In Houston, TX, clients log their workouts for many reasons. The most obvious reason to log your workouts is to check your progress and find out what’s working and what’s not. It shouldn’t take much time, especially if you only log the exercise and the number of reps. Some people like adding extra information, such as whether doing it was easy or extremely difficult. That gives more clues to the fitness level at which they perform. If the exercise feels easy, increase the number of sets or repetitions you perform to make it harder.
Logging your workout can save you time.
If you list all the exercises in chart form and do it in the same order each session, all you have to do is look down and see what exercise comes next. You don’t have to think about it or worry you missed one. If you’ve ever opened the refrigerator door and forgot what you were getting or left the grocery without picking up the one item you wanted (but had a basketful of other things you didn’t plan to buy), you know how helpful having a list to check off with the number of reps can be.
You’ll be more accountable for finishing your workout.
There’s something about writing down the number of repetitions and sets that makes you feel like you need to be honest and do everyone. If you aren’t logging your workout, it’s easy to skim by and adjust the workout to fewer repetitions or sets to finish faster. Writing down a false number on your log makes you think twice and keeps you accountable to yourself.
Logging the workout makes it more challenging and game-like.
If you’re playing any game, keeping score is part of the fun, even if you’re playing against your previous record. Winners keep score for a reason. They like seeing the improvement. It drives them to focus on doing better. Exercising is hard work, but so is playing any sport. It can also be fun if you change your mindset to make it one. It takes a while to see the changes in your body, but not nearly as long to experience improvement. You won’t know you’ve improved unless you logged your original score.
- If you don’t already log your progress, start doing it. Give yourself a few weeks to ensure you progress. Then see how you feel about doing it. Most people find it very rewarding.
- Keeping extra notes can help you address specific issues. If you continuously struggle to do one regular push-up and it’s the same for weeks, it’s time to look for an easier version. Once your numbers show you conquered that, you can move to the traditional, more difficult one.
- If you need encouragement later and have kept your logs, you can look back to the earlier months and see how far you’ve come. It can be motivating.
- If you need more accountability, share your workout log with a friend once a month. Knowing someone is checking on you can be enough to push you to exercise on those days when you’d rather not.
For more information, contact us today at Reggie C. Fitness