Part of a performance diary, which is what this is by the way – a record of training and competition – is to write your goal every day. It could be to make the Olympic team or make the varsity team or beat your brother in pool. My problem is that I have too many goals, I am a workaholic, a nux vomica (the homepathic remedy for workaholics). Since I’m no Leonardo Da Vinci, I’ve had to prioritize.

First of all, do you regularly write your goals down? If the answer is yes, do you also write down the date you would like to accomplish the goals by? If the answer to that is yes, are you actually accomplishing your goals? If you are, go away, you’re far more accomplished than I am and this blog won’t help you one bit.

If you aren’t accomplishing your goals, you might have to change them or prioritize. What are the things you absolutely could not live without? Put these at the top of the list. What are the things that you might miss for a few weeks but whose absence would not mean the end of the world? Put these at the bottom of the list.

Not sure what goals to put where? Think about the things you’ve done all your life, the things nobody had to ask you to do, the things you have always been obsessed by, the things you did when you were supposed to be doing something else. Still not sure? Ask someone in your family or your best friend. My niece Anita had to help me compile a list of the things I used to do as a child – I couldn’t remember.

Practice Report: worked out at the gym for 1 1/4 hours
Solutions Analysis:
1. you’ve seen those people in the gym with their head thrown back and their shoulders up around their ears who grimace and strain and look like every vein in their neck is ready to snap. They’re jaw and neck muscles are tight and they’ve shortened their muscles instead of freeing them up to lift the weight. I don’t look like that but I do sometimes have strained breathing. If your breathing is strained, your muscles are probably shortened. If you take all of that strain out of the rest of your body and concentrate only on the muscles you are trying to strengthen, you will, in fact, strengthen them. Try it.
2. it is imperative to use my abs while doing arm raises.
Success Analysis: I was able to increase my reps today. I’m finally getting back into shape after my latest bout with tennis elbow.
Injury Report: I strained my back dragging a handtruck with a microwave on it up two flights of stairs.