What Does PR Mean in CrossFit?
When athletes in the gym talk about PR, it simply means Personal Record. A Personal Record is when they have achieved a new high standard for a lift or workout in either weight, reps, or time.
While the personal record is not the only objective for training, it is something worth celebrating because it demonstrates growth and dedication.
When CrossFit athletes achieve a new PR, it is not meant to be showing off to others. Setting goals and reaching new PRs is about competing with yourself, and challenging yourself to become stronger, faster, and fitter.
How Tracking PRs Makes You a Better Athlete
You are probably enthusiastic about training; however, tracking your PR is the best way to reveal your strengths and find out if your hard work is paying off. Learning about your strengths allows you to utilize them during competitions or to beat your current personal record.
Tracking also helps you to establish your weaknesses. Once you identify your limitations in advance, you can work on them as soon as possible. Tracking your personal record helps you get a detailed picture of your fitness journey by comparing your current statistics against previous ones.
Other than the comparison, tracking also shows you the growth progress of your fitness journey. Seeing your hard work paying off is usually motivating and encourages you to keep pushing through to become better.
Ways to Track Your PR in the Gym
Tracking your personal record or personal best (PB) is a simple way to monitor your progress, helping you stay inspired, and enabling you to keep on training. Regardless of your fitness goals, tracking PR for specific lifts and workouts is a great motivator to ensure you continually push yourself to improve. There are several good methods of tracking your PRs through technology or good old fashioned pen and paper.
Smartphone Apps
Technology has made life more comfortable; hence, you can use specific fitness applications to track your personal record. With the world full of dependable training apps, you can easily log your CrossFit goals and your app of choice will record your daily training activities.
Many apps pair quite well with any GPS device, such as a smartwatch, to automatically upload any workout records. The simplicity in using the fitness apps enables you to keep track of your workouts, set training goals, share your progress with friends, and ultimately help you beat your personal record.
Recommended CrossFit Apps
Sports Notebook
A sports notebook or diary can help you track your PR. All you must do is to set a fitness goal and document your daily progress. To ensure that you are keeping track of your progress, you will need to occasionally review previous notes and document strategies to help you beat your personal best.
The biggest advantage of using a sports notebook instead of an app is that you do not need to carry your device with you or rely on internet access. This is especially convenient for CrossFit athletes who work out off-grid.
Recommended Sports Notebooks
Using PRs in CrossFit Training
No matter if you are new to CrossFit or an experienced enthusiast, logging all your workouts can help you become a better CrossFitter. Many variables can affect your success as a CrossFitter; however, having a well-documented training log will help you track your personal records, and help you identify what works for you. It would help if you logged your CrossFit workouts for at least a month, and used them to track your training, and ultimately achieve an excellent PR.
Your PR shows that you have been taking training seriously. Additionally, tracking your PB allows you to establish your strengths and weaknesses, which are essential if you want to be an excellent athlete.
