If you practice bodyweight exercises or train with weights or kettlebells for high repetition sets, you may find yourself occasionally losing track of what rep you were on.
Either the lyrics to the song that was playing interrupted your counting, or the monotony of a really long set got to you and your mind wandered to your happy place.
Either way, it can be very annoying to lose track of what rep you were on (”Was that 38 or 39?”) as you approach your 50th rep and either lose a rep or two or feel guilty and start over.
I’ve found several tricks that work for me when I’m attempting to keep my reps high but struggle with the sometimes psychologically crippling task of completing a high rep set.
One trick I learned while in the military is to change whatever exercise I’m doing to a 4-count exercise. For instance, with push-ups, every two reps I do I count as one. As I lower my chest to the ground I count “1”, “2” as I come up”, “3” as I go down again, and then whatever rep I’m on next as I come up; “1,2,3-1”, “1,2,3-2”, “1,2,3-3”. So if I want to do 40 push-ups, I’ll actually only count 20.
Another trick I use when I’m snatching my kettlebell for high repetitions is to count by tens. I’ll do 10 reps on one side, switch hands and do 10 reps on the other. Not only do my hands get a break, but as I reach the tenth rep on either the right or left side, I say that number out loud. Calling out the rep number also helps me remember where I am.
Finally, I sometimes abdicate my counting responsibilities to my spouse or training partner. That way I can focus on my form in a particular exercise and leave the counting to someone else.
Give these different ways of counting a try and see which works best for you before becoming frustrated and quitting your set.
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