Critical Things you Cant Measure: Because they Dont Happen

Its often the things that dont happen that are of major importance in your lifting career and your life.

However, when things dont happen, the wonks who make wearable fitness trackers dont include them on your scorecard.

IMHO there are very few elements in the workout that are worth tracking. Most of what shows up on wearable devices are things that the pencil necks in Silicon Valley have figured out how to count.

Here are my nominees for extremely important things you cannot measure because if you play the game right, they never happen.

 

The training cycle you did not get sick

In the not so good old days it was common for most of us who trained hard during the winter months to catch some kind of cold or flu.

As some of you know, those of us who bust our butts in training have diminished immune systems. Our energy goes into workouts, and our immune systems suffer as a result.

I got that gem from one of my physician pals who is also a hard-core fitness/weightlifting dude.

Since we are comparatively easy targets for any virus going round, it makes sense to do what we can to prevent getting sick.

In the fall and winter many gyms become petri dishes for whatever bugs are infecting the populace.

There is nothing more useless than having your training interrupted by getting sick. You may only be out a few days, but it takes two weeks to get back where you were.

No one wants this.

So the single biggest thing you can do to prevent inadvertently picking up another persons cooties is to use hand sanitizer and antiseptic hand wipes when in the gym.

This practice may not look cool to some of the phone zombies or gym bros, but their views are not your problem.

It is totally OK to be a little obsessive-compulsive about cleaning off benches, lifting hand grips and gym mats.

Naturally, you clean off benches and bars after you use them.

Some of the other bros may get a clue.

 

Getting a spotter for a heavy lift

Using a spotter who know what they are doing has probably saved more pelts than a rabbit could count in a week. Basically, a lot of lifters are walking around uninjured because of a timely assist with the squat or the bench press.

Even with a power cage, it is a great idea to have a knowledgeable spotter when trying very heavy lifts.

I have a couple dramatic stories of people who refused to use spotters, and the results were tragic.

I thought the point could be made just as well with a lighthearted story (true) from my past.

About ten years ago I was training hard for a big regional powerlifting meet. Near the end of my peaking cycle, I was doing squats in training that were a bit better than I had done in any recent competition.

In one of my final workouts before the meet I was going for some big numbers (for me). As I loaded the bar for my first heavy single the wee voice in my head said, use a spotter.

I looked around the gym and saw a big dude who looked like he had moved some serious iron before.

I asked him if he would spot me on my squat attempt. He looked at me.then looked at the weight I was going to lift and said, you arent going to puke your guts are you?

With him spotting me the squat was deep, legal and no problem.

Another case where nothing (bad) happened.

 

Coda

Keeping bad things from happening to you in the gym is really important. Most of the time the solution is straightforward.

However, it is not always cool.

Lift Big!

Richard