TRACKING DATA

Above are two examples of athletes’ programs. You can see a distinct difference between how much information one tracks as opposed to the other.

Here is what the person who isn’t writing everything down is missing out on:

Not seeing progress in all areas
This might be the biggest disadvantage of not tracking information. Let’s say Athlete 1 is trying to improve body composition while becoming more athletic. He keeps checking weight and girth measurements to see if he is improving, but it’s pretty stagnant. Then he looks at his workout sheet and it’s just a bunch of check marks. The only thing he can truly say he has done well is to show up. While this is a large part of the journey, it’s not always the best way to stay motivated. Had he written in some of the weights he improved upon, he would have additional concrete data to show his hard work is paying off.

Not being able to take the easiest path
When an athlete hands in her sheet at the end of a program, I take into account a few things: her readiness scores at the top, how far she got through the lift each time, and the data points for lifts and conditioning. I then adjust the program so that there is progression or regression. If she wasn’t able to competently demonstrate the exercise we wanted, we may regress it. If it was good, then she might advance from a kettlebell deadlift to a trap bar deadlift. If she wasn’t able to get through the whole program, I may take out what I think has the least priority. This way athletes can feel like they completed something each time they come in.

Paying attention to weights and reps is crucial, so that we aren’t wasting time. If Athlete 1 wrote in his weights, I could then estimate more precise percentages and give him much better direction as to what he would need to lift in order to get the adaptation we are looking for. Conversely, this applies when holding athletes back a little. A lot of times they want to lift heavier but don’t need to. We have had 3 athletes recently deadlift 300lbs or over. None of them were allowed to pull more than 85% of their max before they pulled 300lb(roughly 255lb). Sometimes there is no need to beat yourself up if you can still reach your goal with less work.

Inability to see where you started and your journey.
Most of our athletes train on average 4-6 months a year. If you were to look at their first day and compare it to their last day, you would see a whole story unfold of what they did and how they got there. This retrospective provides a great sense of accomplishment and also a record of how to get from A to B. To look back, celebrate your accomplishment and see the journey are key factors in big picture thinking. It goes beyond simply jumping from one thing to the next.

Tracking information is very important for our athletes as well as our general population clients. If you are putting in the effort and not tracking your information, you may be missing out on the best part of accomplishing a goal which is the journey.
Till next week!