.

When your body is trained, nourished, recovered and stress-free it is primed to lose fat, and you are no longer fretting over something you can't control. Most importantly this removes the escape clause - you are solely responsible. You will make consistent progress not by setting a deadline, but by following a schedule. Your focus then remains on action - safe in the knowledge you are doing what you can. And when you are already doing what you can, what else do you have to worry about?

 The bigger picture

 
Not only will a focus on the aesthetic not serve us best, it can lead to further issues. In a society enamoured with bodily perfection, it's not surprising our goals reflect this, but the idea that appearance matters most leads to a line of thought and behaviour that is at best unhealthy but more often self-destructive. 

All advertising and associated imagery show this to be a truth lost on the mainstream fitness industry, where ideas of health or performance are either subverted in the pursuit of an aesthetic ideal, or, even more damagingly, equated.
Strangest of all is the failure to understand that far from providing incentive - the ever-present imagery of the airbrushed adonis or beauty serves only as yet one more barrier to those seeking health and fitness.  
 
Women, especially, are presented a perfect storm for frustration and failure. First, they invite your comparison to an unrealistic aesthetic ideal - a fitness model that, even prior to the photoshopping, only ever looks like that for the one day of a photoshoot, before shifting back to a more realistic, sustainable 'living' shape. Then, because you are ‘just a girl’, you are proffered the pink dumbbells and a treadmill, the most dumbed-down methods of fitness available.   
 
Expert at pitching the body beautiful, not nearly so good at providing it.
 
While it's true that men are subject to similar imagery, and I don't suggest that an aesthetic ideal is not pursued just as vigorously by the male of the species, it's also true that we enjoy the advantage (in this department at least), of testosterone. As well as making building muscle far easier, this also has us genetically predisposed to a physical challenge as motivation - faster, heavier, further. If you read that as 'women are not competitive', read it again.

But, even if we do concentrate on these numbers we can control, when we look to the bigger picture and what we want to achieve, again it is unlikely that the pursuit of the aesthetic will serve us best.

You may have heard the Cherokee parable of a chief telling a story to his grandson: 

There are 2 wolves inside all of us fighting a battle.

One is evil -  anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego. 

The other is good -  joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. 

Which one wins?

The one you feed.

Our focus on the superficial only feeds our insecurities and lack of self-worth. Trying to change your body out of disdain for it is, at best, the worst way to go about it. Unfortunately, it is more likely that even if you hit your magic number - well then it won't be quite so magic anymore. The aesthetic goal is inescapably based on the approval of others and even if achieved will you then feel confident and proud of your achievement? Unlikely, you have been feeding the wrong wolf. Your insecurities will never be satisfied.

What about when you are able to do 1 or more strict pullups?

Quite a different story. Of course you will feel strong, capable and athletic, but these will all pale in comparison to the fact that you will have accomplished something you might previously thought to be impossible, the quite natural progression of which is to start taking a long hard look at every other fence you have surrounded yourself with.

Not only have you diluted your insecurities you also enjoy a mental toughness and have come to relish temporary physical discomfort in the pursuit of your goals. And after you hit a performance goal, surpassing previous physical limitations, then go and have a look in the mirror.

The aesthetic goal is a narrow perspective from which it's all too easy miss vital information. Looking at the unchanging outside of the egg, becoming frustrated with what we perceive to be a lack of progress when there are always changes going on behind the scenes. 
By contrast, a focus on performance means we are wide open. More sensitive to other more subjective measures like sleep quality, appetite, recovery, and looking to optimise them all.
 
One is a slippery slope of insecurity, dissatisfaction and ultimately resignation - time will have us all. The other opens the door to an infinite world of challenge, discipline, satisfaction and surprise. Every time you meet and set a new challenge you are further exploring your potential.

One a box. The other a horizon.

Finally, while of course, we may work towards specific goals at times, ultimately we want to move beyond these also, to a point where goal-setting becomes more a tool of gauging improvement and providing direction but no longer one of motivation. The deepest reason for your training, nutrition, recovery and mindset shifts in focus from result to process.
 
This then becomes how you live because it makes your life better on every level - what other reason do you need?
 
This is where we understand that although a life of exercise and healthy eating may at times mean sacrifice, denial and hardship, so will any alternative. We realise that the fit and healthy aren’t born like that, they have learned how to enjoy the means to the end. It requires work, always - but that is also its reward - the search for better performance is infinite. With there always being something more to work on, your training, recovery, nutrition and mindset present a continual quest to challenge and learn.

Fittingly, we can best think of our aesthetic ideals as being egocentric - they love attention. If you chase them, they'll run. Catching them becomes more difficult. But they cannot stand being ignored, and so if you focus on other, more exciting, things you'll find they will come to you.

Our focus should always be on improving our performance. Not because we either shouldn’t, or don’t want to, look our best. But because we do.