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does anyone keep a journal of practices and meets, how you jumped and things to work on? I did last year and had more improvement, this year I didnt keep a journal and only pr'd in a meet by 6 in

All my athletes have training logs - an idea I got from Earl Bell. Mine are a tad different from his, but every practice and usually in meets we record things like the date, # of steps run, grip height, pole size, starting mark on the runway, speed/check marks on the runway, mid-mark, standard placement, technical goals, weather conditions, etc. I used to keep track of how I felt, diet, sleep, all my workouts recorded with interval times, poundage lifted, sets and reps, etc. I think it's a great idea to do it - if you get into a rut, you can always look back and see what you were doing differently when you were successful.

i agree, its gets annoying some times to keep a log book of everything you do, but when i stopped useing mine i kinda felt like i did not have anything reminding me of my goals and keeping my focus. so then i went back and everyday i felt like ... yes this is what im working for, i'll get there. it was better for motivation.

but I'm working for myself, and I just want the highest I can get... with the best technique. I know what I need fixed without a log book, and I know what i need to do to fix it...

log book? pffft

Lord of the Poles wrote:but I'm working for myself, and I just want the highest I can get... with the best technique. I know what I need fixed without a log book, and I know what i need to do to fix it...

log book? pffft

Having a log book in itself won't help you improve, it's if and how you use it that counts. Of course everyone knows what they need to work on right now, but if you truly want to be good, you need to look at the long term. Tracking your progress, writing down all the details of your training gives you something to fall back upon when you plateau. Maybe you had some drill or cue that worked really well for you that you had forgotten about. Maybe you changed how many times you jumped, lifted, or sprinted per week from when you were getting better results? It's also been stated that goals are much more easily achieved if written down - if you have them staring you in the face every day you open up your log book, that can be motivating. The only reason I can think of for not wanting to keep one is just sheer laziness, which, if you have a problem with, you can expect not to improve very much anyway.

lonestar... well said.