the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

anyone doing a lot of logging of your workouts, diets, training, goals, whatever?

if so, do you actually look back at your extensive logging? why/why not?

I do a lot of logging of diet, workouts, training (sports, not MA). it seems helpful to do so, for adjustments during a 1-2 week period, but beyond that, I don't think I really look back too much. Every so often, I send the "future me" an email to check up on progress using futureme.org. But then I still don't bother looking back too far other than to say to myself "that was pretty shitty progress; let's continue..."

how about you? what is the point of writing all this down, taking so many quantified self measurements, etc.?

I think the process itself helps things sink in, so recollection isn't as necessary as if you didn't. It makes you think more and plan more about what you're doing. I think it's useful as a kind of incentive and keeping track. It's nice to forward plan also. Logging as you go can be a nice way to meet those forward plans and goals.

I think that probably explains it. There is some mental note I'm making to myself like "oops shouldn't have eaten that chocolate" that seems to help me be more mindful of what I'm doing. Also, knowing that I'll log what I do seems to "keep me honest" and feel more accountable to myself, even if I'm rarely going to look back at what I wrote. I don't forward plan but the logging seems to also make me make a mental note about the next thing. Hmm.

When I first started training in the xingyibagua we do I kept copious notes. Then I realized it wasn't really helping me much and just practicing more was easier than logging it all. I have bookmarks I keep in Chrome to remind me what I'm going to write about next but not a whole lot of recording my goals.

Honestly my first thought was:


I don't personally do any logging of my MA training but I do believe in having a plan and sticking to it...

outside of MA, I logged my burpees last year, and cycling and running mileage...

lol.

did you find any benefit on the burpee, cycling, running logging? did you look back at them?

the cycling log was useful for figuring out when I should take my bike in for servicing and how much roughly to budget on it, analogous to counting mileage on a motor vehicle...

to me logging is the act of breaking down huge concepts into smaller, more digestible ideas.it feels good to check em off, and have milestones ( ) hard to think about everything you want to do and all your goals at once, no? once you have understanding of the individual parts, put them together for synergy.


just like how to perfect a punch.