Memorizing Your Social Security Number and Other Things

What are the things you know about yourself off the top of your head? Your address? Social security number? Childhood home phone number? 

These are practical facts to keep in your brain for good reason, but I’d like to encourage you to add to this list. Part of what makes for a great training experience is growing closer and closer to understanding what you can and can’t do. 

Self-awareness can make or break a training program’s efficiency. 

That said, you should know within ten or fifteen pounds what your main lifts are today (not back in high school). If you put down your phone and started to run a mile right now, you should know about how long that would take you. If a magical drill sergeant popped out of a Genie Bottle and said drop and push ‘em out, I hope you’d know about how many push ups you could do. 

It may seem silly but these types of core ability will continue to show up in your decision-making all around the gym. The more finely tuned your awareness, the closer you can get to an ideal training stimulus in the gym. 

Make no mistake. This isn’t about you caring what your numbers are for their own sake. This is all about how well you know your abilities so you can get the most out of your training.