Episode 37: Keep Your Goals Going

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• Joe Gambino
• Joe LaVacca

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Summary
In this episode of the Beyond Pain podcast, hosts Joe Gambino and Dr. Joe LaVacca discuss the importance of goal setting, especially as the new year approaches. They explore strategies for effective goal achievement, emphasizing the need for breaking down larger goals into smaller, manageable steps. The conversation also highlights the significance of accountability and personal experiences in reaching fitness and health goals, providing listeners with practical advice to stay motivated and on track throughout the year.

 Takeaways
Goal setting is crucial for maintaining motivation and focus.

Breaking down goals into smaller, manageable steps is effective.

Accountability can significantly enhance goal achievement.

Setting specific times for workouts helps in commitment.

Creating a supportive environment is key to success.

Using analogies, like chess, can simplify the goal-setting process.

Tracking progress can boost motivation and confidence.

Involving friends or family can provide additional support.

Having a clear plan is essential for success in the gym.

Reflecting on personal experiences can guide future goal setting.

Chapters

• 0:00 Goal Setting and Tactics for Success
• 8:09 Building Momentum Through Achievements

Transcript

Joe Gambino (00:00.716)
Welcome back into the Beyond Pain podcast. I am one of your hosts Joe Gambino and I am here with the incredible Dr. Joe LaVacca

Yeah, I got myself on that one. Yeah. Yeah, right. Like, I was like, wow, this is

Joe LaVa (00:15.204)
nice one. That was even you as you were saying it you were like a little like you know a little little vomit came up.

Joe Gambino (00:24.214)
Yeah, no, no, no, definitely not. Definitely not. I meant every word of a gel. You can find us on social media. Instagram is where we're most active. I'm at Joe Gambino DPT and the walk over there is Ash rent the motion underscore PT. This podcast is also on Instagram. They beyond paying podcast. Actually, it's just beyond paying podcast. And you can also find it on YouTube if you want to look at our we want to call them beautiful mugs, ugly mugs. Maybe we're somewhere in between. I think somewhere in between, at least for me, you got the beautiful mug.

There a nice beard line looking good on you You can find us on YouTube as well at cups of Joe underscore P T Now we're talking about goals today. I think this is a good one I mean this this episode will be launched I think just after the new year So as everyone's all excited to reach their goals their fitness and health goals this year. I think this will be a really nice one

Joe LaVa (00:54.884)
Hmm.

Joe LaVa (00:58.562)
the camera.

Joe LaVa (01:05.422)
Yes, sir.

Joe LaVa (01:13.142)
Yes, sir.

Joe Gambino (01:19.596)
I always like to kind of rehash these things because I goal setting is incredibly important and hopefully keeps people on track and not fall off the wagon. So you did mention this, this analogy right before we hopped on. think it will be perfect because as people are super excited with new year's resolutions going on, you could either use the analogy or you can talk about it in another way. But what would you say, you know, you have someone coming in to see you or just maybe like it's a friend or family member talking to you.

What kind of advice do you have someone to make sure that they are not the person that falls off in February from their New Year's resolution high?

Joe LaVa (01:57.408)
Yeah, I think this is the time of the year where gyms really love. It's buy one, get one free memberships. It's pay upfront for 50 % off the whole year because they know people are very gung-ho. They know that they're willing to extend their wallets and their credit cards for all sorts of health benefits because it's a new year, it's new me. And I get it. I'm all for that.

And when it comes to a lot of behavior change type stuff or making big decisions, there does seem to be some connection to doing it to the first of a month, the beginning of a week, like a Monday, or at the start of a new year. So, or even like a birthday. So there's always something symbolic about milestones. And I think because of the new year, a lot of people kind of want to wash away the year that's passed and always either improve.

Joe Gambino (02:52.227)
Mm-hmm.

Joe LaVa (02:55.318)
or try to get better in some way for the year ahead. So I heard an interesting analogy about behavior from Brit Frank, and she wrote a book, it's really wonderful, called The Science of Stuck. And why we kind of are, or why some of us are good at behavior change and why some of us aren't. And she gave this really great analogy about a chessboard. And the chessboard, for those of you who play chess,

Consists of pawns and then all your rooks, kings, queens, knights in the back row. If you play chess, the only way you can move your back row is by moving your pawns first. So if you're itemizing some ideas on the things that you want to do, let's just stick with this idea of moving and maybe working out. I want to work out two days a week. All right, well, maybe step one is I have to do research

on a gym or gyms in my community. That would be a pawn. You have to take care of that one thing first before you can move on. If a gym is not for you, all right, well, I'm going to work out at home. Well, before I start looking up days of the week program, I probably need to get equipment that allows me to be successful at home. That could be another pawn. And then you can set a budget. I'm willing to spend, you

$50 on gym equipment from my home. I'm willing to spend X amount on a gym membership per month, but it's breaking things up into these tiny, tiny goals. Then the next one then becomes, well, what days of the week are going to be least sort of, I guess, deterring for me to be successful. And it doesn't matter what two days of the week they are, but it's probably going to be

very important, you put this on a calendar and or alert people in your life, whether it is a spouse, whether it is children, whether it is friends. If you have the type of flexibility at work, just sort of alert your coworkers, hey, from on Monday and Thursday at eight to eight 30, I'm probably not gonna be available unless there is an emergency.

Joe LaVa (05:23.052)
And I think if you put that out there to your spouse, your family, your friends, they know it's important. They know they could probably wait a half hour to get in touch with you. There probably isn't anything going to be that serious that comes up with the kids, you know, God willing, you know, within that half hour time period that you've carved out. But I think it starts with many goals that are the easiest things for you to do.

to then chip away at moving that back row of your chessboard, which would then be, hey, I'm actually starting my stopwatch and I'm working out. Things that also pop up a lot for people is I need actually gym clothes. That could be another pawn move, right? And it doesn't have to be something from Lululemon. It could be something from Old Navy or whatever, right? But get the mindset. Other people already have stuff in their homes, but

It's in a closet somewhere. So I've talked to a few people just in the past week. They're like, yeah, you know, I got this yoga mat. I got this. got that I got to go find it. And I'm like, great, that's going to be your homework this week. I want you to find your yoga mat. I want you to find your bands. Tell me what colors and things you have. And then I want you to just lay it out somewhere. Literally leave it out in your living room, your kitchen. Now you've set up a space. So whether or not you use that space, the space is set up.

That was another pawn move, right? And I think these are really important shifts in mindset, in environment, in even kind of social connections to bring other people involved to help you with these goals that are so often overlooked because I think people end up putting too much pressure on themselves to be successful and then stress piles up because they don't have the resources

to be successful. So branching out, change the big things, alert your community, change your environment, and then build on those little small habits or reminders that are gonna push you towards success. So that's how I would encourage most people to think about behavior change. What analogies, advice, tips will you give to your clients at the start of the new year?

Joe Gambino (07:48.056)
Yeah, I really like that. How you laid that out and just kind of like, I mean, I wouldn't say overly different. I love how you use the point analogy and brought it to like things that nobody ever thinks about is like all this shit that you need to like even just get started with the goal that you want. Like if it's your new definition, you have none of this stuff. Well, how do I have access to that stuff? But just in general, like when you're doing goals, like I will do the exact same thing as you rather you take these small goals like these pawns.

and you're gonna try to work your way, like that you're gonna use to like almost like build your way up to the big goals. But I start with the big goal and then I work backwards, right? Okay, well, if you're looking to not have pain, right? That's your goal. Well, what does that mean? Right? Like what kind of things are you not gonna have pain with? Like, some people, when I ask people these questions, they don't have answers for these things, right? Like you should have an answer on like what does pain free life look like to you, right? Is it just like, I never have pain like.

When I do anything, is it when I don't have pain when I'm just like sitting down? Is it when I go for a run or like some sort of meaningful activity, right? So when you know what kind of things you want to get to, you can start to break it down. Like, well, what do I even need to do? Like, if I want to run, but I can't walk without pain. Well, maybe the first goal needs to be like, can I walk without pain? Not can I run without pain? Right? Like, so now you can start to like break it down to these, goals that are more realistic, that makes sense. That will move you up towards the goal.

So I really liked that and I always think start with the big goal in mind and then work your way backwards until you get to a point of where you're starting from and then once you have that laid out now every time you Like reach a goal a you have a win. You're gonna feel better about it, right? It's gonna give you more momentum to continue to go You're not gonna fall off in February because instead of thinking about needing to run and you can't run February 1st because you still have pain Well, if you're like, well, you know every time I got out of my chair my knee hurt

And now it doesn't hurt when I get out of a chair. Like you've already had this like nice, wow, I'm feeling like I'm already feeling better, right? Like it's just momentum to build on. So I like that as a thought process. Another thing, there's two things that you also said that I think are vitally important. One, using a calendar. That goes just like having a plan in place. For me, if it's not on my calendar, it doesn't get done. So putting something in your calendar is...

Joe Gambino (10:08.748)
super important to like actually making sure it's important to you when things are actually, you're actually gonna do it. On that same note, write down your plan. Don't just go to the gym with nothing in mind like what days of the week are you going? It's in your calendar and plus on a piece of paper, something that you printed out, a program that you pull off the internet, whatever it is, you have that plan walking into the gym so that you can just go do it. You don't have to go in there and then have this paralysis by analysis and like, well, what do I do here?

maybe I'll do this machine. someone's on that. my God. I don't know what to do now. And then you're not going to do anything where you're just going to end up on like the treadmill walking for 20 minutes and then walking out. Right. It's especially if like you're you're not doing anything. These are kind of like, you know, at least the approach if you've been doing something already having the goals and having a plan, you know, specific to that will help you be a little bit more focused, I think, specifically on those goals is probably less of an issue of getting in the gym than it is for someone that's new. And then

Joe LaVa (10:38.894)
Yeah.

Joe Gambino (11:05.476)
This is a strength faction thing that we talked about last episode but having an accountability So they paired you with somebody in the program so that you had somebody to riff off uses motivation and if you did fall off to pull you back in and a little aside and how this worked for me is when I was working About my first him as a personal trainer the matrix which is in Queens and Astoria I don't know why at some point it was like I think I was a just just starting PT school and I was like, know what I want to

Joe LaVa (11:08.366)
Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

Joe Gambino (11:35.844)
I'm going to gain 26 pounds. I'm going to go from, don't know where it was. was like, yeah, well it to get to 185. So I guess I was like, you know, in and around 160 pounds and I was like, I'm going to get to 185 and I'm going to, was, it was January and I was like, I'm going to do it by June. So six months, I'm to put on 25 pounds. And I told everyone in my gym, I told all my coworkers and you know, I like to like,

Joe LaVa (11:39.14)
That's very specific.

Joe LaVa (11:54.126)
Yeah. Jeez.

Joe LaVa (12:00.911)
you

Joe Gambino (12:02.584)
Now shoot the shit with people. like to give them a hard time. So they all, they all give it back to me, which was perfect for this because when I told them all, if I didn't reach my goal, I was going to get a lot of shit for it. Right. So extra motivation, I'm tied to something. so it helped kind of tied me to it. It was a lot of food. I had to eat. I was like constantly full, but at the end of it, I got to one 85. The only time I've ever been up there, I was able to maintain it for a little while. I lost it when I, when I.

Joe LaVa (12:04.632)
Yeah.

Joe LaVa (12:22.692)
No.

Joe Gambino (12:29.496)
Graduated from PT school because I don't just have the time to sit in class and eat all day But yeah, I did it and I think that was a really big part of it It's like I have this plan in place. I told all these people and now I'm tied to them So having I think an accountability or somebody that you're you know, whether it's your spouse or workout workout partners are the best I think the the most fun I've ever had in a gym and when like I saw us like a Huge progress is like the first gym ever joins

We had this group of like five people that we'd always go to the gym with. So you always have somebody in there and we would always push each other, talk shit to each other, like things like that. And you just like always are working hard because you just couldn't like go to the gym that day and just be like, you know, I'm going to just like not really do anything today. Like now that somebody in there is going to be like, now you're, you need to, you need to get on it. Right. So there's really something to say if you can find like it's really hard to find, like especially now I'm working at my gym.

Joe LaVa (13:17.752)
Yep.

Joe Gambino (13:25.592)
You can find a good workout partner. It's like an invaluable asset to like actually moving towards your goals. So I put a high priority in that one. Put in a calendar, have a plan, get somebody to attach this to to hold you accountable and then just make sure you have some goals and just start from the big goal, work your way back and then get as granular as like what do you need to get started? I think if you could do that, you're going to be in the 1 % of people that are trying to get into their health and actually reach a goal this year.

Joe LaVa (13:33.186)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Joe LaVa (13:55.096)
Right, right, absolutely man. Couldn't have said it better.

Joe Gambino (13:58.914)
Yeah, anything else? I don't know where else you want to go with this.

Joe LaVa (14:02.604)
No, think that wraps it up nicely. think we can always come back and maybe revisit this come February and check in on how people are doing. I gotta say, man, of all the things you highlighted there, I was blown away that you gained that much weight in six months. I I've been trying to put on two pounds of body mass over the last three years and I'm just like, I can't do it.

Joe Gambino (14:18.276)
Yes, it was.

Joe Gambino (14:26.166)
It's much slower these days for me. went, was at a one point cause there's a lot of slacking in most recent recent times. I've been really, really good this year. went from like one 55 and I think I'm somewhere in like a one 60 or one 67 and I've kind of stalled here. So, I mean, really it just comes down to just like prioritizing and eating more. So I think my goal by end of this year or maybe by summer, I'll do it and I'll have, maybe I'll have the podcast to hold me accountable for it.

Joe LaVa (14:54.414)
There we go. Okay.

Joe Gambino (14:54.504)
Is 175 by summer. So maybe another eight or so pounds on top Will be it'll be nice. I don't know if I need to be 175 but yeah, it's realistic I say anywhere between 170 and 175 I'd be I'd be happy means that some more size is coming on which I haven't really prioritized in a while, but for whatever reason We're here. So be the alpha data in the community

Joe LaVa (14:59.342)
Alright.

175 by summer. Count them on, you could do that.

Joe LaVa (15:17.262)
Okay. I love it. I love it. Well, if you're not gonna be the alpha, what's the point? All right, well if...

Joe Gambino (15:23.164)
Exactly, right? All right, maybe what we'll do Joe is, cause I've already done most of my goal setting for this year, but you should, if you haven't done yours, do yours and maybe we'll share our goals at the top of an episode or do a whole episode. Maybe that's one episode we'll do.

Joe LaVa (15:39.83)
a self-reflection episode. All right, I like it. I look forward to that one. All right. All right, well, Joe, as always, I love you. Thank you for your time today. Listeners, we love you. Thank you for your time. And don't forget to come back next week for another exciting episode of the Beyond Pain podcast.

Joe Gambino (15:41.55)
Mm-hmm.

All right, well, take us home then if there's nothing else.