Why You Should Keep a Journal (and why you won’t)
The most underrated (and invariably ignored) tip (or 3) I give people:
1- keep a training journal,
2- always update it in details and
3- go back to it especially when you feel your performance is plummeting and training feels harder than it should.
You will find that probably you are wrong and that your feelings about it are just that, feelings, and that reality is something else.
When I have one of these bad days (which happens very often especially in this part of the year, during which Bub tries to kill me by means of exhaustion) I pick up last year journal and go back to same day a year ago and then i flip through the pages and see that I’m actually in a better place now, even if my mind tells me otherwise.
Why? Most of us rely on our emotions more than we should, especially when we think about the past, and our memory is often tainted and warped: if you dont have a minute record with numbers and times you can only rely on your memory.
Unless your training programs are always the same (in which case you need a coach!) how can you remember any of the times, distances, recoveries and number of sets you used to be able to do months ago? You won’t. And that’s why you write it down.
I dont only use this for myself: it’s the same with the guys I coach; those lazy bastards would happily skip journals if they could, but I’m more cunning than they are and the system I use forces them to keep every details in chronological order and oh, how happy they are when they can go back 2 months and compare numbers on their various tests.
I am on my third journal since I started training again in July 2021 and I’ll tell you a secret, I can’t even travel without taking them all with me. Yes, I am a bit autistic, but they are what keep me committed in my training because they are the only physical evidence of what I have done and where I am going.
Morale of the story: keep a training diary, try to be consistent, and think of it as a part of your training session: training is not over until you write down your report. Next time you have a repeating training session go back to the previous one and compare notes (BUT never look at it BEFORE the new session or you will build expectations and I guarantee you that you will suck).
In the title I also promised that I’ll tell you why you will disregard this priceless piece of advice and I’ll try to do that in a very clear and concise way:
Because you are a lazy bastard, that’s why.
