There are 3 great things I noticed about keeping a workout journal for my karate journey:

1. It keeps me “on task” and eliminates the delusion that the work got done when I actually skipped a session – (yes, it also happens to me).
2. It helps me dealing with the “little voices” always ready to offer credible excuses. I trained & have something to report, or I did not, period!
3. My journal is public; I openly receive encouragements & nudges from a supportive community of like minded karatekas; I am also inspired and in awe at the workouts and progress reported by others – an invisible “peer pressure” is also active and keeps me accountable.

While I am in China, my usual karate week revolves around 4 nights at the dojo, 2 nights of yoga, occasional extra endurance and strength workouts. Typically, it would look like this:

• Monday: Dojo Night, karate; usually with kumite.
• Tuesday: Pilates – (but they changed the dates, so I cannot go any longer), I will make Tuesdays BAD days (Big Abs Days) where I will focus on a core workout.
• Wednesday: Dojo Night, karate.
• Thursday: Strength (but lately, I have been slacking badly in that area) – Yoga Night.
• Friday: Dojo Night, karate.
• Saturday: Dojo Night, karate.
• Sunday: Yoga Night.
• Throw in the daily makiwara work; I have a wall mounted makiwara behind my desk & twice or 3 times a day, I hit it for a few reps… and the hands, forearms and grip work I perform every second day with grippers and improvised hojo undo apparatus (also from my desk…).
• Yoga days are rest days; I enjoy the great stretch that yoga brings, but it is not a straining workout.

Going back through the past weeks, I noticed that I neglected interval training; I usually perform “stair work” in the staircase of my building. I have also stayed away from strength training, partly because of my shoulder injury. I finally have delayed implementing a “Ross Enamait” type of program to take me through to the next level.

The additional bonus of a workout journal is that, magically, “everything that you measure, improves”.

Are you keeping track of your workouts? How does that help you?

I am a compulsive volunteer for any “wow thing” flying by, there doesn’t seem to be anything in this world able to stop me from stepping forward at the drop of a hat – least of all myself! If it is far, remote, alien, not for everyone and I’d hear about it, to my mother’s despair, I’d go for it – a friend once told me that I was in the “let’s go and do it business”… he may well have been right! I’ve been like this for as far as I can remember and it has served me well, but occasionally not. Australia 1980 was one of those times when I’d gotten myself into trouble: I’d set out to work ‘on a station as a jackaroo’ (as a cow boy on a ranch in Aussie lingo) for the 6 months break between my 2nd and 3rd year in Agriculture College…

10,000 pushups challenge! How long do you think it will take?

Luckily, yesterday I finished a 1,000 push up challenge in 6 days, with numbers ranging from 90 to 240 pushups a day & an average of 166 pushups/day – so you see the calibration is fresh and accurate. Should I aim at the same numbers, we would be contemplating 10,000/166 = 60 days or two full months.
Without a day’s rest, 100 pushups/day would take 100 days; 200 means 50 days and 250, 40 days. My recent experience tells me that a few planned rest days will be good as well as a special allowance for skipped days, due to unexpected circumstances or pure and simple slacking.

I’ll aim at 10,000 pushups in 75 days with a target of 150 per day + a few rest days, and reserve the right to adjust these guidelines as we go forward.

Great, but hey, wait! You just did a 1,000 pushups challenge, before the 10,000 one! How did that happen?

Hummm, it was raining is Southern Africa!

WHAT?!

It was raining is Southern Africa! … (…) … Okay, let me explain: my karate colleague & k4L forum friend, masedisa from Southern Africa got bored with the rain that prevented her to train outside and announced that she would start a 1,000 pushups challenge for herself — for reasons explained above, I joined in! Am I in the “let’s go and do it” business or what?

LOL, and the 10,000, where was it raining?

Haha, I am glad you start to get the idea: no, it was not raining, Dent, another K4L forum member needed something to celebrate his 10,000 posts… Hold on a second! Before you ask: Yes, celebrating with pushups, I know, nobody said it had to make sense…

And, oh yes, before I go, in Australia, that ‘jackaroo’ ended up tearing off new born lamb testicles with his teeth as part of the work activities… But that’s a story for another time; please subscribe by RSS or e-mail so you don’t miss it.

Osu! Fred.

You too can join the 10,000 push ups challenge: join Kyokushin4life and enter your name on the 10,000 pushups challenge thread.

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Please see also:
- Cortisol In The Shoulder Joint
- Quick Update On The Shoulder