TRAINING LOGBOOK BASICS

As I get older, my memory gradually turns for the worse.  Couple aging with the sometimes hectic, always chaotic, and endlessly mind-numbing job as a stay-at-home dad and mental breakdown and memory loss are sure to happen.  It's become so bad that there are days I can't remember what I've had for dinner no less than an hour ago, or where I've placed my car keys.  However, when it comes to weightlifting, there isn't a day which hasn't been recorded in my training log book.

As a weightlifter, if you want to get "good" -- no, make that "great" -- no, even better, make that "out-fucking-standing" in this sport, you better have good documentation of your training days on and off the platform.  If you're not scribbling notes into a logbook; uploading a workout onto a blog; transcribing your workouts to an app on a smartphone; or memorializing your sessions to a computer you are doomed to fail in this sport.

The very best coaches in this sport transcribe, annotate, log and list every detail of their athlete's performance on the platform, from weight, number of repetitions and sets, to personal technique flaws.  A prime example is Coach Ivan "The Butcher" or "Uncle" Abadzhiev, who is known to have training logbooks of every athlete under his tutelage and supervision.  Since, most of us don't have a world class coach to track and monitor our every move on the platform it's up to us, individually, to keep accurate records of our training sessions.  It doesn't cost a lot of money (a cheap "Mead" composition logbook costs less than a dollar) but is worth it's weight in gold!

So, if your memory if fading like mine, a notebook or logbook is critically important.  It provides a source record to review and analyse; thereby, ensuring continual progress in the classic and supplemental lifts.  The following information is fundamentally vital in every logbook, but any information which effects your training, both positive and negative, should be annotated for future reference and review:

- Date and Time.  It's simple, yet vital to note the date and time.  This is the first thing written or annotated in a training logbook.  Some will include the start and end time of a workout.   Others will include a breakdown of warm-up, training, and cool-down/stretching periods.  It's relative to your needs and preferences but having a date and time is significant -- if not mandatory.

- Exercise Performed.  Specificity is critical, make the distinction between different variations of the classic lifts and supplemental lifts.  For example, the classic lift of a snatch is not a power snatch, muscle snatch, tall snatch, block snatch, hang snatch, 3 stage snatch, etc...  If you start with a snatch and end with power snatches or some other derivative, annotate accordingly.

Scribe up!

- Weight Used.  This is for every rep and set for each exercise.  Ensure accuracy to the half kilogram if necessary.  Every little bit counts!  There is no point in lifting a weight if you can't use it later as a barometer or benchmark for future training sessions.  Log it!

- Repetitions Performed.  Not only is this for every repetition performed successfully but also those failed, which may provide more insight than the successful lifts.  Failed or lost lifts need immediate explanations describing the reason for the failure.  (i.e. forward on toes, failed to pull under, not stretching the bar, being a dumb-ass, etc...).  This prompt documentation provides insight into our own individual weightlifting nuances which can hamper progress and requires immediate remediation.

- Sets Performed.  Knowing the amount of sets per exercise for a training session is critical to analyzing and calculating the amount of volume performed during a workout.  This information is indispensable to developing and adjusting a training program to appropriately meet the training needs of an athlete.  Too much volume equals overtraining, too little volumes equals stagnation and zero progress.  Therefore, the goal is finding the "happy-medium" in volume to maximize gains!  Log it!

- Intensity.  How do you determine intensity?  If a repetition is easy then I'll forgo mentioning it in the logbook; however, if a repetition nearly made me shit my pants, then I'll annotate such.  Descriptive and numeric valuing (scale of 1-5 etc...) gives essential feedback for later use.

There you have it - training logbook basics.  Make your logbook as specific and detailed as possible, or choose to go with the "barebones" list above.  There is an infinite amount of information you can place into a logbook, from what you ate prior to training, to how well you slept the night before.   It all depends on your personal preferences and what impacts your training, both positively and negatively.  Regardless, take the few extra minutes throughout a workout and memorialize your achievements and failures on the platform.  Periodically, analyze and review this information, and adjust your training, technique, and programming to maintain forward momentum to achieve your goals on the platform!

Now go lift something REALLY HEAVY!