TEN | New Year, Small Goals

Resolutions don’t fail because people dream too big, they fail because we don’t break them down into small goals we can accomplish every day. 

We’re back from a packed meet season with a clear plan for 2026, a fresh 705 deadlift on the books for Nate, and a blueprint you can use to turn ambition into action without burning out.

We start with the whirlwind: hosting and coaching across Alabama, Tampa, Crestview, and Navarre, plus the chaos of life with Toby and his dementia. Then we dig into what that 705 pull really taught us how long-term goals demand patience, how missteps become data, and why changing the target isn’t quitting. From there, we map out a big team trip to PLU Nationals in San Antonio this May: choosing the right federation, organizing roles so lifters compete while teammates support, and building a meet-day system that runs smooth even while we both step on the platform.

The heart of this episode is a practical guide to goals that stick. For lifters, we show how to reverse-engineer a total by assigning realistic squat, bench, and deadlift checkpoints. For weight loss and physique, we talk about progress photos, habit tracking, and making five-pound milestones your best friend. We share two anchors that carry you through plateaus: consistency over perfection and the courage to act when motivation dips. Small actions compound into momentum; momentum sustains motivation.

We close with our own 2026 targets tune in to find out Nate and Liz's individual goals. If you need a sign to set three clear goals, break them into weekly steps, and finally do the work you already know matters, this is it.

If this helped, follow the show, subscribe on YouTube, leave a quick review, then share your first 2026 goal with us so we can cheer you on.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome Back & New Year Setup
• 1:50 Fall Meet Marathon & Team Highlights
• 3:10 Hitting 705 And Lessons Learned
• 6:20 Resetting Goals After Setbacks
• 6:55 Nationals Team Plan For May
• 10:40 Building A Meet-Day Support System
• 13:20 Why Resolutions Work When Goals Are Real
• 17:20 Break Big Goals Into Small Wins
• 22:40 Consistency Over Perfection
• 25:10 Three Goals For 2026: Life, Lifting, Business
• 30:10 Liz’s Targets: 1,000 Total And A PR
• 34:20 Stacking Goals That Build Momentum
• 40:00 Wrap-Up, Format Updates, Thanks

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:00

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Fortis After Hours podcast. We have returned.

SPEAKER_00: 0:06

We're back.

SPEAKER_02: 0:08

Yes, and we're back with another awesome episode for you guys, just in time for the new year, new me, new everything to start in a couple days. Once this launches, it's gonna be Monday. So when's New Year's Day? Thursday?

SPEAKER_01: 0:23

I think so.

SPEAKER_02: 0:23

New Year's Day is not a deadlift day for us. That's a great start to the year, right there. For us personally. Uh, but anyways, yeah, so it's been a little bit. Um, we did warn you guys that there would be a little bit of a break. Um, consider this the next season of the podcast.

SPEAKER_01: 0:39

We've been busy.

SPEAKER_02: 0:40

Yes, we've been very busy. Um, and today we're gonna talk a little bit about that, a little bit about um our new year's resolutions or goals that we have for 2026. And then also we're each gonna give you our favorite tip for people that maybe are starting something in the new year, how to stay consistent with that so you can actually accomplish it. So stay tuned. We got a jam-packed episode. Um I had to look back and see when the last episode was, which was October 27th. Uh two months. So it's been two months, yep. Um, and a lot has happened in October. Well, I guess in November and in December. Um, pretty much all those months we've been doing stuff. Chronologically, I'm trying to think what we'd done.

SPEAKER_01: 1:22

It was back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back weekends of things. It was Alabama, a meet in Alabama, a meet in Tampa, a meet in Crestview, Friendsgiving, openers slash meat prep weekend, then it was the meat in Navarre, then it was a meet in Alabama, another one, then it was uh we baked Christmas cookies, and then it was Christmas, and now here we are.

SPEAKER_02: 1:53

There we go. Boom. Lizard, the quick quick rundown. That's basically what we've done. So there you go. Um but yeah, no.

SPEAKER_01: 1:59

Toby lost his mind in the middle of all of that.

SPEAKER_02: 2:01

And then Toby decided to lose his mind. Uh so if you guys don't know, we haven't really shared too much of that on social medias, but yeah, Toby basically now has dementia a little bit, which is uh slightly unfortunate because that means he doesn't really sleep that well. Uh he is getting better as we speak right now, so that's cool. Um, but that also happened during this very busy season. Um and but overall, it was very successful, kind of busier season uh for our Fortis powerlifting team and for just our Fortis team as a whole. And you know, it was super, super awesome to see everybody perform well at uh all the meets that we did. There's a lot that goes into hosting a meet, uh, which was one of those meets that Liz mentioned, the one here in Navarre. Uh so that all went smoothly. Um honestly, I probably still need to post like a recap about that. I've just now decided to start processing the past couple months. Yeah. So there's that.

SPEAKER_01: 2:56

Um I had to post every week so I could process it as we went.

SPEAKER_02: 3:00

Good call. Yeah. I didn't do that. Um this is why I need the meta glasses right here. Then I can just record it. I don't have to worry about writing about it. Um, but anyways, yeah, so I don't know. I don't think we're gonna do like an individual meet recap that would just take the entire podcast. Um, but it was a fun time, and I personally uh because Liz competed back in September, but this was my competition for the year, which I have talked about prior on this up around this podcast. So my main goal in the beginning of the year was to uh was to total 1700. I fell short of that goal, but I did deadlift 700, which is one of my long time, long-standing goals.

SPEAKER_01: 3:44

Well, I think by the time the meet came around, really your goal was the deadlift one, not the total.

SPEAKER_02: 3:49

Yeah, I yeah, I kind of knew just based off basically just like because of my original goals, not original goals, just because of the stuff I was doing in the beginning of the year with the running. If you guys don't remember, I ran a 15k and totaled 1500 in the same day. Um, and that just put my squat back a little bit more than I suspected, basically, my squat training. Um, so took a little longer. Now we're back on track uh towards that 1700 goal. But yeah, I had to kind of audible that, but then I was able to achieve my lifetime goal of deadlifting 705, which was awesome. Um, that was a pretty cool moment. Uh Gary surprised me at the meet, which was fun.

SPEAKER_01: 4:29

They even misloaded the bar.

SPEAKER_02: 4:30

They misloaded the bar.

SPEAKER_01: 4:31

But they caught it. This one of the spotters and loaders caught it.

SPEAKER_02: 4:35

Um and I was like locked in, anyways. It was funny because they caught it, and I'm like, okay, I need a second. And then I was like, no, I don't. I just need to go before I decide not to do this. Um so yeah, so I was able to deal with 705. That was like a huge milestone for me, just in my brain. Uh, because I just I knew I could do it once I dealt with the 600, I knew I could do it. I just severely underestimated how long it would take, and therefore, I strongly overestimated my capabilities when I first started that journey, which led to a lot of injuries. Um, if I had just kind of stuck with it at a normal rate, I probably would have dealt with the 700 a few years ago. But here we are. Um live and learn. Um, but yeah, that was a pretty cool milestone to hit. Um and to hit it on the platform was pretty fantastic as well. Well, I hit it in the gym, but to you know, secure the 705, which is well, you hit 700 in the gym and then 705 on the platform. 705 on the platform. So to secure that was pretty awesome. And I had room in the tank, probably good for the 716, but wanted to make sure I I got it actually like logged in the record books uh for for me. So so yeah, that was pretty big and pretty exciting. Um, and I'm excited to kind of push on from that. I 700 was a big block in my brain, and now that I've done it, I'm like, okay, I think I can do more than this. So cool, cool. We're gonna find out. Uh, but I'm very confident with Liz's mind and my uh craziness. I can combine those two into as close to 800, if not 800, uh pound deadlift. I think my goal for that is like a few years, much more realistic than before. Um not like by next year. No. But I actually think I could do that. Um I just need to keep stacking these wins. I think it'd be pretty cool to do. Um, but for now, my next goal since that meet is done, is we're doing a big nationals team, which I don't think we've really talked about. So we'll talk a little bit about that. Uh, we're doing that, and that is May 17th on my birthday.

SPEAKER_01: 6:38

It's the 16th and 17th.

SPEAKER_02: 6:40

And 17th, excuse me. And my goal for that is to total the 1700. So that's gonna be my goal for that, and of course, as much on that deadlift as possible. But my goal for that will be hitting the 1700, and let that be a lesson to you guys listening, is powerlifting space. Like I said, technically my goal was to do the 1700 this year, which I didn't do, but I still was able to achieve another pretty huge meaningful goal. And the lesson is sometimes you have to change your goals, and it's not like you're failing, you just sometimes change sometimes you do fail, but other times you just gotta change your goals to adapt to the situation in life that you know, whatever you have going on before you. Um, otherwise you are setting yourself up for failure.

SPEAKER_01: 7:23

Um so yeah, well, and also injury like with that though, making sure kind of like you said, it's realistic and you do the correct path to get there.

SPEAKER_02: 7:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 7:33

Not the correct path.

SPEAKER_02: 7:36

Yeah, and you want to work with your coach, um, if you're one of our athletes, of course, or whatever, uh, but you want to work with somebody so you can kind of bounce off ideas off them and they can kind of give you maybe their input on what's realistic and what's not. Otherwise, you're gonna end up probably injured or not hitting your goal, or you might hit your goal, but um, it's usually a lot safer sounder way to you know communicate with your coach or somebody that you trust and try and work out a plan that makes sense and that gets you to where you want to go without you know injury or you know, avoiding that as much as possible.

SPEAKER_00: 8:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 8:18

So, anyways, nationals next year. Yeah, nationals. Let's talk a little bit about that. This is Liz's idea anyway, so she can talk about it. So, how do we arrive at Nationals 2025? What wait, 2026? Yep.

SPEAKER_01: 8:30

I just thought it would be cool to do like a bigger meet with like a bunch of people from the team who all wanted to do something. Um, so I just thought that that would be a fun thing to do, and we had some interest in it. So then because the world of powerlifting has so many different federations, we had to weigh out some pros and cons of the different federations and which one made the most sense for us as well as for our team, as well as for just like life basically. Yeah, and um PLU, so powerlifting united nationals is the one that we ended with. It is in San Antonio, Texas, May 16th and 17th of uh next year. Um, and I think we have about 15-ish people. So some have our like actually committed and signed up. I think we're about like I don't know, maybe eight to ten people from our team have like actually signed up already. And then I think there's another like five to eight people who have told me they're going to sign up or still need to qualify so they can sign up. Um because you obviously have to qualify for nationals, right?

SPEAKER_02: 9:48

Um, so and you have to do that at a PLU meet.

SPEAKER_01: 9:51

Yes, I have it all written down somewhere, those are just numbers off the top of my head.

SPEAKER_02: 9:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 9:56

Um But either way, we've got a really big group of people going. Um and we are both also competing, so it will be a different uh different day than it usually is. But I think what's going to help and what will actually make it like still run really smoothly, just like our meets usually do when we're coaching, is because it is two days and because we have such a big team of people there, basically the people who are not competing on one day will be helping out on the other day, and vice versa. Um I have every intention that the two of us will be competing on different days. I mean, I don't know, they haven't announced it yet, but pretty much any way that I can like see this being broken down, we would be on different days.

SPEAKER_02: 10:40

Yeah, if not, I'll go up to 242. But I'll just weigh in at 221.

SPEAKER_01: 10:45

Yeah, so I don't really know exactly like the breakdown of it yet because they said they're not gonna post how it's broken down until either one month before the meet or the meet fills up, which it's a little over halfway full right now.

SPEAKER_02: 11:00

Whichever happens first.

SPEAKER_01: 11:00

But yeah, whichever happens first.

SPEAKER_02: 11:02

Um TVD on that, but we'll figure it out.

SPEAKER_01: 11:05

But either way, and I know like we're basic so basically like going into this, like we're gonna have like some team meetings, some team, maybe some tree team training days, so everyone can come like train together. Um, we're gonna make sure we have a really good solid plan, which I'm really good at coming up with. Um, going into the meat to make sure it runs super smoothly for everyone that day. Um and that everyone, including us, can lift as well as like make sure they're you know ready to go for the whatever.

SPEAKER_02: 11:37

For the meat?

SPEAKER_01: 11:38

For the meat, that's what it's called. Uh for that.

SPEAKER_02: 11:40

The competition. Yeah. Yeah. So uh I agree. Like Liz Liz is super good at planning, and I have uh full faith that between her and myself and our team that we'll be able to execute this plan and make sure everyone is doing good, but it will definitely need a plan. Uh, you know, some meets need more planning than others, this will definitely need a little bit more, especially because we are competing in it as well, which we have not done in a long, long time.

SPEAKER_01: 12:04

Not both of us.

SPEAKER_02: 12:05

Uh yeah, we've done that. Which is why it works.

SPEAKER_01: 12:08

Like we've done it with one of us competing. So in my brain, it's kind of like one of us. It's just two days of it, like back to back. So, and in theory, probably I will be lifting on the first day, which is way better for both of us because then I get to lift on my birthday. Yeah, but also you can handle uh doing more things the day before you compete than I can.

SPEAKER_02: 12:30

Yeah. This is true.

SPEAKER_01: 12:32

Just mentally, the mental stimulation would probably take me out.

SPEAKER_02: 12:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 12:38

But we'll see.

SPEAKER_02: 12:39

Either way, we'll be good, and we're pretty excited for that. That's gonna be that's somebody asked me what is like my goal for Fortis or whatever. That's definitely one of the bigger goals, make sure that goes smooth for our piloting side of things. Uh, of course, we have different aspects of the gym, our general fitness and personal training, but for the powering side, that's definitely the biggest goal of 2026. Make sure that goes well. Um, and you know, have a good, successful nationals appearance. We've never really pushed for that before. Um, our team's also never really been this big, so we just didn't really have as many people as we do now.

SPEAKER_01: 13:12

Um and there wasn't really an interest for it either. Like of the people that we did have, no one was really interested in doing that. So I feel like this is kind of like a new thing that a lot of people are more interested in. So figured we take advantage of it and have some fun.

SPEAKER_02: 13:27

Exactly. Um, so yeah, so that's gonna be my next meet. That's Liz's next meet. That is May 16th and 17th, 2026. So we got some time to prep, add some pounds onto the total, some pounds on the individual lifts. Um, maybe hew up some nagging things, figure out how to deadlift again. Yep. Yep. Um my shoulder needs to cooperate, but you know.

SPEAKER_01: 13:51

Um life of a power lifter.

SPEAKER_02: 13:53

Yeah, we got plenty of time. Um, and we are excited to prep with that or prep with our team for that in 2026. Uh so anyway, so yeah, there's that uh coming up, and with that, yeah, because we kind of said what we did the past couple months. Um so with that, we're gonna talk about 2026 because and kind of like New Year's, which we've done a podcast on New Year's for I guess. I started this podcast in 2020, so I guess this is our fifth one. Yep. Of doing uh maybe like New Year's podcast. No, I've done one every year for sure. Okay. Um you can go back and check the records. We have over 200 episodes now. Um, and you know, I I just think like as we approach the new year, I have probably said something similar over the past few years, but as we approach the new year, like a lot of people like hate on New Year's resolutions. I don't think they're bad, I think they're good. There's literally only good that can come from them. Um I guess if you create crazy like goals that are you know impossible, then maybe you'll feel like a failure. But if you create reasonable goals for yourself, um, even if you accomplish 70, 80 percent of them, you're still gonna be in a better spot than if you create no goals at all. Honestly, even if you accomplish 10, 20% of them, you're gonna be in a better spot. So as far as New Year's, I I do think that it's important to kind of sit down. Um, this podcast will be going live a couple days before New Year's, so now would be a perfect time. Use this as your reminder to sit down wherever you are, work on the way to work, home, at the gym. Some people listen to podcasts when they train. You know this?

SPEAKER_00: 15:30

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02: 15:31

I cannot do that. There's no way. Could you do that?

SPEAKER_01: 15:35

Um, probably not for like the main lifts, but like accessories and stuff. I could.

SPEAKER_02: 15:39

Just listening to a podcast while you train?

SPEAKER_01: 15:41

I mean, I've listened to books before. Same kind of concept. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02: 15:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 15:45

Well not like heavy lifting. Like, not like the Yeah. Not like my main lift every day.

SPEAKER_02: 15:51

Walking around, podcasts.

SPEAKER_01: 15:53

Yeah, sometimes when there's no one at the gym, I like listen to books while I lift if I'm by myself. Or I've put podcasts on before, too.

SPEAKER_02: 16:01

Okay.

unknown: 16:01

Yep.

SPEAKER_02: 16:02

So, anyways, if you're listening to this while you're lifting, whatever you're doing, um, take a second. This is your this is your sign. Take a second and come up with some goals for yourself for 2026. Trust me, it's a great exercise. I like to start with three. Uh, that's what I've used over the years for my personal training clients. I like to start everyone out uh with what are three goals that you have for yourself. And really, they can be any goals. Uh, of course, you know, we're talking about fitness and powerlifting and the gym, but really it can be any goals. Um, I think that's a little bit easier for people to create three goals than just like one set topic. So I strongly recommend you take a step back, create three goals that you can work towards in 2026, and then get started on them. You can get started on uh on 2026, like Jan 1, you can just start today. Uh whatever works best for you. There's no you can start Jan 5. That's fine. That's a Monday. You know, like that's there's no no problem with that. Um, but I do recommend you do that. I think it's very important, and I think I personally have seen benefits, huge benefits from that over the years. Um, and I think you could as well.

SPEAKER_01: 17:10

I think like with that, like one like writing them down and like coming up with them is a good idea, but then like if you do have like a really big goal or a little more like a not abstract, but like kind of more like an out there goal. Yeah. They're like figuring out like how to break it down so you can focus on like little bits of like how to get there. Yeah, but like something that would be like by the end of the year. Your goal is like to do that by nationals. So like it's my goal for my oh well no, you that's just a you gotta do it everyday thing. But like for the people who like because I know New Year's like a big is a big like weight loss. People want to lose like 50 pounds, people want to lose 40 pounds, 20 pounds, whatever, but obviously you're not gonna do that in like a month. And like what? Oh crazy. So like if your goal by the end of the year is to lose 50 pounds, like you need a first goal to like help keep you like on the way. Again, I just chose weight loss because I know that's a big one with New Year's. Obviously, there's many other things you can have goals for, but like coming up with like a plan, first of all, of like how to get there is obviously kind of important because you can uh want something to happen and you can have a goal, but like without a plan, you're just like I don't know. I think I saw some quote the other day that said uh something about like goals or like ideas without action is just daydreaming. I saw that in someone's story. Um I actually really liked that. But so basically, like just coming up with like these goals or like these things that you want to accomplish, like that's awesome, but how are you gonna do it? So, like writing the goals down, I do think that's important. And if you already know how you're going to do it, like that's great. Like, whatever. If you know it. If you know how to do it, you just have to actually do it and like take the action to do it. But if you don't know how to get there, then you need to start like figuring out one, a plan of how you're going to do it, which that might involve recruiting some other people's assistance or finding out, like finding different tools or different strategies to accomplish it. And then also, which I do think, especially if it's a really big goal, is breaking it apart into smaller pieces. Because if your goal is to lose 50 pounds, you first need to lose five pounds. Then once you lose five, it can be ten. Maybe then you lose ten, then it can be twenty. But rather than like, oh, I gotta lose fifty pounds, gotta lose fifty pounds, but that's gonna take you probably most of the year, like depending on the person, obviously. But that'll probably take you most of the year. So having little successes along the way, little goals along the way, um just kind of helps keep you more on track. To hitting the super big goal that you have for yourself.

SPEAKER_02: 20:04

Yeah, no, I agree a hundred percent. Um, because that like far too often people do come up with gigantic goals and then they have like, all right, how are you gonna do that? And then it's like uh like they just blank stare.

SPEAKER_01: 20:15

Big goals are cool.

SPEAKER_02: 20:16

Which yeah, exactly. Big goals are cool, but they have to comprise of other smaller goals, or you you're just not gonna hit it. Like you're just not gonna hit giant goals on accident. You might hit some goals on accident, but you will not hit like giant life-changing goals just on accident, just doing nothing.

SPEAKER_01: 20:32

And like you don't necessarily have to have smaller goals. Like, if you're uh the person that can get a plan and stick with a plan to hit that giant goal, that's fine. Yeah, well, yeah, but you don't need to have like you don't have to have small goals along the way.

SPEAKER_02: 20:44

Yeah, but what I'm saying is technically what you're saying, like you don't have to have small goals, but they're sticking to a plan. The plan is the small goals. Yeah, like to accomplish something big, you will have to do some sort of something consistently, whether it be daily, every other day, something like this. Um, and whether whether or not you classify it as a goal, like you might just be like, oh, I'm just doing it, but it's like, okay, but you're you know getting that done every day, that's a goal. Um, and I do think to Liz's point, I do think that it can be a little bit more motivating for somebody. Maybe if you are new to setting goals or you are new to fitness or powerlifting or whatever, and you're like, oh, like this is something else I hear in the gym all the time. Oh, I want to total this, I want to total that, I want to total this. And it's like, all right, how are we gonna do that? I'm just I'm gonna do it. Okay. Okay. Um, you know, it's there's three lifts in powerlifting, those three lifts equal your total. That's probably a good place to start. Uh, you know, if you want to have a giant total goal, that's fine. Um, you know, whether it be a thousand, you want to total two thousand, fifteen hundred, five hundred, two hundred, whatever. Um, whatever that total goal is, you need to figure out a way about how you're going to hit that because at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_01: 21:51

I will say with that, like you can have like a plan because like I've had a plan of how I'm gonna total a thousand pounds for a long time now. Yeah. That seems to always Well, you've already done it. I mean, I have done it, but like how to do it again because whatever we went through we went through life for a few years there. Yeah, but we're back now. Um, but like I've had these numbers like in my head of like how I'm gonna get it, which has always been 363, 198, 440. But currently my brain is adjusting those numbers to like numbers that make more sense to like where I'm at to get that, which is yeah, my point is like you like come up with a plan, but then like as you get closer, as you go through training, like your numbers might adjust one way or the other. Don't be so set on like I have to do this to total what I want to total. Yeah, um, that you're not willing to be like, oh, actually my squats looking really good right now, so maybe we can put more on that. And I've forgotten how to deadlift, so I just need to deadlift less and squat more, and then we can still achieve the goal.

SPEAKER_00: 22:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 22:55

That's just my point. Like, be f like set the goals, break them down, but also be flexible in your like Yeah, in your like numbers like how you're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_02: 23:04

But I just think like a lot of people don't even do that. Yeah, you're at a different level of powerlifting.

SPEAKER_01: 23:10

No, I know.

SPEAKER_02: 23:10

I'm just saying most people do not even do that.

SPEAKER_01: 23:12

No, but my brain was so set on like those were the numbers that I like needed to hit that I like couldn't fathom like anything else. So that's just my point is like you can set them, but then also you still need to be able to like needed.

SPEAKER_02: 23:31

Um but yeah, you need to, if you're going to set a total goal in powerlifting, you need to break that down into something realistic for you, not your friend, not your coach, for you.

SPEAKER_01: 23:40

And also not just what you want.

SPEAKER_02: 23:42

And yeah, exactly. Not that you not just what you want. Because, like, uh, and I mean, just like Liz said, like, my goals have changed. Like, I thought I was gonna hit 1700 one way, and now it is very clear that I'm gonna hit it a different way, which is fine. Um, that's just how that is. Um, but having those goals, that smaller goal, uh, so you can break it down, is much better than just like I want to add 100 pounds to my total in a year. That's a lot, you know. Um, and I think that's important for powerlifting, um, important for weight loss. If you have more of like an aesthetic goal or you want to look a certain way, pictures are gonna be part of your life. You're gonna have to start taking pictures if you're like, I hate pictures, but you're like, I want to look this way. You're probably gonna have to get over the picture thing. Uh, you might, you know, you can just keep them to yourself. You don't need to post them uh if you don't want to. But I would say if you have a certain goal and you're like, I want to look a certain way, I want to fit in these clothes this certain way, then pictures are a really good way to help get you there. Uh, because they are a physical snapshot of time and you at that time, and you can go back to it and reference it. Um, and over time, you know, at first you might be like, I'm just taking these pictures, I look the same, like nothing's happening, this is stupid. But over time, you will, you know, adjust as you adjust your workout, your diet, your sleep, things like this, and your physique begins to improve, you're gonna be able to notice it. Versus like myself, I haven't taken like a true progress picture, or not like you know, a consistent one in forever. So, like, I don't know. Like, I might look really lean one day, I might look really poofy the other day. It just depends. So, taking photos would be a good idea for you. So, that kind of covers all three main things of probably listeners of this podcast, whether you're a powerlifter, trying to lose some weight, or you want to look a certain way. Uh, and of course, gaining weight would just be the opposite of losing weight. So, you just do the same thing. So the same thing. Yeah, same thing, but reverse. Um, but yeah, so, anyways, like I said, take this as a sign to set aside a quick five minutes, ten minutes, and come up with some goals. You can always like change, alter them, like Liz said, but just actually writing them down or putting them in your phone is important. Do not come up with them in your head. That is not that's like that is literal daydreaming. So write them down or put them on your phone so they're in real life somewhere. Um, otherwise, like Liz said, you're just daydreaming and that's not like a real goal. Um, I guess if you're listening to a podcast while you're working out, maybe you have to keep it in your head for now. But uh, anyways, you get my point. Put it on something real so that way it is a real thing. Uh that's step one of making your dreams a reality.

SPEAKER_00: 26:18

There you go.

SPEAKER_02: 26:19

That's what I've done. Um speaking of that, we're gonna wrap up uh well, no, I forgot before we get to our things. What's one tip that you have for somebody that maybe is like starting out on any one of those things that we said, and they're starting out the new year, and maybe they got some haters, some people like, oh, you're not gonna New Year's Lucian's stupid, I don't know. Uh or maybe they just don't believe in themselves, like they're like, I've made this goal many times. What am I gonna do? Like, I can't hit this goal. Uh what would be like one piece of advice you give to somebody?

SPEAKER_01: 26:57

Um I would say I guess like don't worry about being perfect with it, especially at first. Like, do what you can do to like build up the consistency. Like, because if your goal is obviously like crazy big, because I see this happens a lot. Like, someone will miss like one day, they'll go out to eat, and then they're like, Well, I ruined that, and then they're like, that goal doesn't matter, all because they went out to eat and got like pizza and drinks with their friends, like one night. They're like, Oh, well, I guess I can't lose 50 pounds now because I ate pizza. Like, I don't know. I guess my thought is like, don't let one off day or one off meal or one off workout or one off like progress picture check-in thing, like totally derail you from like continuing to reach your goals because it's the consistency that matters, like throughout the year, not just like the perfection of like every single day.

SPEAKER_02: 27:57

That's a pretty good answer.

SPEAKER_01: 27:59

Thanks.

SPEAKER_02: 27:59

That's a pretty good answer. Um, yeah, that's that's pretty good. Uh just because I'm pretty smart, guys. Yeah, it's true. Like, I mean, it's very easy to get caught up in like, oh, like the failure, you know, that's just like how humans are wired. Like, you're like, oh, I failed, I did this, but it's like, yeah, but what did you do before that? And at the end of the day, you know, what Liz said is a really good point because we're all human. So like that's something especially powerless like to forget. Uh, we're not robots, we are human beings, and every day is different. Um you know, you just never know how your life is gonna go. Uh so giving yourself a little bit of grace, if you do mess up or miss a day, it's not really messing up, it's just part of the process. Um I I've been tracking my food consistently for well over a decade now. Are there days when I like didn't track anything and just eat whatever? Yep. Do I even like remember those or consider them mess-ups at all? Nope. Um, it's just part of the process. Uh, there's gonna be certain days where you're not 100%. So that's really good advice. Um my advice is a lot um simpler than Liz's, but hopefully still helpful, and that is to take action. Um, there's so many people that can come up with goals. I mean, some people don't come up with goals at all, but like a lot of people can come up with goals, a lot of people can have plans, but they are, like Liz said, just daydreams. They're not actually doing it in real life. Um, and my encouragement or my word of encouragement would just be to take action in no matter like what capacity you can take at that time, that's fine. So, like whether that means something is better than nothing. Exactly, something is better than nothing. I don't care if you're moving a millimeter forward, a foot forward, a yard forward, a mile forward, doesn't matter. As long as you're moving forward, that is the goal. Um, and that is the thing, is that I just think a lot of people get stuck in that and they're like, all right, I got, and especially now that Chat GPT exists, oh boy, like I got this awesome plan sent down from the ChatGPT gods, here we go. Uh, and then you're like, oh no, wait, how do I do it again? And you don't, and it's like you get caught in this loop, and you're just maybe you're talking to ChatGPT, you're talking to your friends, whoever, and you're not really actually doing something, you need to do something. Uh, because action is what is going to create progress. Progress is gonna create momentum, momentum is gonna create growth.

SPEAKER_01: 30:20

All right.

SPEAKER_02: 30:20

This is all I got.

SPEAKER_01: 30:22

Nice.

SPEAKER_02: 30:23

Uh, so hopefully those two sentiments help you guys. Um, of course, if you have like specific questions or things like that, feel free to reach out to us. We're pretty active on Instagram. Um, and we'd love to you know chat with you and help you find a path towards your goals. Uh speaking of, now we'll talk about our goals. Which I guess I'll start with.

SPEAKER_01: 30:47

What are your goals?

SPEAKER_02: 30:48

I have three main goals in 2026. Number one is to go on a trip with my wife, that's Liz. Co-host of this podcast.

SPEAKER_00: 30:58

I don't see any matching.

SPEAKER_02: 30:59

Siri, what in the world? Siri interrupting me. Um anyways, my number one goal is to go on a trip uh for our 10-year anniversary. So in 2026, Liz and I have been we'll have been married for 10 years. Whoa. Which is pretty cool. Um that's October 9th, but you know, sometime in 2026.

SPEAKER_01: 31:25

We'll take a trip.

SPEAKER_02: 31:25

We'll take a trip. It just kind of depends on work and whatnot, but that's that's my goal. Sometime in the latter half of 2026, take a goal, take a goal, take a trip with Liz somewhere. Um and kind of like Liz said about the other goals, I don't really have crazy I don't really care where we go. I just want to take a trip together somewhere, and that is a goal that we set out for ourselves, and that's what I want to do. So that's number one goal. Number two goal is to uh total 1700 and nationals. Um like my personal fitness goal, powerlessing goal, whatever. Um, and then kind of back burner of that goal, or you know, a little thing underneath, would just be to get as close to 800 as possible. Um really, but like Liz said, like you gotta have smaller goals first. So the the first kind of big small goal is I want to load it's a green, so it's six red green, um, which is seven fifty. So I would like to hit that ideally sometime in 2026, um, or as close to it as possible. But I do want to try and chase down 800, so that's kind of my second goal. Total 1700, chase down 800, work towards that. Uh, that's gonna be like my power thing, and then my business goal is a massive one. So, of course, I'm gonna keep doing what I'm already doing at Forest Fitness Studio and online and continuing to grow our uh brand and continuing to help people redefine strong. But in 2026, my big gigantic goal as of right this second, which I'm about 99% sure that I'm gonna do, I guess stay tuned January 1st to see if I'm gonna do it, but uh, is to post a video every single day from Fortis um Instagram and or YouTube. So I'm gonna post on Instagram and YouTube only. Um, there'll be a variety of different videos. It's gonna be off the top of my head right now. My plan is kind of like some instructional videos, um, some like inspirational videos if we have like different like client stories, things like this. Um, but mainly focusing on like kind of educational content, quicker content, some like quick tips, as simple as like how to put knee sleeves on correctly, uh, because that is a thing, the power thing sphere, or as complex as like how to layer your squats in your program so that way you're not over fatigued for your deadlifts, things like this. Um, so that's kind of like my main goal is more like educational content, which leads me to uh this is not really a goal, but this is just something that's gonna be happening. So we're gonna switch a little bit the podcast into more of like a uh video format. So that's gonna be one of the videos, and we're gonna film that on Saturdays that we're basically here. So that's gonna be when that's being filmed. So as far as like the frequency of the podcast going forward, because I think we probably talked about that a little bit. Um, but this is just giving Liz more time to think of her goals. So she's gonna have some amazing goals here shortly. Uh, but anyways, uh as far as the frequency of the podcast, basically we'll we'll try and record one every Saturday as long as we're not traveling. Um, so you know there may be gaps here and there in between, but it'll be pretty consistent on Saturdays. Uh, and then we'll post it on Mondays, like we've been doing, so that way you can start your week with us. So that'll be one of the videos. I'm going educational. Um, I'm gonna share some client stories. There'll be some Toby videos in there as well. But yes, that is my big goal for like our business and for continuing to grow is to post a video every single day in 2026. That's 365 videos. Uh, so if you're not already following us on Instagram or on YouTube, then make sure you guys join. Give us a follow, give us a comment, and get ready for some cool videos. So those would be my three goals. I unfortunately scared Toby in talking about my goals.

SPEAKER_01: 35:21

He smacked the couch and it scared him.

SPEAKER_02: 35:24

But it's okay. But, anyways, so those are my three goals. Liz, I don't know if she'll have three goals, but this is the problem.

SPEAKER_01: 35:31

I haven't thought about any goals yet.

SPEAKER_02: 35:33

All right.

SPEAKER_01: 35:34

The only goal I have really that I've come up with so far is for nationals.

SPEAKER_02: 35:39

Okay, what is that?

SPEAKER_01: 35:40

Um, well, it's like a multi-layer goal, but the first one is to finally put together the thousand-pound total again, because it's all there, but it's not been put together yet. So that I would say is kind of the first goal is to put that together again. Um, second and also have fun doing it because that just has to remain important for me.

SPEAKER_02: 36:07

It's Toby's turn. Okay, back to you.

SPEAKER_01: 36:14

Those are some big goals, Toby. Some big goals out here. Um and then of course, have fun doing it because again, that was something that I've struggled with for the past several years. Um, so that's number one.

SPEAKER_02: 36:32

So a total of a thousand, have fun.

SPEAKER_01: 36:34

Yeah, so those are kind of like go hand in hand. Goal number two would be to PR something, anything, one thing.

SPEAKER_02: 36:45

Um, that's a that's a secret about elite power thing, they don't tell you. Once you get into that upper echelon of your strength levels, it takes a while to PR. Sometimes it can be years.

SPEAKER_01: 36:56

Well, yes, especially when you have like a full mental breakdown essentially in between them. So that's fun. Um so I fun fact have not hit an actual like one rep max PR since 2022.

SPEAKER_00: 37:16

For in the gym, I think or in the like period.

SPEAKER_01: 37:19

Like, period. No, all my all my maxes have been on the platform, but I also have not hit them uh.

SPEAKER_02: 37:27

Which is the closest right now?

SPEAKER_01: 37:30

Uh that's a great question. Not deadlift, not deadlift, either squat or bench. So both of those are super close, I would say. Um I would agree. To potentially being lined up for PR, just depending on how the next few months go. Um and then yeah, so that's kind of goal number two, and then goal number three is to get back to as close to a 500 dots as possible again.

SPEAKER_00: 37:58

Nice.

SPEAKER_01: 37:59

But that would be if like everything goes perfectly according to plan in training and on the day of, and with a weight cut and with everything.

SPEAKER_02: 38:09

Yeah, a lot of variables are good.

SPEAKER_01: 38:11

So that one has a lot of variables, so that's my my stretch goal. Um But it's good to have. Good to have. Yeah, so that's kind of one of those like if everything else is going as it should be in training and on the day, we'll probably try and push for that. I would say basically on like the third deadlift would maybe allow that to happen. But I don't know. Sounds good. The first two I would say are a little more realistic. The third one is definitely more of a stretch. Um, but I haven't really thought about 2026. I just have thought about those goals because I came up with those when I like signed up for nationals.

SPEAKER_02: 38:46

That's true. Sounds like a plan. And it's three goals anyway, so that works. Three and one. Yeah, three and one goals.

SPEAKER_01: 38:53

Maybe I'll have some other goals by next week when we talk.

SPEAKER_02: 38:55

Yeah, and I think also it's nice because like your goals, like if you accomplish the first two, you will accomplish the third, or you'll be as close as possible to accomplish the first thing. As close as possible, yeah. If you accomplish the first, you'll be as close as possible to accomplishing the second.

SPEAKER_01: 39:08

Yeah, they all build on the other. So they all build together.

SPEAKER_02: 39:10

It's not a because like I think that's one thing. Just uh you said three and one, and it made me think about this. Like, that's one thing with goals is they should do what you just said, like it kind of should build on each other. And Toby's real excited about this goals thing. Um, but yeah, it should really build on each other. It should not be like three, like it's splitting your attention in three ways. Um, I like your goals because like in order to accomplish two, you probably have to accomplish one in order to accomplish uh whoa, I said it wrong. Whatever. Like they kind of like are in succession almost.

SPEAKER_00: 39:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 39:44

Um, and in succession of importance. It's not like your first goal, like you're like, my goal is dots five hundred, which is like everything, and it's like, well, I want to do this, this, this.

SPEAKER_01: 39:53

Yeah, but in order to dots five hundred, I would have to have to do the other two. The other two.

SPEAKER_02: 39:56

And I'm just saying, I think that's a very smart way to make yeah, basically what.

SPEAKER_01: 40:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 40:00

Uh it's a very smart way to make goals versus having that big goal be your this is my number one goal, and then hopefully I can I mean I'm gonna hit these other two. Uh so I think it's a smart way to make some goals. And that pretty much does it for this episode of the podcast. Uh, thank you guys so much for tuning in and listening. Thank you guys so much for your support over the years. This is, like I said, uh 2025, so that's closing out. Like I started the podcast in the fall time of 2020, I think, and it's been going this long. Uh, so I really do appreciate your guys' support and listening over the years. We are going to continue making awesome podcasts for you guys. Like I said, format will change just a little bit in that we'll have a video as well. So, really, that's just going to uh improve your experience as well. So, we'll have a video um and our normal like audio version. Um, and that's pretty much all I got for you guys this week.

SPEAKER_00: 40:56

Sounds good.

SPEAKER_02: 40:57

Yeah. So again, thank you guys so much for tuning in, and we'll see you guys next week on the Fortis After Hours podcast. Have a great one and have a happy new year. Peace.

SPEAKER_00: 41:07

Bye.