Every once in a while, the skillset I’ve honed over 15 years in software development helps me out in my everyday life. If I were a carpenter or a plumber or a diesel mechanic, this would probably happen a lot more often, but given how weirdly divorced my profession is from the real world, I’m just glad it happens at all.

This is part of our 100 Things in 2018 challenge. Make sure to click on the photos!

I’ve been doing Crossfit for a while, and part of the program is weightlifting. When I first started, I had a paper notebook where I kept a log of what movement I was doing, how much weight, and how many reps. Then, the next time I did that movement, I’d have some idea of how much I could do. For example, if I deadlifted 185 lbs. in a set of 5 last week, I can probably do 195 in a set of 3 this week, and maybe more. This is much better than complete guesswork.

For a while I was going to a gym where this wasn’t so important; most of the movements were body weight, or light weight with lots of reps, and we’d do them maybe once a month, so writing them down seemed silly. But now I’m back at a Crossfit gym, and it has once again become useful to know how much I deadlifted last week.

Pen and paper would work, but it’s hard to search. So I wrote a simple web page where I can record my lifts, and look for them later.

You can use it too! Head over to weights.straub.cc, click Login, and provide a Google identity. If you’re nerdy like me, you can look at the source code, too.