A few years back, I decided to go on a permanent Park Bench Mode and never looked back. So now, the only metric I care about is this: to train more often than not. And that doesn't necessarily mean strength training; running, martial arts, mobility... they all count as training.
If I end up the year having trained more than 190 days, I will be happy.
And, since I have no real goals to achieve anymore, I use this thing I call shame levels. These are the low-end performance levels I should be able to do any day, anytime, anywhere, irrespective of how much sleep I got, how tired I am and how sick I'm feeling (within reason).
Current shame levels (these are subject to constant adjustments):
- Running a 5K in no more than 25-30 minutes.
- Five solid reps of any of these exercises: front squat, snatch grip Romanian deadlift, incline bench press and incline row (torso at 45º), pull ups or dips, using 125%-150% of bodyweight.
- Medium-hard sparring for five minutes, without puking my guts.
- Crawling for five minutes straight.
These are not meant to be done all at once. Just make your own personal shame level list (aim WAY lower than you think), pick one randomly and see if you can do it when you have spent the night trying to calm the baby down and have running a mild-fever.