Where are you putting your brain?
There are few places where the mind can run as free as it does as on a whiteboard.
The effortless glide of an expo dry-erase marker onto a smooth high-gloss whiteboard can solve anything from the toughest matters in physics, to the detailed planning of a photographer, and even the complex programming for athletes.
The question I often find myself asking most is…how I turn more of my wall space into thinking space?
Or how do I turn all of my walls into whiteboards?
OK, perhaps I started off a little too philosophical there 🙂
But seriously, a whiteboard is an important component to your fitness.
There is just one problem…they aren’t cheap!!
Right now, between my garage and office I have access to 100 sq./ft of whiteboard space…and I still want more.
I’m a thinker, I’m a dreamer, I’m a planner, and I’m a programmer…And all of those things make me love whiteboards.
Today, I want to share with you a few things…
- First, I want to tell you HOW you should be using a whiteboard for your fitness
- Second, I want to show you some of the most cost effective ways to add more whiteboard space to your life.
If you don’t already, you will own a whiteboard (or a few) by the end of this article.
How You Should be Using a Whiteboard
First, let’s talk about how you SHOULD be using a whiteboard in your fitness. And the way I see it, the whiteboard will serve two purposes in your fitness arsenal:
- TRACKING: The Whiteboard will help you keep a flawless record of your fitness.
- PLANNING: The whiteboard will actually help you increase the frequency of your training.
These are things I have covered before here at End of Three Fitness, but I will rehash some of it now.
Tracking
Tracking your workouts with a whiteboard is a breeze…
- Write your workout
- Write the results of your workout
- Snap a picture of your workout with your phone
BUT if you only do those three things, we both know what will happen…
That pic will get deleted when your phone needs more space or it will get backed up to some hard drive somewhere and never seen again…
What’s the point of that?
Instead, do this:
- Write your workout
- Write the results of your workout
- Snap a picture of your workout with your phone, and put it in Evernote
Now, you are building a searchable database with every picture because Evernote can read your handwriting!
Not to mention if you put a tag in the note like “PR”, “Front Squat”, “One Man One Barbell Cycle”, where you can pull up just those notes and reference your progress over a few months or even years.
This is a powerful way to track.
Next, we have:
Planning
I wrote about this in my article: Crush Your Training Week with 3 Simple (tiny) Habits
But here it is again, since we are talking whiteboards.
On Sunday night, I put the entire week’s worth of training on my whiteboard, and it’s AWESOME!
It completely takes my brain out of training when it’s time to train, which is a good thing. It leaves mental energy for the training.
The last thing you want is an internal battle with yourself when it is time to train…
- “What workout will I do…?”
- “Where should I pull today’s workout from…?”
- “Will this interfere with yesterday’s training…?”
You’ll waste valuable time and mental energy. And you overtax your prefrontal cortex and lose your willpower to train that day entirely.
That’s the worst.
Planning your week’s worth of training has other perks too. Not only does it make you 100% prepared for the week, it’s a good way to hold yourself accountable if you don’t have an accountability partner.
When I write it on my whiteboard on Sunday, it becomes LAW for that week.
There is no erasing, skipping, etc.
As a coach and programmer, I know what I need to be doing each week, so the only way I won’t do it is if…
- I don’t have it planned, or…
- I don’t feel like doing ‘XYZ’ on that particular day…
Putting my week on a whiteboard holds me accountable to myself, prepares me for the week and helps me make huge gains in the long run.
Now, you know HOW to use a whiteboard. Let’s move to some options for getting more clear coat goodness in your life 🙂
DIY (and buy) Whiteboard Plans
Now, let’s move onto actually getting you as much whiteboard space for as little money as possible.
Option 1: White Panel Board + Clear Coat
This is, by far, will get you the biggest bang for your buck.
You can purchase one, two or 10 white panel boards at Lowes (I could not find this size or quality at Home Depot).
These white panel boards are less than $15 and will give you a 4’ x 8’ space for whiteboard. A lot of CrossFit gyms go this route because it saves a lot of money.
There is just one problem: A WHITE PANEL BOARD IS NOT A WHITEBOARD
I’m not trying to get technical here, but these panel boards are simply not whiteboards. They start out great but eventually they will become stained, discolored, etc.
But still not a bad option because you can just replace it for less than $15.
However, if you spend an additional $15 upfront for Rustoleum Clear Dry Erase you can now have a white panel board with a clear coat that will be just like a whiteboard for under $30.
I bought two 🙂
But what if your focus is on quality and price is not as much of an issue?
Then we buy…
Option 2: Buying
You can buy a white dinky whiteboard from just about anywhere; Target, Walmart, Office Depot, Amazon etc.
But honestly if you want a BIG whiteboard at good prices, that’s not where you want to shop. And what if you want wheels, or the ability flip the whiteboard upside down, or pull out a retractable pillow and sleep on it (kidding)?
Seriously though, you can look locally in your town for any place that provides school supplies to schools or you can check out these two sites…
They have pretty good prices and some really cool options for whiteboards of any type, size and price.
And the last option is not cheap, but very cool: Idea Paint
Idea Paint if super cool stuff! But it’s really only cool if your walls are not textured.
You need a pretty smooth surface for this stuff to work properly. But you can paint the top of desks, smooth wooden boards and all sorts of stuff with Ideapaint.
The finished product will be a whiteboard-quality finish.
But given the white panel board + clear coat option, Ideapaint is a more expensive way to go about it in my opinion.
However it is much higher quality than Rustoleum.
But I think I’ve taken talking whiteboards as far as I can go 🙂
It’s your turn to go out there and get a whiteboard.
So…where are you putting your brain, now?
-Jerred
