Too many numbers? (exercise question)

[redbird]

I've been doing cardio and lifting weights semi-regularly for the last few years (semi-regularly meaning usually two or three times a week, but with breaks for travel and the occasional illness). As part of that, I keep notes of what exercises I've done, what weight, and how many reps, in the form "calf machine, 75 pounds, 13, 11; 70 pounds, 11". These are for my own reference, so I don't worry that someone else may not know what calf machine I'm talking about. (These are most of what goes behind the cut tags.)

I was thinking, today, that the numbers may be getting in the way of focusing on the exercise itself, and of paying attention to my body and how I feel as I exercise.

So I'm considering dropping the record-keeping for a bit, and seeing how it feels. Replacing the nice neat lists with just something like "2/21, a good workout" or "went to the gym, but stopped early because I wasn't into it."

Has anyone here tried stopping keeping the sort of records I've been doing? If so, what effects did you notice?

[cross-posted from irongirls, in slightly different form]

Comments

[klingonlandlady.livejournal.com]

I haven't focused on the numbers, I just remember from one time to the next how many sets and at what weight I do, and stay the same or up it, depending on how i feel. Or do a lighter workout if not into it. I like the paying attention to how i feel way, esp. since I like to get into it and get the endorphins, and it's likely to be more than less.

oh BTW- were you and cattitude my year at the old alma mater? If so, are you going to the reunion? I am :)

[redbird]

I infer from the question about reunions that no, we weren't your year--we skipped our 20th reunion last year. I've skipped all the general reunions, though I have been to a Story Reading reunion, which had the great advantages of being people I knew and liked, and of not conflicting with Wiscon. (Whenever I got mailings saying "come to the reunion, $list_of_people have already signed up," I didn't recognize the names on the list. At all.)

[maryread.livejournal.com]

I think it's a good idea. One of the attractions of weightlifting for me was always the numbers as an objective self-assessment, but eventually I got tired of carrying around the little card I had the basic workout written on. By then I knew all my usual weights and settings and sequence, although it took a long time to learn because I was always working around other people, which was why the little card. I still noted when I changed weights or exercises, and every few months copied all my scribbles onto a new little card with a date on it. (I've been through three little cards so far.) But it did free me up to pay better attention to how I was feeling with the weight.

[chatworthy.livejournal.com]

When I kept records, I noted numbers AND how I felt.

Then I promptly lost the records, which wasn't the intention at all. :)