Tracking

Tracking, tracking, tracking it feels like all I am ever doing now is tracking. Tracking what I eat, tracking how many sit ups and push ups I do, along with the number of reps I do of a certain form. I am even tracking how much water I have been drinking each day.

I know tracking all of this stuff has great benefits on my training, and I have been seeing the results already. Tracking helps you stick with it, because when you can see your numbers increase it is a sense of accomplishment. Especially on those days when you are just sick of push ups and would not mind just skipping that day, but you don’t because you know you will be angry with yourself since you won’t be adding to your total you will actually be taking away from it.

I believe so much in the benefits of tracking that we are doing that I introduced a fellow employee that had just started taking a martial art to the idea of tracking the number of times he does something. He now tracks every push up he does in a day and adds that to his total. He has said that it is a very excellent motivator and he is enjoying it, he never thought he would enjoy push ups.

So let’s keep on track (sick pun I know)

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada

www.silentriverkungfu.com

3 Months, 6241 Pushups Later...

I decided this year to take my weight, measurements, and pictures every 3 months to see my actual progress during my UBBT challenge. I didn't do this step last year because I was too caught up on my "stuff" and was kicking myself in the end because I was such a bonehead. There were differences in my physique, but I had no concrete data. Hence the change this year.

It's the 3 month, 6241 pushup, 7323 situp mark and I shall post the differences from January's readings:
Weight: -2 pounds
Chest: +1/4 inch
Ribcage: +1/4 inch
Waist: -3/4 inch
Hips: -1/2 inch
R arm: same
L arm: -1/4 inch
R Leg (quad): -2 1/2 inches Upper thigh: -1/2 inch
L leg (quad): -3 inches Upper thigh: -1 1/4 inches
Waist/hip ratio: 0.78, which is down 0.01. Desirable for us females is below 0.8.

I'm happy with my results especially when I see WHERE the big changes are. If I focus solely on weight or waist measurements, I'm missing the big picture and that is why I take the measurements I take. Now to actually see the numbers, it brings it right home.

Here's the cool thing: am I doing training in Kung Fu for weight/fat loss? NO, I train like I do because I love Kung Fu and I want to get better/stronger/faster/more agile at it. The weight/fat loss is a consequence of my training not my focus.

Tis a great day and I have a demonstration to train for which means doing the form for the gazillionth time, sore muscles, my tongue hanging out because I'm out of breath, and keeping myself out of boredom, but it's all worth it when I know it's a job well done and I can actually now see the results.

Sherri Donohue
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta