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Kettlebell How to remember your rep count? A quick personal guide

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adamgen

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So for me, it was extremely hard to remember the rep count at which I was on each set. And I'm just reading a book about learning abilities called limitless, so I decided to be a little creative and adopt a new system for remembering my rep count.

Instead of remembering the rep count as a number, I memorized 10 words that build a pseudo sentence and with each rep, I say a word from that sentence. I find the context of the word in the sentence much easier to remember than the number of rep I'm at, and it's a cool and empowering sentence:
  1. Adam (but please, use your own name if you do it :))
  2. Breaks
  3. Conditions
  4. Directly
  5. Effecting
  6. Flow
  7. Growth
  8. He is
  9. Just
  10. Kickass
Their initial letters are in alphabetical order to keep things easier to remember and notice if I forgot something.

And to remember it I pinned it in front of my eyes when working out.

1602502853878.png

Hope you find it useful,
Adam.
 
That seems like a good idea.

I keep count on a piece of paper, or turning over bars of soap (laid out in garage for scent to dissapate because wife thought they're too smelly).
 
For grinds, I usually have a good sense of what each rep will feel like with a given weight, so I almost never lose count.

For ballistics, I still mostly don't have a problem, but if I happen to lose count or am unsure if my count is accurate, I just throw on a few extra reps to make sure the set isn't short. It's good motivation not to lose count.

For keeping track of sets, I keep note on paper. If I am using a timer, I have my Impetus Interval Timer app programmed to display the set number, reps in the next set, and which hand to use (if applicable), for the various types of sessions I do.
 
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For swings (doing S&S at the moment), have pennies laid out, two vertical rows of 5 and move one left then right. 2nd and 3rd set are different weights at the moment, so offset those from the lineup slightly. Getups...row of 5 pennies. Always start on the left side, move penny upwards slightly, then to edge of mat once have done the right hand side.

The sentence strategy of the original poster is much more creative though!
 
Running through Simple/Sinister I just shout out the count at the end of each set.
In Japanese, admittedly (because jiu jitsu).

I almost never lose count except when the dog chooses to involve herself in the getups (thankfully rare).
 
Huh. Have you tried counting the reps out loud like the book suggests?

For S&S I just use a pen to keep track of of many sets I have done. Once the first 2 sets are done I put it down pointing at 12 O'clock. Every 2 sets after that I point it to 3, 6, 9 and finally 12 O'clock again. Not that keeping count of 10 sets is hard. But I usually train in the morning while sipping my coffee and listening to the radio and I sometimes loose focus of my workout.
 
Ok, what might be alternative phrases, favouring one syllable words?
  • Go to the gym right now and lift some weights.
  • I will not stop be-fore ten reps are done. (before split unto two reps)
  • This is the way: I am one with the force :D
On a related note, @Pavel Macek has once recommended to only count to 5... and then to start again at 1. Similarly, @Rif counts up and then down again, IIRC.
 
I have more trouble counting sets, so I use a chalkboard.

For example; if I am doing something like SS, I place an X for every 20 reps. One down to the left slash / for my left arm, one down and to the right\ for my right. 5 x's makes 100 reps.

If I happen to train outside I use pebbles. In this case I would find 10, and set in front of me. I would move them from left to right for each set.
 
That's really creative. It beats my method if I lose focus I just revert to the last rep I remember doing for sure. My wife has made fun of me when I've lost track around rep 9 and repeated the whole set just to make sure I'm not cheating myself. I'm going to give this a shot. Thanks dude.
 
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