Goal setting and logging of rowers attendance is scientifically proven to improve your performance compared to “do-best” or “no-goal” athletes. Tracklete supports you along the way by letting you log your training attendance and giving you the power to easily track your performance towards your set goals.
Improving athlete attendance and training readiness through logging
Why?
Young et al [1] showed that the use of self-monitoring tools by athletes which set or did not set personal training goals improved both their attendance, lateness and training volume.
This can be due to a number of reasons, such as self-motivation by seeing at which trainings your fellow athletes have participated, mental commitment by prescribing yourself to a session or simply to making the time available in your calendar.
Added bonus: By public logging of your sessions, i.e. giving your fellow athletes and coaches access to your logs, your comrades and coaches can interfere better if you miss out on training, which can be particularly important in self-guided training where a coach is not present at every session.
Furthermore, by not only logging your attendance but also additional parameters such as the hours of sleep, your weight, soreness, etc. you give your coach additional information of anything he might need to adjust your training. This way you can actively avoid injuries or overtraining.
How?
With Tracklete you can set your attendance with one click. On your Dashboard, click the attendance indicator next to the training description to set your attendance to going or not going. By clicking on the session you can see which coaches, athletes and coxes set their attendance.
An overview of your crews attendance is available on the Attendance tab of your crew page, see blow. For each session (rows) the attendance of all crew member is shown in the columns (click on the abbreviated name to view the full member name)
Performance increase through goal setting
Why?
Lots of research has been done to investigate whether goal setting affects athletes performance. Lerner et al investigated the difference in performance of groups with high and medium goals versus a control group without any goal, told to achieve their best possible performance [2]. Summarised, the control group performed significantly worse that the groups which set out to achieve a certain goal. These findings are confirmed by a meta study by Kyllo [3], which reviewed 36 individual studies.
One thing to look out for: Your goals shouldn’t be too easy, but neither too hard. If you set an unachievable goal, it might demotivate you and have just the opposite effect of what you’d expect. Further more it can be beneficial to set short, medium and long term goals to boost your motivation even further.
How?
An important part of goal setting is to write down your goals. This way you will mentally commit more than if you only keep them in your head, and change them as you go. To set you personal goal, go to your profile and scroll down to Targets. Here you can set your short-, mid- and long-term 2k target times and work towards them.
Additional benefits of training and attendance logging
- Your coach knows what you’ve been doing (even if he wasn’t there) and can adjust your training program, e.g. to prevent overtraining
- You can much track your progress and seek advice in case you miss your targets
- Training logs can help identifying problems which interfere with your training, e.g. lack of sleep, soreness or injuries
Sources
[1] Young, B. W., Medic, N., & Starkes, J. L. (2009). Effects of Self-Monitoring Training Logs on Behaviors and Beliefs of Swimmers. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 21(4), 413–428. doi:10.1080/10413200903222889
[2] Lerner, B. S., & Locke, E. A. (1995). The Effects of Goal Setting, Self-Efficacy, Competition, and Personal Traits on the Performance of an Endurance Task. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 17(2), 138-152. doi:10.1123/jsep.17.2.138
[3] Kyllo, L. B., & Landers, D. M. (1995). Goal Setting in Sport and Exercise: A Research Synthesis to Resolve the Controversy. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 17(2), 117–137. doi:10.1123/jsep.17.2.117