Tracking Workouts with Purpose

By now, we should all know that tracking dietary macros and calories is essential. 

Doing so is fundamental to the success of bodybuilders, fitness competitors, and everyday gym-goers striving to transform their bodies.

Tracking workouts is just as important.

As such, I want to provide a summary of some things we should pay attention to when tracking our workouts.

For some reason, most of us do not track our workouts with the same level of care as we do when tracking our nutrition.

Instead of moving through and tracking our workouts with purpose and intent, the majority of us run through our training programs as though we were checking off a shopping list.

More Than Just Running Through a List of Exercises

Along with the ever-important mind-muscle connection element, a few other aspects of training require our attention as well.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself about how you interact with your training program.

  ü  What is your long-term program strategy designed to accomplish? 

  ü  What is the specific goal of your current training routine within the bigger picture?

  ü  Are you mindful of the routines directives as you go through your daily workouts?

  ü  Are you keeping track of your general performance relative to the specific directives of your current training campaign?

 

I do not suggest going overboard with all this.  We have enough on our plates without getting OCD about journaling every set and rep we perform.

Having said that, what I am suggesting is to be mindful of and to focus intently upon the current objectives each training session demands.

 

Progressive Overload

One example of what to be mindful of in our overall training strategy is where we are within the progressive overload process.

Progressive overload is the process by which we impose increasing demands on performance over time.

In resistance training, progressive overload is the accepted science behind building strength and increasing muscle size.

As such, we need to be aware of how much relative volume we are moving currently vs. what we were moving a couple of months ago.

Bear in mind that progressive resistance is a slow process. 

We need time to adapt to a given volume before we can begin pushing the envelope toward getting to the next level.

It may take six to eight weeks at a current volume before we can place a modest increase in demand into our next volume progression.

We also need to compare apples to apples when monitoring volume and progressions.

Being honest with our self-assessments will ensure we are making real progress and not fooling ourselves into thinking we are getting bigger or stronger.

Here are some questions we must answer to monitor our progress in the gym.

  ü  How strict are you performing a set number of reps with a given weight? 

  ü  How long are you resting between sets?

  ü  How many sets are you performing?

We need to pay attention to these details to track our progress accurately.

 

Periodization

Progressive overload is a process we cannot force nor extrapolate linearly into the future.

At some point, we need to cycle our training into rotating cycles.

Doing so stimulates the body in ways that it is unaccustomed to, which thereby promotes growth and progress.

This cyclical process often referred to as periodization, is also in keeping with the concept of muscle confusion.

As such, not only should we know where we are within our progressive overload phase, but we also need to be aware of the training cycle within which such progress is being called upon to take place.

Do you think all this is confusing?  It is not.  It can sound far more complicated than it is.

All tracking your workouts with purpose requires is outlining a general long-term training strategy that defines the cyclical periodizations we will generally follow.

In closing, I hope this summary of suggestions for tracking workouts helps focus your training and improves your results.

 

Until next time,

-Coach Joe