Logging In Your Workouts
1-05-2009
“Fractioned Fran”
9 rounds for time:
Thrusters x 5 (65/95)
Pullups x 5
Then;
GHD situps 6 sets of 10
#######
With our forum up and running, we now have a place for you to log your workouts, food, and any other pertinent information. Logs are a very important tool for optimizing your fitness. To give you some ideas on how to make this more useful, I have compiled some suggestions. Don’t limit your log to just weights, times, or food. Here are some suggestions; many of these I use in my own personal training journal.
Training Log
Monitoring recovery
This is probably the most important use for your log. Remember that progress occurs while you are resting between workouts, not while you are training. I track the following daily:
• Hours slept
• Sleep quality (use a 1-5 scale; 1= poor 5= great)
• Waking mood (same scale)
• Waking pulse rate. Check your pulse rate upon awakening, before rising from bed. The simplest way is to count your pulse for 10 seconds, then multiply by 6. For more accuracy, count for the whole 60 seconds. If your heart rate is more than 8 beats above average, you may be heading for overtraining.
• General daily energy levels: rate on a 1-5 scale. (1=poor;5=great)
• Training/recovery scale-
This is a protocol that I modified from Dan John’s system that was originally presented in the Jan ‘05 CrossFit Journal. Here is how it works: I rank my day’s training on a scale of 1-10, then the day’s recovery factors on a similar 1-10 scale. Each day, the numbers will either balance each other out, or lean to one side or the other. If the training side is consistently higher, I am headed for trouble – likely overtraining, injury, or burnout. If the recovery side is a little higher, then we have an optimal situation, unless it is quite a bit higher. This then might indicate that I am not training hard enough.
Start by ranking the day’s training on a 1-10 scale. This will be subjective, but as long as you are honest and consistent, you will have data you can use. Give yourself 4 points daily for just being alive. Any training that you do will be added to that number. An easy technique workout might be a 5. A brutal workout that left Pukie tapping you on the shoulder would be a 10. A very demanding strength workout, or maxing out on a lift might be a 10 also. If you train more than once a day, or do other sports, you must be sure to factor in everything for the day into your training score. Any physical labor must be added in as well. See the RPE section below for more information on your workout’s effort level.
For the recovery scale, you must “earn” points, up to 10 possible.
Nutrition: 3 points. This is how I track this: If I eat as planned for the day, I hit my protein and veggie goals, and don’t consume any grains, dairy, legumes, or sugar – I get 3 points. I subtract subjectively based on the “infraction” – one point off for a cheat if most of my food was quality, for example.
Sleep: 3 points possible. 0 points for less than 6 hours sleep, 1 point for 6-7 hrs sleep, 2 points for 7-9 hrs sleep, and 3 points for 9+ hours of sleep. In addition, if my sleep quality is poor, I may deduct one point.
Recovery modalities: 1 point. If you do some joint mobility work, foam rolling, stretching or yoga, or get some bodywork done – give yourself a point. This is an area that I probably should expand on – it is that important. Do 10-15 minutes minimum to get your point for the day.
Stress: 3 points. Your lifestyle outside of the gym has a huge impact on your recovery and fitness levels. It is very important to keep this in line for good health – it may even be more important than a good diet or exercise plan!
1 point if you had 15 minutes or more of “alone” time to relax or do something you find enjoyable. (your workout doesn’t count for this) From Dan John’s original article: “Alone” time (1 point): If the athlete had some time during the day to collect their thoughts and relax without any time or work or school issues… you get 1 point. You need to figure 15 minutes at least…but that is not on the internet, phone, or a car, either!
1 point for no relationship stress; zero or even negative points if you are having conflicts.
1 point for play: if you had time to enjoy yourself in the company of others.
Total all of these; that is your recovery score for the day. Record both the training score (TS) and recovery score (RS).
To make this clearer, I will detail my score today. It was mostly an off day; I just did some light shoulder prehab exercises and flexibility work. I rated it a 5. For recovery: 3 points for diet – all quality food choices, and hit my goals. Sleep – 7:45 hrs, decent quality, so 2 points. One point for doing joint mobility and flexibility work. One point for no relationship stress, one point for alone time. No time today for play, or non-work socialization, so no point there. Total = 8. Since my recovery score is 3 points higher than my training score, it was a pretty good rest day.
During the actual workout, there are several things you can add to simple sets and reps. For individual exercises, I rate three things, as follows:
• RPE- (rating of perceived effort) 1-10 scale. 1=very easy, 5 moderate, 8 very hard, 9 – 100% effort; almost failed 10=failure Rate whichever was the hardest set of the exercise.
• RPT- (rating of perceived technique) 1-10 scale. How good was your technique for the exercise? Be honest; 10 is perfect. Rate you average rep quality.
• RPD- (rating of perceived discomfort) 1-10 scale. This rating is for any pain that was present during the exercise. This is not the pain of effort, but rather pain from any brewing injuries. Beware if your RPD is any higher than a 3.
The RPE and RPT (RT) scales were originally measures used by Bulgarian Olympic Weightlifting coaches. The late Mel Siff wrote about this in his epic book “Supertraining”.. More recently, Scott Sonnon has expanded on them a bit, adding the RPD scale. A way to track these more efficiently is to record your TED instead. (technique, effort, discomfort) So, for example:
Weighted Ring Dips 45 lbs x 5×5x5 TED = 872 (technique was an eight, effort was a 7, and discomfort a 2 – I had a slight pain in the right shoulder)
These numbers are useful to gauge progress. Some examples: The longer that you train an exercise, your technique numbers should improve. If your technique is poor, then the effort level must be reduced until your technique is solid. If your effort levels are always very high, you may hit a plateau. If the discomfort slowly creeps up on an exercise over a period of time, you are likely headed for an injury.
In addition to tracking each individual exercise, I assign a TED ranking to the workout as a whole. You can use this number to plug into your workout score as discussed above.
• Bodyweight – Only measure this once per week, max!! Some shouldn’t even check this often. Daily scale watching seems to lead to a certain neurosis about weight. Your bodyweight will always fluctuate several pounds up or down from day to day. Obsessing over this will enviably lead to frustration, whether you are trying to loose or gain weight.
• Body fat measurements - I get my biosignature measured once every 1-2 weeks. This is an accurate body fat measurement that also reflects my hormonal profile. This is a service that I offer at CrossFit Portland for those interested.
Food Log
Finally, to the food log side. I only track everything when I am making a change, or trying to root out food intolerances. However, I always track mealtimes, and a general overview of the day’s eating plan, plus anything notable.
• Time of meal
• Foods/beverages eaten – what you ate and how much
• Where you ate – see below
• Supplements – if you take any supplements, note it here
• How you feel 1-2 hours following – This can be useful to really get you diet dialed in. If you feel lethargic or sleepy, likely that you had too high of an insulin response. Reduce the carbohydrate load in the future and see how you feel.
You can also track possible food allergies or sensitivities with this section. After a couple of weeks, review your log to look for any trends or reactions to certain foods. Watch where you eat, as well. Sometimes you may see a reaction to foods eaten only at a specific location. This might indicate an irritating additive present in the food served at that location. Removing the food allergens from your diet will improve recovery from training, not to mention making you feel a whole lot better!
So there are some things to think about when planning your log. You don’t need track all of this stuff all the time – but most of it is quick and easy when you get in the habit. There are also many other items that could be added to your log, based on your individual needs. Good luck!
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go roger, look at that?!!!! (this was a fun workout! thanks CF friends!)
Thanks for posting that rating system. I need to start using it. I had read about it a while ago, but never implemented it.
Great workout! So much fun today!
[...] With our forum up and running, we now have a place for you to log your workouts, food , and any other pertinent information. Logs are a very important tool for optimizing your fitness. To give you some ideas on how to make this more …[Continue Reading] [...]
[...] CrossFit Portland – Logging in Your Workouts [...]
I am very pleased with the thought and don’t feel like adding anything in it. It a perfect answer.
Hazel Knight
workouts
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