How to track progress?

[ivymeow]

i started geoff neuperts 12 Week KB Master plan on the 13th of Feb. Ive been logging my progress on each of the movements and i am a little confused about my progress and how to track it.

The program states to start with a pair of kettlebells that are your 5RM for the military press. i started with 2x20kgs.

My progress over the first 4 weeks was easy to see, my swing went from 4800 kg volume on day 2 of the program, to 6240kg on day 12. The volume on C&P also went from 972kg on day 1 to 1400 kg on day 11.

at the end of the fist block, i retested my Max and there was definite progress here too.
- for the press i went from 5 max to 10 max (technical breakdown)
- squats were not tested initially but at the end of the block i was able to do 24 squats with 2x20
- swings were also not tested initially, but based on my notes there was a definite improvement. i was able to do 24 swings with 2x20 with good form.

now in block 2, i am a bit confused. the exercises are now sets as % of your max reps: C&P is 60%, 70% and 80% etc. How exactly do i track progress? Volume seems to be going down owing to longer rest periods. for example my last C&P+Sq in week 4 was 10 sets each of 3 and 4 reps with 20kg per hand. this is a volume of 1400 kg per hand in 30 mins. In week 6, i did 6 sets of 7 reps (70% of max) with 20kg per hand. this is 840 kg, almost half of what i did in week 4.

• what exactly is progress and how do i measure it?
• are the blocks setup as BLOCK 1: Volume, BLOCK 2: Density and BLOCK 3: intensity? What is an appropriate metric to track?

the program in brief (for reference):
clean, press and squat workouts are 30 mins
swings are 20 mins

week 1 day 1 press and squat alternating sets of 1 and 2 reps
week 1 day 2 swing sets of 4
week 1 day 3 press and sq. sets of 2
week 2 day 1 swing sets of 5
week 2 day 2 press and sq ladders of 1,2,3
week 2 day 3 swing sets of 6
week 3 day 1 press and q sets of 3
week 3 day 2 swing sets of 4
week 3 day 3 press and sq ladder to 4
week 4 day 1 swing sets of 5
week 4 day 2 press and sq alternate sets of 3 and 4
week 4 day 3 swings sets of 6
TEST RM;s
week 5 day 1 press + sq 60%RM
week 5 day 2 swing 60%RM
week 5 day 3 press + sq 70%RM
week 6 day 1 swing 70%RM

 

[ant0099]

@ivymeow It's a bit tough to keep up with all the numbers being thrown around, but a couple notes on programming:

1. So long as you're on good programming, rest assured progression is a part of the program, so in a sense, so long as you do what the program says, you'll likely progress.
2. There are natural ebbs & flows of programming. Sometimes you're hitting 1rms, sometimes you're breaking 15 rep maxes, sometimes you're even getting close to either max and you're just getting work in.

Right now it seems like this is the stage of training, with the reduction in volume, where the numbers are going down a bit. With time as you follow it they'll likely rise.

To answer your question regarding tracking progress, looks at the levers of programming. Is your X rep max higher? Are you able to take less rest? Are you able to preform moves with better technique? In a way, it's up to you to choose what metrics you most want to measure & ensure those qualities are going up alongside your programming.

Also: there are tests built into the programming. I see week 6 has a test week. So that's how you measure progress there. You test when it's time to. Seems like you tested early & that's messing up your perspective a bit. I honestly would just track the numbers without a major worry about ups or downs and give your test week more than what you gave on the impromptu test week you did. Could be misunderstanding though.

 

[ivymeow]

@ant0099 Oops!! I didn’t realise the formatting would get messed up so bad… thankfully, the numbers aren’t really important, given what you said.

I have only been training for a little Over a year, so in my limited understanding of tracking progress all I’ve looked at is volume over time and changes to RM. What I typically do is make a graph recording volume and look at the trend lines.

My takeaway is that I shouldn’t be obsessed with trying to track my progress by the numbers each week and perhaps just test RM the every few weeks or so.

 

[lbeebe48]

@ivymeow Usually in a periodization method you just test less frequently, a new rep max for a given weight for example, or in a set amount of time.

 

[hunter101]

@ivymeow Just looking at total tonnage moved can be fun, but doesn't tell the full story.

• For example, let's say I do a workout with 10x1 barbell press at 75kg, 10x5 swings with double 32s, and a total of 25 chinups with +30kg
• Alternatively, I could do 10x3 press with 65kg, 500 total swings with a single 32, and 100 bodyweight chinups
• If we were to purely judge by weight moved, the second workout would be more than 3x as effective, but in terms of training effect it's rather the opposite

You can track a variety of rep maxes on a variety of exercises. You can also track density as a variable (for example, how many double kb clean & press with double 24s can you do in 30 minutes?).

Some programs will have an AMRAP set (As Many Reps As Possible) as part of it and regulate based on that. Other programs will have tests built into them. Either way, trust the program and test either when the program tells you to if it does so, or test once you've run the program (and possibly deloaded).

 

[ivymeow]

@hunter101 I never thought of it like that. For the last year and a half I’ve usually only looked at volume and if I can do more consistently, it’s progress. But it seems that looking at things that way is rather simplistic and measuring gains is much more nuanced. Thanks! I’ve got something to think about.

 

[hunter101]

@ivymeow It's not that it has no value as a metric, but it can't stand on its own.

Just accumulating tonnage can have a lot of value in terms of building work capacity, but it makes a lot of sense to periodise it and switch to more reps per set or heavier weight.

Different qualities can feed into each other. If your rep max for pressing double 24s increases from 10 to 15 you'll probably build a good deal of strength once you switch to heavier training. Likewise, going a size or two up for your press 1RM can have profound effects on your high-rep pressing.

 

[juancarlos]

@ivymeow Trying to track weekly progress is like trying to track weight loss progress by going on the scale every day. It's not going to be going in the direction you want all the time.

If you are following a well defined program, trust it and test at the end. Or just write down how a session felt. If 12 sets of 10 with 2x24 feels easier the next time, that is definite progress. If you are following a program where you try to beat the previous session in some way, do track all the variables. Though tonnage, which you seem fond of, I find mostly useless. Mainly you get big numbers and sure, everybody likes big numbers, but for me 20 sets is clearer than 5700 kg.

 

[ivymeow]

@juancarlos I’m incorporating writing down how the workout felt into my notes starting today. Thanks for the tip.

 

[juancarlos]

@ivymeow That's ultimately how you know if the load is too much for you (or your (lack of) recovery with all the other things in life makes it too much for you).

 

[jim_68]

@ivymeow This is an excellent way to look at progress from @binnguyen84

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kMETWJjyFNsHp4SlK8mZUejPphTO2bbRVmhKazukhpM/edit

 

[ivymeow]

@jim_68 This is fantastic! I wish I’d read this before posting the long blurb above. Thank you.

 

[jim_68]

@ivymeow Kettleballs has his collected writing in a google drive -

https://www.reddit.com/r/Kettleballs/comments/xozze6/the_fatalist_snap_city_google_drive

- everything is a must read

 

[danny1212]

@jim_68 Great read. Thank you for sharing. Awesome perspective

 

[jeremiah99]

@ivymeow I track my progress by monitoring testing heart rate and HRV while sleeping. You’ll notice changes as your conditioning gets better and how hard a workout is on your body. The more you can recover from the workouts the more indication to go a little harder

 

[ivymeow]

@jeremiah99 Interesting. Wouldn’t resting heart rate change slowly over time? I guess what I was looking for was a reliable high frequency measure of progress, and from what people have said, it doesn’t seem like there is one. HRV is interesting but there are so many contributing factors that I’m not sure it can be a proxy unless all the contributing variables are well controlled.

What do you use to measure HRV?

 

[jeremiah99]

@ivymeow I use oura. Over months of training hrv is consistently up and heart rate down. Yeah if I drink it will fuck it up for a night but it’s very tangible.