My wife and I are currently in Denmark and since I wanted to follow the efforts of the athletes participating in the Olympics,  I took a look in the newspaper to catch up on  current results.

A small blurb about the 4-time Olympic gold medal winner of the discus, American Al Oerter, caught my attention, because in 1996 when I attended the yearly NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning Association) Conference in Atlanta, Al Oerter was the keynote speaker.

I remember Oerter referencing a conversation with a journalist, who had asked him:

"Who's your coach?"

"A towel and a blackboard," Oerter answered.

Not suprisingly, the journalist was interested in Oerter expanding on that rather mysterious statement.

"You see", Oerter said, "every morning when I start throwing the discus I mark the length of the throw with the towel and each time I surpass that length I move the towel out to match the new length."

He continued, "Every time I am in the gym and make a new personal best, I write it on a blackboard and I know that if I, in a four year period, can make a good number of personal bests, I am prepared for the Olympics."

Orter's explanation may be a simplification of what actually took place, but still provides us with valuable lessons that can help us surpass previous bests:

1. When you know the exact numbers you are trying to surpass, you are more likely to surpass them:
   
   Every exercise you do must provide measureable feedback of performance (ex: the towel)
   
   
2. Keeping track of best lifts helps you build confidence.
   
   As the saying goes "success breeds success" and few things will build your confidence as listing one personal best after the other.
   
   Don't limit yourself to keeping track of your big lifts like squats, snatches and presses. To get as many victories as possible keep track of ANY exercise you do.
   
   
3. High performance is created by many small personal bests.
   
   In certain cases you will see athletes rapidly improve performance in a very short period of time. This is, however, the exception and is often the result of previous years of intensive work. In most cases high performance is achieved by working towards the same goals for a goal time and with regular intervals narrowing in on those goals in small steps.

If you are not already on a path towards a challenging goal, I suggest you pick one. The principles of Al Oerter's training will definitely help you get there.

Committed to your uninterrupted success,
Karsten Jensen

NOTE: If you are doubting how to keep track of your personal bests, my Training Analysis Sheet can show you how. Read about how the sheet can benefit you by clicking here.