It’s important to have a system of boundaries that you can operate within, boundaries that aren’t too strict but strict enough to hold you accountable. Finding these key measurements can play a big role in your individual success.
Discussing measuring variables with diet, training, & life.
Daily blog – June 16, 2018
“What gets measured, gets managed.”
– Peter Drucker
Today, I slept in until 5:30. I mean it is Saturday after all and the gym doesn’t open until 10 AM. That means I will have to get my workout in this evening after work. But, I’m still planning on doing completing the three components of my morning routine.
#1 H2O
#2 Write
#3 Move
I’m completing the first two as I type. And I plan on doing some foam roll and stretching for my morning movement. I aim to keep things as simple as I can. Simple and meaningful.
H2O
I haven’t been drinking as much water as I should so I made it a priority. Upon waking, unless I wake up late and need to go directly to the gym, I’m making myself drink water. Today, I’ve mixed in a scoop of my Intra Blast w/ 5g of Creatine Monohydrate.
I typically wait until after my workout to add the creatine but since I won’t be getting a real workout in until this evening, I’ll do it now. I’m doing 10g / day for 2 weeks and then backing off to 5g / day.
Like I said, I try to keep things simple and have clear boundaries to operate within. I haven’t put pressure on myself to drink a gallon a day right off the bat. I’m working up to it, just like I’m working up to my more athleticism in my workouts.
So, when it comes to morning water consumption, I tell myself,
“if you’re not having to take a piss within an hour,
you’re doing it wrong.”
For now, that’s my measurement system.
The body can only handle a 1 Liter of water per hour. 1 Liter equals roughly 33 oz. So, I fill up my shaker cup with about 25 oz and drink it as quickly as I can. I monitor my bathroom visits to determine if I’m drinking enough but I don’t write them down.
Looking back on this week, I’d say my water consumption has been improving. But, that’s not all that’s been improving since Sunday when I sat down, got organized, and laid out a simple, effective plan.
Write
This one is very easy to track. It’s a simple yes or no. Did you write?
Move
In an excel sheet, I keep track of the “big lift” of the day and very briefly list what the overall workout was intended to do. Currently, my focus with workouts is to develop more athleticism and be able to handle impact safely.
The ultimate goal is to have the gym help me become a better snowboarder. I would like to increase my strength, have healthy joints that have full range of motion, and have my body be able to handle long days in deep powder.
I’m slowly building up to sprints. It’s important not to rush back into things you use to do all the time. I haven’t done sprints in a few years so it would be very foolish to think that I could immediately incorporate them into my workout plan.
I feel like my entire life is in a “work on the fundamentals” stage, especially my workouts. I’m slowly getting back to my athletic workouts of those sweet college days. I’m also honing my skills with my writing by writing every single day. And, I’m back to tracking key variables so that I can hold myself accountable.
Accountability
Now, there’s a big word that’s vital to overall success: accountability. If you don’t have something to hold you accountable, you will not make it far. You need something in the future that you find incredibly important to make each day significant in retaining that goal.
Chances are that your sisters wedding or a family beach vacation aren’t enough to keep you on track with your goals. And, I’m sorry to say that for a lot of people out there, they can’t find anything important enough to keep them on track. They set goals and have the best of intentions but can’t seem to follow through.
It’s sad but it’s true…
For me, I’m a visual learner and like I said earlier this week, “I Learn From Screwing Up.” I know what things keep me from achieving what I set out too. So, I track things to help keep me accountable.
I love tracking because each day that I do what I set out to, when my meals and workouts go according to plan, it makes me feel damn good to write my macros, morning weight, and workout notes.
Just last night before I fell asleep, I thought to myself how good today was with workouts, water, and hitting my macros that I couldn’t wait to wake up in the morning, weigh myself and input my numbers.
Things are going good this first week, which has always been a struggle for me. Getting started was something I could put off for a good while and I certainly have. But once I get a few weeks of momentum, I’ll be rockin’ and rollin’ baby!
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Like the quote says, “what gets measured, gets managed.” It’s important to find the proper things to keep an eye on. Of course, these variables will change over-time and you’ll need to be able to see what the data is telling you.
It’s not enough just to track; you need to understand it. That’s why I keep it simple. I track a handful of variables I find to be important of certain aspects but I don’t track everything, like I use to. It’s just too hard to comply with and it’s impossible to track everything. After all, I want to live too, not just track everything all the time.
I say that to say this, tracking isn’t enough; you must track the right things, the things that are important to the overall, big picture.
If you’ve gotten off track and find yourself confused on how things went wrong, think about what you’re measuring. Has your goal changed (long term or short)? Have you adjusted course but not accounted for it in your measurements?
Things will get messy don’t expect perfection with tracking. Don’t drive yourself crazy with it either because it doesn’t tell the whole story. The data can only tell you certain things so don’t allow it to be you’re end-all-be-all system. Use it for your benefit and don’t allow the numbers to use you.
Punch Line: Without a target, your aim doesn’t mean shit. Without aim, you’ll only hit the target if you get lucky and I don’t think luck works like that.
