In theory, I should track everything at the gym. Without a log, there’s no good way to tell when I’m progressing, and by how much.

Yet I’m fairly confident that I’ll never get in that habit. I’ve tried it a few times and it just isn’t for me.

When I track my workouts, it feels like work. I get stressed out about whether I’ll set a new best for a given lift, and I leave disappointed if I don’t meet my expectations.

When I was competing athletically that was fine. I was set on improving every week so I could be my best, so it made sense to track my progress.

But now that my focus is on general health, I don’t have any interest in keeping track of my progress.

My ideal workout is a meandering adventure through the gym. I get there knowing which muscle groups I want to hit and generally the types of exercises I do, but I don’t make any firm decisions until I’m in the moment.

That way I can react to the crowds in the gym and I can adjust based on how I’m feeling.

As long as I leave knowing that I pushed myself and I covered the areas I wanted to, I generally don’t care about the specifics.

At this point, I’d rather enjoy what I do and maintain a consistent practice than have slightly better results and dread each exercise.

-Brandon