Tips for Keeping a Fitness JournalKeeping a fitness journal can go a long way toward helping you to reach your fitness goals. There are different names for a fitness journal. Some might refer to it as a fitness diary, exercise log, diet log, or a performance log. Whatever you want to call it, there are many uses for keeping such a fitness log or fitness journal. When you write down your fitness goals in your fitness journal, you dramatically increase the chances of accomplishing those goals. (click here to read more about our fitness goals system) When you go beyond just written goals and create a fitness journal, you increase your chances of success even more. There are several benefits to keeping a fitness journal, and many uses for one. -- A fitness journal can help you focus your mind on your fitness goals. -- A fitness log can help you see your progress, which motivates you even more. -- A journal can help you deal with the mental blocks that you might have about your diet plan, exercise program, or particular performance goals. -- A fitness log can help you work through exercise burnout (see our article on dealing with exercise burnout). Writing down what is keeping you from exercising or following through with your fitness plan can help remove your obstacles. Your exercise log or diet log does not have to be fancy. No purple prose or elaborate charts or graphs. There is not going to be anyone judging you here. The fitness journal is not a school homework assignment that you will be graded on. So, if the idea of keeping a journal turns you off for those reasons, cast those thoughts aside. We recommend that you divide your fitness journal into specific sections. Here are some recommendations: 1. Keep a section toward the start of the journal with your written fitness goals. That way, it will be easy for you to review them often. Your actual written fitness or performance goals are the most important part of the journal. 2. Have a section in your fitness journal where you keep a log of some of your diet plan progress, a log of your workouts, or a log of your training sessions (if you are training for a particular event, such as a 10k or a marathon). This section of the fitness log or fitness diary should allow for you to make weekly entries (daily entries for the more intense training). Weekly entries should suffice for most of you. 3. We highly recommend a section in your exercise journal devoted to the mental part of your fitness goals or your sports training. There are many uses for keeping a mental or psychological section in your fitness journal. The word “psychological” can seem a little heavy, so let’s just call it the “mind fitness” section of the journal. In this section, you can write down and work through the mental blocks that you are dealing with on the road to your fitness goals. Click here to read more about dealing with these mental blocks. The mind fitness section of your journal can help you get more motivated. It can also be a good place to record your credits for your rewards / incentive system Click here to read more about this. 4. In addition, it is highly recommended that you write down your diet / fitness accomplishments in your exercise diary or exercise log and have a separate section for this. Here are some example of statements of accomplishment you could record in your fitness journal: 10 / 23 / 2008: Today I ran five miles for the first time. It was difficult, but I accomplished it in X:XX time. I didn’t think I could ever do this. My fitness training and my running program are really paying off. I am on pace to run 10 miles by XX date. 10/ 30 / 2008: Bench pressed 350 pounds. Just last month, I didn’t believe I could do it. 4 / 12 / 2008: Made the second cut of the varsity team. The extra practice time with the drills has really paid off. 7 / 8 / 2008: I have lost five pounds the past two weeks since I stopped eating fast food three times per week. 6 / 15 / 2008: My new meal plan has really given me results. My weight has dropped down to 120 pounds, and I have dropped three sizes. You know what you have accomplished without writing it down. But the exercise of writing down your diet / fitness / training accomplishments is a good idea because it helps you to remind yourself that you are making progress, and that the hard work is paying off. It is a good exercise for your self-esteem and your level of motivation. A fitness or exercise log can help if you are suffering from overtraining syndrome. Click here to read more about overtraining. If you have a log of what training program you have been doing that lead to your overtraining, you can help prevent overtraining in the future. 5. Keep copies of your fitness plans or workout plans in your journal. If you have a copy for each training day (if you are training), you can simply make notes next to each exercise or training session for that day. For example: Monday: Bench Press – 225 lbs. - Did three sets of six reps Incline Bench Press – 175 lbs. – Did three sets of six reps Here’s another example: Monday: Run 5 miles Notes: I Ran 3 miles in X:XX minutes. Felt unusually tired throughout, stopped early. Consider making copies of your daily diet plans for each week, or your daily exercise plans / fitness plans for each week. Then, you can just jot down a few notes in the blocks or lines next to each exercise or each day. It’s a quick, easy way to gauge your weekly progress. If you are trying to lose weight and you are on a diet plan, you may consider making copies of your weekly diet plan for each day of the week. All seven days of the week could be on one diet plan sheet that is just copied each week. Then, you can just jot down some notes on what you ate each day and perhaps roughly how many calories you ate. Again, the idea here is to use the fitness log or diet log as a tool to help you reach your goals, but not to turn you into an obsessive compulsive. You don’t have to keep precise notes. The fitness journal is just for you. Keep it simple and easy so you stick with it. 6. You may also consider putting pictures in your fitness journal that represent your fitness goals. Some ideas include putting in before and after photos of yourself or photos of other people accomplishing the goal you seek (such as a photo of someone crossing a finish line at a marathon). If you are trying to lose weight, you could have your picture taken every month so that you can see the progress that you have made. You could then keep the photos in your journal to help motivate you. There are many uses of a fitness journal. The purpose is to help you crystallize your thinking and to help you remain focused on your way to accomplishing your goal. If you keep a good fitness journal, you not only increase your chances of reaching your goal, you will in all likelihood decrease the time it takes for you to reach your goal.
Related Mind Fitness Articles:How to reach your fitness goals by setting up this S.M.A.R.T.-F.I.T. FITNESS GOALS SYSTEM 20 Unique Tips for Getting and Staying Motivated What could you accomplish if you could only get motivated? A lot more than you think. You've got one chance on this planet to get it right...use these techniques to stay motivated to reach your fitness goals and other goals in life. How to Create Motivation Cards to Help you Reach Your Diet and Fitness Goals - Or Your Sports Performance Goals What's Stopping You from Reaching Your Weight Loss Goals and Other Fitness Goals? Try this Mental Technique. The Fitness Reward / Incentive System for Behavioral Modification Return from this fitness journal page to the mind fitness category page |
The 90 Day Challenge |
