The Whiteboard Still Matters (and Here's Why)

“Don’t count the days—make the days count.” — Muhammad Ali

Hey team,

In our last letter, we talked about how each training day has a purpose—and how understanding the goal helps you scale smarter, move better, and track your progress more meaningfully. This week, we’re diving deeper into that last piece: tracking—starting with something you see every day.

I want to bring some attention to something simple—but powerful: the whiteboard.

Yes, the one you see every day at the gym. The one we write your scores and times on. The one we huddle around at the beginning of every class and the end of a workout. It might seem like a small thing, but it carries big meaning.

Why We Track Workouts

This is more than just ink on a board. The whiteboard is our gym's shared story. It’s where your effort becomes visible, your consistency becomes recognized, and your small wins add up over time.

We don’t write your scores down to compare you to the person next to you. We write them down to track YOUR progress.

Fitness isn’t just about how you feel today. It’s about how far you’ve come—and where you’re headed. The whiteboard gives us a real-time record of:

• What YOU lifted

• How fast YOU moved

• How consistently YOU are showing up

• How YOUR body is adapting to the training

That’s not just data. That’s YOUR story being written, one rep at a time.

From Measurement to Motivation

Tracking matters. But let’s be clear: chasing scores is no excuse for sacrificing standards. If you find yourself racing through partial push-ups, shorting wall balls, or not extending your hips on deadlifts—not only are you not hitting the intended stimulus, you're not hitting the standard either.

Being at the top of the "leaderboard" means nothing if your reps don’t count. Move with purpose. Earn every rep. Let your numbers reflect your integrity, not just your effort.

When you record your score, you're building a habit of reflection and ownership. You’re saying: “I showed up. I gave effort. And I’m coming back to get better.”

And yes—sometimes it lights a fire under you to push a little harder. That’s not a bad thing. That’s what shared effort does. You don’t have to chase the leaderboard, but you can let it remind you that effort echoes—and effort compounds.

But, what if you forgot to count or lost track? or, what if something about putting your score on the whiteboard creates tension for you? Well, lucky you! We have a new tool that will help you stay motivated, keep you on track, and give coaches insight into whether athletes are scaling appropriately and meeting the desired stimulus of the workout.

Introducing the Stimulus Check

A simple, powerful way to track training intent, not just outcome. This can work with scores or as a substitute.

As you know every workout has a desired stimulus—a specific RPE, feel, effort, or pace. Whether it’s meant to leave you gasping, grinding, or cruising, the magic happens when you actually hit the mark. That’s where the Stimulus Check comes in.

It’s a 3-point system coaches can quickly mark on the whiteboard—no times, no scores, just feedback on alignment with the workout’s purpose:

How Coaches Will Use It

At the whiteboard post-WOD, coaches can now drop a quick mark next to each athlete’s name:

• "Hey Sarah—awesome effort. That looked like a ✔️ today."

• "Tom, good hustle. Let’s call that a ~ —next time, go heavier and you’re there."

Simple. Visual. Purposeful.

How to Track & Measure Progress

Tracking matters because training is a process. Logging workouts, noting how you scaled, and even jotting down how it felt mentally and physically—it all gives context to your journey.

Here are a few ways to get more out of your tracking:

• Use the notes section in the members app or a notebook to record effort level, scaling, and mindset

• Check back on old scores before retests to set a game plan

• Celebrate trends, not just PRs

• Ask your coaches how to interpret your progress based on goals

Progress Leaves Clues

The more you track, the more you’ll understand your strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for growth, physically, mentally and emotionally. The whiteboard is just the start. Your story lives in your consistency.

Let’s keep showing up, keep writing it down, and keep chasing progress on purpose.

What to expect in our next letter?

I’m pretty excited about digging into the thinking behind RPE or rate of perceived exertion. We’ve been talking about this, and using it in classes to help members understand how hard (or NOT) to push certain workouts, but providing some more detail will help us all use this training concept more effectively on a daily basis.