As coaches, we can’t help but get a little heavy-hearted when we ask a client a question such as, ‘What’s your 1RM clean?’ and we are met with a blank stare. Worse still is a confused look followed by, ‘Which one’s the clean again?’
Let me reiterate: WE DO NOT care what your numbers are. And we don’t even particularly care how you go about remembering your numbers—whether your write it down with a pen and paper, whether you keep a spreadsheet on your computer, or whether you download the newest workout tracker of the day. The important thing is that you DO remember your numbers—no matter what fitness level you’re at!
There are 3 reasons Why?
1. For the sake of your fitness!
Being aware of how much you can back squat, front squat, shoulder press and snatch is going to help you continuously make strength gains in the gym.
Let’s say, for example, tomorrow’s lifting session is 5 sets of 3 back squats at 80% of your 1 RM, and you have no idea what a heavy back squat is for you—let alone a 1RM—then you’ll essentially be playing the guessing game during your strength session. You might end up going too heavy, or too light, or wasting valuable time figuring out how heavy you should be lifting that you might even run our of time to finish your working sets. Bottom line: You will not get the most bang for your buck if you don’t have a good understanding of what your body can do.
Similarly, when it comes to the conditioning workout, if you know, for example, exactly how many pull-ups you can do when you’re fresh, or what your best power snatch is, it will allow the coach to help you scale the workout properly so you’re able to preserve the intended stimulus of the day.
What’s the intended stimulus of the day, you ask?
By this, I mean each workout we do has a specific intention. Fran (21-15-9 thrusters and pull-ups), for example, is meant to be a sprint. If done correctly, Fran should challenge your lungs, and maybe your pull-up muscular endurance. If Fran takes you longer than 7 minutes to complete, it isn’t going to do this. In other words, a 15-minute Fran is more of a test of strength than anything, which is fine; however, if tomorrow’s workout is also a strength workout, then you will not reap the benefits of this week’s aerobic capacity threshold test if you don’t scale Fran properly.
To help you scale Fran properly, it’s imperative you know your numbers and skill level: You need to be aware of what a heavy front squat, thruster and press is for you, as well as where you’re pulling strength is at.
In short, knowing your fitness numbers will ensure your fitness is always improving!
