I used to love my training journal. It was a helpful component of my training bag. Let me explain.
I said Helpful: I love BJJ grappling and, coming from a managerial background, I thrived on analysing old data and using that knowledge to plan future action plans ...etc. I actually still have my old journals from when I first started BJJ and look in them every now and again. You can't analyse what you haven't captured and that was my way of capturing.
I also said It was: I stopped using the journal as I felt that they served their purpose for me. I no longer go to training to get "better". I go because I love it. Of course, even those who are not chasing improvement can still use the training journal. I have just switched to other mediums like this blog and my social media accounts
. For those of you who are curious about the journal but don't know where to start, here is my quick guide:
Technical diary: This is where you make notes on everything you did in the sessions. Techniques, drills, the coach’s small notes, your own small notes, training partners small notes, diagrams, durations…etc. This, in my opinion, is very boring. I don’t like this and I feel it leaves you victim to the unfair and uneven sieve that is your memory. Having said that, many great athletes and coaches are huge advocates of this and, in time, it provides great raw material for that future BJJ book that will catapult you to stardom!
Mental diary: This is where you answer the following 4 questions after every session:
1. What thoughts were running thru my mind today immediately before and immediately after the session? (I’ve got lots to do at work, I don’t want to stay up late tonight, What am I going to have for dinner?)
2. What Positive Feelings did I experience during the session? (strong, agile, good hip movement, sweet armbar escape)
3. What Negative Feelings did I experience during the session? (muscling out of subs, couldn’t hold down side control, why did I get caught in that armbar?!)
4. What did I do to resolve the Negative Feelings? (talked to my training partner about how to avoid needing to muscle out, spent 4-5 minutes after session with partner working the side control, kept my elbows close to me the rest of the round)
That’s the skeleton. You can of course flesh it out with technical parts or anything else. If you come across something in step 3 that you didn’t do anything about in step 4, make sure you come up with a plan and follow it up in the next session/at home…etc.
This was my favoured format. Not only was it easier to keep up to date, it had a great built-in mechanism where step 4 empowered you to take charge of step 3.
Like I said, I no longer use this tool, but fully appreciate how it can be used, e.g., in the last 2 months or so before a competition.
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If you are interested in the mental aspect of sports performance, Kay Porter’s book The Mental Athlete: Inner Training for Peak Performance in All Sports
is worth gold and you can get it for under a fiver!--------------------------------------------------
ZHOO ZHITSU IS FOR EVERYONE!
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