Why Counting Your Reps Is On You

​Happy Thursday everyone, it’s been a bit of a busy week plus for me as Catherine and I are starting to kick things into high gear for the wedding. I’m sure some of you are saying, dude October is 9 months away chill out, but most of you know it’s better to not wait until the last possible day to do it all. In an ideal world, we’d have most everything done by the end of August or early September. Of course, it WON’T play out like that, but hey let us have our dream until then.
 
Before I get into the topic for today I want to say a couple things;
 
1). I do have a political point of view and no I’m not going to make it public (yet). If you’re really curious about it, shoot me a message and we can talk about it like civilized humans and not argue about it on a Facebook wall like children.
 
2). Being controversial in this industry just for the sake of being controversial and trying to get attention is stupid…like really stupid. A few of you know what I’m talking about, if you have a legitimate point and evidence to back it up, please share with everyone in the class. Otherwise just keep your gripes and whining in check, cool?
 
Alright done with those shenanigans, let’s talk about why your rep counting is on you.
 
The average person will pay somewhere between $50-$100 per training session. Depending on where you are that could be right at market, a damn good price or a rip off. In any case let’s talk about what you’re paying for with that money.
 
Likely at the least, you’re paying for the following (not limited to this list);
 
-Expertise
-Guidance (kind of goes with the above but still worth noting)
-Accountability
-Game Planning (sounds way cooler than any other term I could think of)
 
As I mentioned, this list can be a metric-shit-ton longer, but we’ll keep it to these 4 for the sake of brevity and sanity. Please notice above how nowhere I mention you’re paying to have someone count your reps.
 
Now I will admit that I was one of those guys that counted people’s reps (still am guilty of doing it now and again). I am someone that might tell you I’m a multi-tasker…but those that know me will call me on it, I’m not. I’m better served putting all (or most) of my energy into one thing. Eventually I figured that out when coaching clients. Simply I need to very much pay attention to what is going on with their bodies during their workouts, not count. You can stick an exponent on the end of that when you bring in to the conversation formats like semi-private and group training too.

Yes, I know you as the client need to be mindful of your technique and concentrate on doing the exercise, drill or lift correctly. I get that, but I can be a lot more helpful to you and your technique and safety if I leave counting to you. Assuming I’ve cued you correctly (and I probably have) you have just a few things to concentrate on that will allow you to complete the lift safely. On the other hand, I’ve got about 10 to concentrate on.

You don't need one of these to keep track of your reps. Photo credit Dreamstime.com

Here’s a couple easy tips to make this whole 1, 2, 3 thing, easier for you;

1. Practice while doing this during your warm-up exercises. You do have several things to concentrate on here as well, but you don’t have the 200+ lbs. gorilla (or bar) on your back to worry about.
2. Say the number as you exhale during the rep. Not only can you now be responsible with the counting, we as coaches can now be sure you are breathing properly.
3. Good rule of thumb, look to get the OK from your coach or trainer here. When you lose count, because it will happen, do an extra one. We promise we won’t let you break.

Next time someone you ask your trainer or coach how many reps, remember you can handle this, we all learned it many years ago. You got it, so take control, it's always good to take a little responsibility for yourself here. Eventually the goal (for me at least) is for clients to be able to handle training on their own with minimal guidance. Taking charge of your rep count is a really easy place to start.

That's all I got today guys, got out and get after it!