Forums

Discuss all things Remember The Milk.

Workout Checklist

richard.rumley says:
Inspired by the Travel Checklist that was posted a few months ago (http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/tips/8714/), I decided to apply the same ideas to my workout routine.

My problem was that I would go to the gym, and "forget" some of the exercises that I wanted to do.

I made a new list, called "All Exercises". This is my golden list of exercises. In this list, I would put a single task for each exercise. Each task will include the following:
- I usually get the exercises from a web page, so I also include the URL with the task, so I can refer back to it if I need to.
- In the "Notes" column, I include the text of how to do each exercise.
- I add a tag for the equipment needed, i.e. mat, bosu ball, medicine ball.
- I put the equipment needed on the task name, so that I can sort it on my Blackberry alphabetically. That way, all of the "mat" work can be done at the same time, before moving onto another piece of equipment, like the "bosu ball."

Example:
Take name: ball: Crunch on an Exercise Ball
Note: Sit on the exercise ball with your feet flat on the floor.
Let the ball roll back slowly and lie back until your thighs and torso are parallel with the floor.
Contract your abdominals raising your torso to no more than 45 degrees.
To work the oblique muscles, make the exercise less stable by moving your feet closer together.
URL: http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/bestabexercises/a/all_abs.htm

Once my golden list of exercises is done, I then created three new lists, called Exercise (1), Exercise (2), and Exercise (3). My goal is to hit the gym 3x a week, and do each exercise one time a week.

I open up my main list, "All Exercises" and select all. From the drop down, I select "duplicate task". This will create a duplicate set of all my tasks. Then, I select "Move to ...Exercise(1) list" This will move all of the newly copied tasks to my Exercise(1) list, leaving my "All Exercises" with the same set of tasks as when I started.

I then go into my Exercise(1) list, and select 2/3 of the exercises, and "move to ...Exercise(2) list", leaving behind 1/3 of the exercises in the Exercise(1) list.
Then, go into the Exercise(2) list, and move 1/2 of them into Exercise(3) list.

Now, I have three lists, populated with all of my exercises. I use MilkSync to sync these lists with my Blackberry. I can then bring it to the gym, and I have my list of exercises, with written instructions if I need them. When I finish my exercise, I can check off the box (very satisfying!) and mark it done. When my list is empty, the workout is done.

Each week, I have a repeating task to remind me to repopulate the three Exercise tasks. I will then move the exercises around a little bit, so I'm not doing the same thing every day.

Early on, I made the mistake of labeling the task with the days of the week. I used to have "Exercise (Monday)", but if I missed Monday's workout for any reason, it felt very bad to use that list on Tuesday. Now I use the numbers 1, 2, 3, and it works much better.


Posted at 4:54pm on February 2, 2010
organisator says:
Instead of copying the task again and again, you might write a list once and send them to RTM per Email whenever you need it.
Posted 14 years ago
emily (Remember The Milk) says:
Hi Richard, just wanted to let you know that you're this week's Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner -- we've upgraded your RTM account to have a free year of Pro. :)
Posted 14 years ago
jmac58 says:
THAT WAS A GREAT IDEA!!! THANKS FOR THE INPUT. GONNA TRY IT!
Posted 14 years ago
Log in to post a reply.