Meaningful Data on Your Workouts

Powerlifting is all about numbers. But numbers alone don’t mean anything unless they’re related to some significant purpose you are trying to achieve.

Many of us keep detailed data on our workouts. It is important that the data we keep has some real meaning in terms of making progress toward our goals.

Im a numbers guy. I did my PhD dissertation on measurement theory. In short, if you’re looking at a number what does that number really mean?

I have thought a lot about the numbers that people seem to find useful in the gym.

IMHO many of the numbers that people keep during their workouts are utterly worthless. Often these are data that can be generated easily by wearable devices.

Example: heart rate, calories burned, etc.

In this case the fact that something is easy to measure has no relationship to the value of the information to someone who is working out.

However, it’s possible to create an expensive device that gives the illusion that because you can measure something it has real value.

 

Useful Data

IMHO standard record keeping for those of us who lift weights should include the exercise performed, the sets the reps and the weight used.

I keep these data in handwritten form in a simple notebook.

In my opinion this is the easiest and most useful format for keeping such information.

There are online apps that can keep track of your workouts, but I find most of them to be inferior in utility to handwritten records.

As I have said in many different places, your training should begin with a plan.

The plan must include what exercises you intend to perform, what weights you will use as well as sets and reps.

Have the plan written and included in your notebook.

Each time you go to the gym you should follow your plan.

Every workout you should record the exercise you did, the sets the reps and the weights used.

If you don’t have a plan, you will be improvising which frequently leads to spending too much time on one activity and not enough on another or forgetting something essential.

A big reason I emphasize written records is that it frees you from trying to remember what you did in each exercise in every training session. Almost no one can do this accurately.

It’s not worth your mental energy to try to remember these things.

If you have written records, you need only glance at your notebook to recall what you did.

 

Some Key Data Most People Dont Keep

There are some important data that most people do not keep.

If you have detailed records of your workouts you have these data available for your own analysis.

The first data set that I believe is very important is the work volume each week of conditioning exercises.

For example, I recommend that a serious power lifter do at least 100 kettlebell swings each week. This comes out to a bit over 400 per month or 5000 every year.

This is the kind of indicator that tells you you are doing an adequate job of conditioning with this exercise.

The second key piece of data that I recommend people keep is the number of reps in a power exercise such as deadlift that are performed with over 85% effort.

Remember the old rule of thumb from the Soviet sport scientists. An elite lifter can only do 12-20 reps in any single workout above 85% effort.

Tracking the number of reps, you do in a heavy range will enable you to see if you are over training or perhaps not recovering sufficiently. If you are doing too many reps in a heavy range without recovering that will bring your progress to a halt.

In short, you only have so many heavy reps that you can do in a certain time period and it’s critical to understand exactly what you’re doing.

 

Recovery Data

One set of data I have rarely seen anyone keep is the information on your recovery.

I believe it’s important to track the number of hours you sleep every night.

It is also important to record information about your post workout habits such as taking a sauna, stretching, or doing meditation.

This data is important if you want to understand the big picture of how your body is responding to training.

 

Coda

Keeping useful information on training is essential if you wish to continue to make progress. It’s also important to ignore garbage data that have no bearing on your training.

Lift Big!

Richard