Thursday 3/10/11

*Don’t forget “Jackie” Re-test tomorrow!

Front Squat
3-3-3-3-3
-Compare to 2/18/11, add 5 pounds

then,
3x 5-10 Glute Ham Raises

WOD's on the road, in a "State of the art fitness facility!"

Tracking your WOD’s

Let’s talk about something that is absolutely important and necessary in the world of fitness. It’s the practice of logging and tracking your daily performance. I will list some reasons why this is an important daily ritual for every athlete (members of our gym are referred to as athletes) to do this:

First is that it helps you see increases in your fitness other than physical appearance.  On days when we do a benchmark workout like Helen, Fran, Nancy, CrossFit Total, etc. you will have a reference point for the WOD on a few different levels. These levels include but are not limited to, previous weights used, type of movement used, whether or not that movement was scaled, your total time, the weight used, etc. You now have a point to go back and compare to and/or make adjustments based on how good or bad the workout went for you last time.

This will also apply to times when you need to reference loads moved on the lifts, i.e. Back Squat, Press, Deadlift, Snatch, Clean, etc. Often in class we will have a workout that will require you to use X% of a given 1RM movement. If you don’t track your workouts, how in the heck would you ever remember these numbers?  There is simply not enough room or energy for your brain to remember all this stuff!  You will also know where to start when we ask you to do 5 sets of 5 at X% or add 5 lbs from last time.

One last reference point for logging your workouts pertains to potential over training. All it takes is a few words at the end of each log day to describe how you feel, how the workout was, and how you felt you did. If you see common trends of feeling bad, poor performances, and decreased weights used, you may potentially stop a period of over-reaching or over training. This is definitely something we all need to avoid as it can cause burnout, injury, extreme food cravings of the worst kind, depression, etc.