If you can't identify your destination, how will you know when you've arrived?

Having your body composition evaluated was something that happened right at the start of the challenge.  Everyone gets it.  Before / after comparison allows you to understand how things have changed.  However, that's only touching the surface.  Here's why performance tracking should be a part of your daily rituals.

There's nothing more motivating than knowing that you're making progress.  To see evidence of the fruits of your labor is satisfying and exciting.  Does more excitement and satisfaction not sound like a good deal?  If the answer is "yes" then your solution is simple.  Track more things.

Your Deathproof app has a section for recording your major lifts.  Each time you attempt new lifts or exceed your past performance then it's worth capturing that.  Why exactly?  Because it gives you a timeline of performance change.  It allows you to begin making predictions about your future performance.  It opens a window to the future regarding possibilities and realized potential.

This subject is enormous and I certainly won't do it justice in one quick email but I did want to open your eyes to what can happen when you pay attention to this habit and what resources are available to you to do so.

Here are the mechanisms I use on a daily or frequent basis:

• The max lifts / PRs, progress photos and measurements sections of the Deathproof app
• Beyond The White Board performance tracking system
• Oura ring or Whoop strap apps
• Heart Zones performance monitor (used in SHRED!, CRANK! and STRIKE!)
• InBody 570 body comp analyzer

Less frequently but often just as important

• Macro app
• Sleep app
• Elite HRV heart rate variability app
• Zero time-restricted feeding app
• Workout videography

The first few are really easy and that's why I use them frequently.  Every time I hit a new PR I record it (although I use Beyond the White Board rather than the Deathproof app since I've used it for years).  The feeling of hitting a new record immediately prompts me to run to the PC to record this to see how the change affects my overall progress trend.  Beyond the Whiteboard is the system which displays the daily workout and can be used by anyone but it does have an additional cost ($5 per month) which is why I promote the use of the Deathproof app too (although it doesn't have the same analytical functionality or ease of use).

The Heart Zones system can be set up to automatically email you a performance report provided you own your own HRM strap (Polar H7 or H10 available form Amazon).  This service is free for members.

All the apps mentioned in the infrequent list are free.  Elite HRV uses the same heart rate monitor strap that Heart Zones uses (Polar H10).  We recommend this strap because it can be used on every system at the gym, from Keiser and Heart Zones through to the eliptical , ski erg, rowing ergs and Echo / Assault bike.  One solution for everything.  Elite HRV plus an H10 strap is the combination used to evaluate heart rate variability as a mechanism published throughout PubMed and other scientific journal repositories.  It is, in effect, the standard.

Information is power.  It allows you to make data-based decisions rather than using hope as a strategy.  Good decisions, executed chronically is the basic recipe for success.  Unless you plan on winning the lottery, this is what your success will be derived from and recording information is the basis of these decisions so that you can look back in time to determine what should happen next.

The most basic definition of science is "The methodical formulation of information".

The Science Council defines science as "The pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world following a systematic methodology based on evidence."

Both of these definitions require information.  Evidence.  Results.  Readings.  Records.

Recording your results, seeing what works from the patterns, predicting future results, all require that you wrote your stuff down.

It's an essential habit.  Start that discipline tomorrow.  It doesn't have to be exhaustive.  You don't have to do all things all the time.  You don't have to despair if you forget.  More is better but start small and work up.

Your body comp and your daily photos of your food were the first steps.  After this challenge, you can drop the photos.  You may want to return to that habit at some time in the future but it doesn't have to be continuous.  Record the stuff you're focused on and don't worry about the rest but always be focused on something.

Lastly, take progress photographs often.  You don't have to show them to anyone but you do need to remind yourself of how far you've come.  A front and side shot will help you visualize the changes you can see in your body comp analysis.  This can be enormously motivating.  Eventually, this practice will be dropped.  At that time when you cease to feel the need to continue, you will have shifted your focus from a body composition paradigm of success and moved on to a performance-based paradigm for success.  When this happens you may not even fully realize what you've done but you'll sure feel better about yourself in terms of confidence, self-image, and attitude.  You'll no longer care so much about peoples' opinion of you.  You won't be judgment-free but you'll be judgment proof and that feels wonderful.

See you in class.

Jase.