Data Tracking For Olympic Weightlifting Part 2 of 5: Non Lifting Related Data
In the last article which you can find HERE, I broke down why you should be tracking data and what metrics we track for members of our gold level weightlifting team members. In this article, I’ll break down all of the Non-Lifting related data. This data will not be taken from your program, but from your athletes. Personally, this is also the hardest data to get from athletes, however it can be some of the most important when tracked over a long period of time.
The metrics we track here are
Bodyweight
Hours of sleep
Quality of sleep
Stress level before training
Meals consumed before training session
Let’s break each of these down.
Bodyweight
When tracking bodyweight, it is best to track 3 times per day, however at least once is fine. It is important to make sure that however many times you track, they are at a consistent schedule. This means always track upon waking up, or immediately before bed. The reason for this is bodyweight is incredibly necessary to track for weight class sports like weightlifting. If your athlete cuts weight or gains weight for a competition, then this will help make sure there are no surprises on competition day. You will also be able to see if a lifter may have had a significant change in stress level, as it is not uncommon for high stress to cause sudden weight gain or loss. You can also see whether your program is working or not! If you have an athlete on a 12 week hypertrophy cycle to go up a weight class, but their bodyweight goes down, then you might need to make some changes.
Hours Of Sleep
This one is simple. Tracking the number on the hours of sleep as well as the next data point will allow you to point to the numbers when a lifter says “they work better with 5 hours of sleep” which is obviously bullshit. Combine that with tracking their lifting performance and you’ll have a strong case.
Quality Of Sleep
This one is simple, but more qualitative. I recommend using a “One to Four” scale. I experimented with different versions, but found that when you give athletes a “middle ground” they tend to choose the middle when they aren’t a best or worst. Middle ground qualitative data is essentially useless, so go 1-4. 1 being very low quality, and 4 being very high quality. Keep in mind that there are MANY things that will effect sleep quality some you have control over and some you do not such as nutrition, caffeine, and medication.
Stress Level Before Training
This metric is another qualitative one, and again I recommend using a one to four scale to measure this. Tracking stress level is important to understand because training is stress just as much as anything else in life. If you can see that a lifter is consistently trending up stress level, then it may be a good idea to discuss a modification in training schedule or help them manage stress better. Unless you track it, you will never know!
Meals Consumed Before Training
This metric is easy enough to understand, but just make sure to outline with your athletes what is considered a meal. This is completely up to you, but make sure it is consistent across all lifters and days. The biggest reason we track this is to help athletes get a better idea of how properly fueling can make a difference in training. It is also beneficial to keep an eye on your athletes who don’t eat enough before training, and use it as a reminder to them when their training suffers.
Wrapping Things Up
The most important thing to keep in mind as you start tracking data is to not get too excited and start making changes based off of it right away. You’ll need AT LEAST 4 weeks of non tampered data before you can start making changes, and just like middle school science, only make one change, and observe the results. If you change too much too often, you will not be able to tell WHAT made the difference!