Congrats to Sarah and Niki for huge PRs on their Filthy 50 times yesterday! If you look really close, you’ll see that both of these ladies were at CFSQ (OG location) on June 12, 2012 knocking out Filthy 50 and documenting, documenting, documenting. Their efforts paid off and they won free shirts!
#tbt to the archives of SFC Perkins:
This week grab your workout log and take a look at how far you’ve come and where you need to go. Read page by page. There a few things that you should determine right away: 1) is the information that you write down each day complete? 2) are you writing down the right information? 3) do you have a quick reference list of strength numbers and conditioning times?
Training logs are a CrossFitter/powerlifter/weightlifter/endurance athlete’s best friend. When I decided to get serious about training and losing weight, I started a workout log. I carried it with me nearly everywhere I went. I would write down my workout ahead of time and take copious notes afterwards. I would bring my training log to work and doodle in it at meetings like I was a preteen daydreaming about my latest crush. It was a constant visual reminder of how strong I was getting which motivated me more each day. Perhaps vain, but I wanted people to notice my workout journal and ask me questions about what I was doing. The more I talked about training, the more people came to expect me to get stronger. I started priding myself in putting up bigger and bigger numbers. Moreover, I could see my weaknesses on paper. I forced myself to focus on those weaknesses as I planned my next training cycle. The training log kept me focused on what I wanted to achieve.
I have been journaling for several years now. I still go back and look through old notebooks astounded by some of the things I have accomplished. But, I also get frustrated with myself when I see major gaps in my training logs because I got lazy and stopped writing. I find spots where I forgot to write down important numbers and have to start playing a guessing game. My first goal of the New Year is to start taking better, more complete notes at the gym.
At the beginning of a training cycle start a new page. Make a list of previous PRs and a list of numbers you intend to hit at the end of the cycle. Write down the workouts in greater detail. The easy part is writing down loads, reps, sets, and times. The hard part is recognizing and acknowledging the weaknesses. Write down the corrective exercises that you need to do to gain the mobility, stability, and flexibility necessary to work overhead. Write down the external stress factors that may contribute to sub-optimal times. The more information collected the better. When it comes to training, detailed note taking is key to personal accountability. -me, Jan 2, 2013
From 40 Years of Insight, by Dan John
I have a box in my storage room that contains all my training journals. Besides sets and reps, I toss in what’s going on in my life. Often, I find long essays about the future, lists about “what works,” and funny little tidbits about my life that I would’ve quickly forgotten had I not wrote them down.
It hit me when I picked up this box the other day that I’ve been recording workouts since 1971, five years after first picking up a weight. That’s forty years! I started to think about the lessons I’ve learned and, before I knew it, I had a list of forty lessons that I had to learn the hard way.
Lesson 1: Keep a journal of some kind.
It makes me smile to see my attempt at neat handwriting in my first journal entries. The bench press workout was 85 x 8/8/4. I noted, “I was supposed to do six on the second set but it was too easy.” In the summer before my freshman year, I benched 100 pounds; my sophomore year, I benched 200 pounds; and I got 300 during my junior year in track season. I would write what I benched as a senior weighing 162 pounds, but you wouldn’t believe it.
I have a few notes about my coach’s son who came to our weight room one afternoon to see if I was “really as strong as my dad said I was.” I told him I’d already lifted and he said something that questioned my lifts. So, I put a low 300-pound lift on the bar and it went up so fast that he told me to stop. “I believe you…wow, I believe you.”
The value of a journal is seeing the progress (and the regress) of your training and training philosophy. I believe a thorough review of your old journals is probably as good as a training session.
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It should be evident that no matter where you are along your health and fitness journey, that writing it all down is just as important as doing the work. I LOVE this about our gym (and don’t see or hear about it at other gyms). Try not to miss any days (Clark). No matter how tired or rushed you are…Write it down!
REMINDER: TOMORROW 6AM & 630PM CLASSES ONLY
Warmup
Dynamic Athletic Movement
3 Sets
10 Downdog Push-ups
10 Kettlebell Swings
Conditioning
“Hammer”
Levels 3/4
5 Rounds, each one AFAP:
5 Power Cleans
10 Front Squats
5 Jerks
20 Pull-ups
Rest 90 seconds
L4 – 135/95
L3 – 105/65
Levels 0-2
5 Rounds, NOT for time:
5 Kettlebell Cleans
10 Kettlebell Front Squats
5 Kettlebell Push Presses
10 Pull-ups
L2 – Double Kb Complex
L0/1 – Single Kb if necessary (5 reps per side), ring rows