T-Bone Chews The Fat

[T-Bone]

I observe a lot of things both in myself and others when it comes to weight lifting, so I thought I'd create this thread to put these thoughts down. Feel free to comment, hi-jack, refute or support anything I might put out there (bearing in mind I'm no authority on the subject).

[BendtheBar]

Subbed!

[T-Bone]

No. 1 - The Log

I don't understand the many guys (people) I see in the gym who don't keep a log of their workouts. For me it's the only way to guarantee and verify progress.

I keep a log and have all my old ones saved. The subject of progress was brought up today in my log, so I looked back and realized I had made great progress in just 7 months. That would have been impossible to determine without my log.

I laugh sometimes when I go way back and see how I struggled with weight that I now use as warm up. I can remember telling a workout buddy of mine that "No matter what I do, I just can't curl more than 45 pounds! I'm so frustrated!" Perseverance pays off because I'm way past that now, much like I am with other lifts.

[sleepingdog]

I agree with logging, though I'm one of the first ones to forget to bring mine with to record the day. And I only recently went electronic with it. I bet if I had all of my actually logged workouts, it would be about 5-10% of the actual days I'd been training.

[T-Bone]

Originally Posted by sleepingdog

I agree with logging, though I'm one of the first ones to forget to bring mine with to record the day. And I only recently went electronic with it. I bet if I had all of my actually logged workouts, it would be about 5-10% of the actual days I'd been training.

I'm a compulsive list maker / note taker so I feel lost without my log! COuld be some of these people I see take mental notes and log later...

[BendtheBar]

Logs are my grounding point. I have always kept notes. I guess beating my last effort has always been the most enjoyable part of lifting for me.

[LtL]

Completely agree. If you're not measuring your performance now, you're obviously not serious about beating it next time.

Logs are one of the main differentiators between people who exercise; fartassing around doing whatever they feel like on a given day (chest and biceps anyone?) as opposed to people like us who train. We have specific and measurable goals which we work toward. I had a really hard time trying to exercise, it all seemed pointless. When I started to train, lifting became much more enjoyable.

LtL

[Gaz6682]

I agree too Jim but I'm not one for taking a pen and paper into the gym. I have a good memory for figures and am happy to record whilst I sip my post WO shake. Many people compare their figures to other lifters, i'm only interested in comparing to last weeks workout. The only person I want to better is myself.

[Carl1174]

Out of everyone I see training in the gym, there are only a handfull that record their efforts (that I see). personally i either update on my phone between sets, or normally just after i finish... I had a pretty good memory for figures though so its not a problem, even if I have to log when i get to work a couple of hours later.

I love seeing the progress that i have made and i enjoy reading back through other peoples logs from time to time too and seeing their progress. It inspires me to push harder next time and make my self progress

Carl.

[MC]

Originally Posted by Gaz6682

I agree too Jim but I'm not one for taking a pen and paper into the gym. I have a good memory for figures and am happy to record whilst I sip my post WO shake. Many people compare their figures to other lifters, i'm only interested in comparing to last weeks workout. The only person I want to better is myself.

This is me as well. I look at what I did last time and then set out to beat it mentally. I have forgotten on occassion, but overall, I can remember what I need to do.