Originally Posted by
Doge
I think I'm just repeating myself, but to repeat myself...
Think about how the "typical" gym might work.
Do you want to train with a trainer that says lift this, that many times?
OR
Do you want a trainer that looks at you, asks how you slept, and then says - do this or that without paying all that much attention to the weight?
I am not anti PM, but to me, it is just like a number on a weight plate. And the idea that you perform to a fixed number each day is not as good as trying to figure out what you can stress yourself to each day. When dealing with those in the low (5%ish) body composition, you risk sickness, over fatigue - you can't trust a number. While most on BF (not me for sure) are not at that level, the principle applies. Don't fry yourself looking at a number. You will achieve more paying attention to you body. Your rest, you HR (morning esp) and your joy of the sport. A PM may be a cruel master.
Nothing of the sort. You shouldn't be performing the same workout to the same number every day, in any case, but it's nice to be able to quantify what you did and how it went without resorting to the dreaded "average speed". It's no different than swimming with a pace clock (which very few swimmers would want to go without) or running with a GPS watch (more runners do without, but a majority still prefer it). Yes, for all three there are days where you feel like crap and can't hit your numbers. There are days you're really pushing yourself and the numbers seem cruelly difficult. But, most days, the numbers are achievable without blowing yourself up (and also prevent you from overdoing it and wrecking tomorrow's workout), and allow you to quantify your improvement year over year.