The Consummate Training Log

Photo Credit: DailyLifeOfMojo

Ah yes, the oh so wonderful training log. I didn’t always use to think they were so great and I actually used to hate using one. During my athletic years, it was a command from our Nazi coach that we record every rep and every set for every single day we touched a weight. We had no choice as we only got the pleasure of living amidst his dictatorship.

What I used to despise, I now love. I used to believe recording my workouts in a training log was tedious and ineffectual. Of course, I was wrong and I soon found out why.

My First Time

Now for story time. I remember the end of my final football game my sophomore year. We all walked into the locker room, slowly un-padded and began turning in our gear. Our strength and conditioning coach walked around(with a grin from ear to ear) placing training logs in our lockers while we pampered our sweaty selves. I remember returning to my locker and seeing some big letters in Times New Roman font reading: IT’S TIME TO GET STRONG. I always liked the off season. I think I liked bit better than the actual season because I was more interested in strength training than playing football anyhow. This was my first time ever to consistently use a training log and it served me very well. I then learned how much I love progression.
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Am I There Yet?

photo credit: Usodesita

So this is part three of my series on building a firm foundation. Have you figured it out yet? Here is part one and two.

You may be asking yourself “Am I There Yet?” Are you at least on the right track? My final thoughts regarding getting a solid start on the right foot are as follows.

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How To Build A Firm Foundation

Photo Credit: tinou bao

This is part two of three in my foundation series. In the last article I explained what a firm foundation is and how to differentiate between a solid and not-so-solid foundation. In this article I will explain what you must do in order to build the solid base that will set you up for much success in the future.

Education Is Key

The firm foundation I speak of begins with the proper knowledge base. You have to start somewhere and where you start is not nearly as important as where you end up. I was fortunate enough to have great coaches in my youth and it wasn’t until after athletics that I began learning from all of the fitness magazines. What a big mistake.

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Fitness Fundamentalists

Photo Credit: schizoform

I recently viewed the movie Religulous after reading quite a bit about the film, particularly how controversial it was. In case you haven’t seen it yet and/or know nothing about it, the film is a particularly biased documentary about how religion, in general, has it’s fair share of fanatics and zealots. The documentary touches on how many religious fundamentalists dispute some of the most widely known and accepted scientific evidence(on many topics such as evolution, earth age, etc) for a religious belief that has been passed down over time. Many of the religious zealots interviewed in the movie do not seem to be very educated or knowledgeable on the subject matter they so firmly “believe” in(much less the opposing viewpoints) as Bill Maher points out with his probing questions. Many folks are interviewed and asked “why” questions, many of them simple questions that they should be able to answer. The sad reality is that most freeze up mid sentence when they are attempting to explain themselves. It’s almost as if they are pausing for a moment to ask themselves “why do I believe what I believe?”

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I am not trying to start a religious debate as I am not particularly interested in what your spiritual beliefs may beStarting a debate is NOT my intention whatsoever.

I simply want to point out the similarities between religious fundamentalists and fitness fundamentalists. The plain and simple fact at hand is people will accept something blindly without taking the time to research and “prove” it to themselves. They take the advice of someone who has some supposed authority and by taking their word as gospel, they don’t think twice about it.
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