I can distinctly remember reading an article
in one of the big time muscle magazines about how Dorian Yates strongly
advocated keeping a training log and documenting the exercises, sets and reps
performed during each training session.
Well, when it comes to lifting, I’ve always embraced the
philosophy of if it’s worth doing, it’s
worth overdoing. Of course that
mindset came back to bite me more than a few times as a young man when I would occasionally
over-train during my pursuit of a massively muscular physique.
However, documenting each and every detail of
every single workout session has allowed me to follow my progress over the
years, clearly understand how my body responds to certain training programs and
identify the best conditions for personal strength and muscular gains.
Muscle Building Genetic Peak?
Sometimes I visit bodybuilding forums and message boards
online and chuckle when I read a comment by a nineteen-year-old lamenting over
the fact that he has reached his genetic peak and will likely never achieve the
massively muscular physique that he has been working so hard for.
I, too, had those thoughts as a young
bodybuilder, and I would wonder how much muscular growth or strength gains I
had in me.
As I matured, grew, got stronger, grew some more and got
even stronger, I quit worrying about whether or not I had reached my genetic
peak. I realized that I may never reach
my so-called genetic peak as the body continues to adapt, respond and grow given
the appropriate stimulus and nutrition.
Looking back at my training journals from when I was a teenager, I see
how far I’ve come in every aspect of physical development and maturity. It’s nice to know that on my worse day in the
gym these days I am significantly stronger than I was on my best days as a young
bodybuilder.
Continuous Muscle Building Improvement
Documenting each workout through writing down each exercise,
weight, number of sets and reps has allowed me to improve a little bit during
each subsequent workout.
Have you ever
found yourself wondering how much weight you used recently or how many reps you
performed on a particular exercise?
This is a perfect example of why keeping track of every pound, set and
rep is critical for continued improvement.
By failing to document, you run the risk of seriously cutting yourself short if you happen to
allow yourself to be exposed of a lighter work load or less intense workout be
forgetting your previous performance numbers.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say you are trying to stimulate the muscles of chest, shoulders
and arms to grow by implementing the principle of progressive resistance in
your workout program.
In order for
progressive resistance to work appropriately for muscle growth, each and every
set of exercise must be performed with more weight and/or a greater number of
repetitions than the previous workout.
If you don’t keep track of the amount of weight and number of
repetitions that you do during each workout, it’s likely that you will miscalculate
how much weight or number of repetitions you should perform.
This can result in little or no increase in
muscle size or strength and lead to discouragement that can set you back for weeks
or months.
Bodybuilding Motivation
The sense of accomplishment and satisfaction of goal
achievement can be a powerful motivator.
Nothing serves as a real, permanent reminder of an accomplishment better
than documented evidence.
Review of
goals that have been achieved and personal records that have been set can put
the mind into a motivated state that can result in continued development and
progress.
If your goal is physique development such as bodybuilding or
weight loss, I recommend writing down comments, positive or otherwise, that you
have heard from others regarding the appearance of your body.
After all, when another person notices a
change in your body and comments about it, it’s likely that many other people
notice also. These statements can also
give you an idea of how effective your current workout or nutrition plan
is.
I put this into practice years ago
and would actually like it when someone would give me honest feedback about my
physique.
It is sometimes hard to hear,
but I write the comment in my training journal, examine my diet and
workouts, and make appropriate modifications.
This has helped me use objective observations to my advantage over the
years and keep me focused and motivated.
Keeping a workout journal is simple and costs almost
nothing. Some people like to keep
workout notes in an electronic file but I find it best to use a good old
fashioned pen and notebook to write down the details of my workouts.
The notebook and pen can be
carried in your gym bag or left in your home gym for easy access. After a while, you may become like me and
have volumes of workout journals that occupy an entire book shelf.
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