When I went to the first the bootcamp in Florida that my pal Bill C. put together, we would head for the gym every morning and get to work. After an hour on the elliptical, we’d start lifting. Right away Bill would keep track of the number of pounds he was lifting. It was simple math. When you are lifting: Pounds Lifted X Number of Repetitions X Number of Circuits = Total Pounds.
When I was bench pressing 100 lbs. ten times and have completed three circuits, I’ve lifted 3000 lbs.
If I did arm curls with 50 lbs. ten times and did three circuits. The total is 1500 lbs.
On an ab machine set at 120 lbs. after 20 reps and 3 circuits, the weight totals 7200 lbs.
The weight one can lift adds up fast. Depending on the part of the body you are working on, you can get to 20,000 pounds in no time. A workout that includes ab an/or leg machines can run up big totals.
If you are like me, that can be a real incentive. I really liked seeing the numbers add up. During the COVID epidemic, I was doing tons of push-ups and sit-ups. Five hundred sit-ups with a value of 100 pounds each is 50,000 pounds. I got obsessed the numbers!
So, counting pounds can also be a problem. After a few weeks I was trying to put up as many pounds per workout as I could. I was racking up 100,000 pounds in workouts. Trouble is, the QUALITY. of my workouts suffered. I was hurrying the routines, using momentum to move the weight. Really sloppy. So I got tangled up in lifting more and more pounds. Compulsive.
I figured out (with a little help from my friends) that I really needed to slow down and use good technique. It took a while for me to slow down. I needed to get my ego out of the way. I was enthralled with lifting 200,000 pounds or more in a workout. I wanted to do 1,000,000 pounds in a week. Completely out of my mind.
So now, I keep focused on the technique, the reps and just let the number of pounds to take care of itself.
But keeping track of the weight I lift is a real incentive to keep working harder. It helps with goal setting, pushes me to keep improving and continue to get in better and better shape. The fact is, I can bench press more today than any time in my life - but that is a result of routine workouts and improving form and attitude.
Regardless of whether or not you use the 12-StepGym circuits, counting pounds is a great way to set goals, inspire and measure better workouts.
Try it.