Winners keep score. Logging your workouts helps you become a winner, but it’s just one of the reasons to do it. You get motivation because you’re tracking your progress. That turns it into a game where you strive to beat your last entry. When was the last time you were excited to exercise? If the answer is never or quite a while ago, it’s time to start tracking your progress. Video games track your progress, making them quite addictive. Do the same thing with exercise. You’ll quit dreading your workout and start looking forward to it.
When you log your workout, you check your consistency and improve it.
Knowing you have to log your workout is a small step toward accountability. You may be the only person that reads your log, but it still makes you accountable. It shows when you slack off and don’t work out or quit too soon before you’ve finished. It also can give you a boost of motivation when you show you’ve never missed a session for several weeks or months.
Add more information to your log.
If you started working out to lower your blood pressure or blood glucose levels, track those factors as well. It gives you a visual picture of how the exercise is helping you reach your goals. If weight loss is a goal, make a food diary and log your daily food intake, including that handful of candy you grab as you pass your co-worker’s candy dish. You’ll be amazed at how it helps you lose weight.
If you’re not making progress, you might need to change your workout plan.
One reason for logging your workout is to find ways to make your workout more effective and get the most progress. If you’re not making the progress you hoped to achieve, you can make your workout more difficult. When building muscles provides disappointing results, switch your workout, add more weight, or more sets. If your cardio isn’t coming along, consider high intensity interval training or circuit training. There are many ways to solve issues, but you have to know there are issues. Logging your workouts identifies them.
- Share your workout log with someone else. One study found that people who received a phone call checking exercise progress had an improved chance of maintaining an exercise program. Sharing your log does the same thing.
- Go modern with technology. Use your phone to track your workouts. You can also use a fitness tracker if you want to add it to your workout program. Some track heart rates, calories burned, and sleep patterns.
- Logging your workouts can help you make better goals. It can help you set more realistic goals or beef up ones that are too easy. It’s all about seeing your progress and then addressing it with realistic goals.
- When you log your workout, you have your workout routine already on paper, so there’s no messing around trying to figure out what to do. You know the number of reps and sets or the amount of weight to use.
For more information, contact us today at UpFit Training Academy
