Taking the time to log those workouts in a fitness journal or diary? If not, you may be missing out on an indispensable tool that can keep you on track for ultimate goal achievement.
At the very least, a fitness journal is a systematic organization of the work you’re putting in on yourself. It’s a written record of reps and sets that you do. It keeps track of how much weight you are adding. It can even be a log of your miles, route and time. It can also be a record of the duration and type of any workout, along with the days and frequency of each routine.
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Taking a few extra minutes to jot down workout details can help you focus on your true results. If you use it correctly, a fitness journal can provide the organization and focus that you need to get each workout right, everyday.
Need more motivation? A fitness journal can help you get stronger, longer, leaner and more toned by bringing these and other benefits:
- It can help evaluate each workout and allow you to make adjustments, if needed, you can easily see what’s working and what’s not.
- It can identify symptoms of overworking your muscles—you can write down the activity that you did and the record the effect it had on how you felt and your results.
- It eliminates relying on what can be sometimes-foggy memory. It’s not always easy to completely remember every number of reps with every poundage or the time you spent on each exercise. With the fitness journal, you write it down as soon as you finish the exercise, including the amount of time and intensity of the exercise.
- It helps to give you a great perspective of how you’re moving toward your goals—what you may need to improve on or change to kick it up a notch for the next workout.
It may seem like too much work to keep a fitness journal, just like it seems like too much work to stretch before and after exercising. Well, both stretching and journaling are the understated champions of a successful fitness program.
Stretching gets your body ready for the physical impact of exercising, just as journaling prepares your mind to form healthy habits and to abstain from bad ones. It is that mind body connection that is paramount to the success of any fitness program.
Successful weight loss depends on this mind body connection. Your mind has to be convinced that it is ready to throw away old unhealthy practices and adapt new ways of eating and exercising. If you can’t convince your mind to go along with your plan, it will be harder for you to achieve your goals. That’s why journaling is so important.
The act of writing is so powerful that it opens your brain to new possibilities. The writing helps to set your brain up to accept new rules and new challenges. Reading your goals, and then making plans to bring them to reality also forms a path for your mind to follow. This is how you help it to accept new habits and that’s what journaling is all about.
Dismissing old ways of eating and welcoming new and exciting ways to stay healthy and get your body in optimum shape, that’s the glory of the fitness journal. I truly advocate keeping a fitness journal, especially if you are trying to lose weight. If you don’t believe me, try it for 90 days and see if it works for you.
I ask you to give it 90 days, because many times, after the first 30 or 60 days of exercising you may lose faith that you are making any headway. This is usually the time that many ladies give up because they don’t think the exercise is helping them in any way. Exercise does help, but you need to change it up every now and then.
Alternate between cardio exercises and strength training, and mix up your activities so you don’t get bored. For proven exercise routines that you can do in 30 minutes, check out the Members Exercise Section for routines from my 30 Minutes To A New You Exercise Program.
Begin each day with positive affirmations and write down your goals for that day. Remember to record everything you eat and drink and all of the activities that you do. At the end of the day, take a few minutes to read over what you ate. You might be surprised at the amount. By paying close attention to your diet, you can make changes before your weight begins to escalate and work harder to take the pounds off,
I recommend journaling as a part of your diet and exercise program. After years of working out, I still keep a fitness journal and encourage all of the ladies that I train to keep one too. It always seems that the ladies who give up before the first 90 days, are those who were not faithful in keeping a fitness journal. I’m telling you that journal will go a long way to encourage you to succeed and all without ever saying a word.
Your fitness journal, a silent witness to your struggles, your achievements, your slip ups and your success. I can’t say it enough, the fitness journal will be you ally, your own personal story of success. What will your story reveal? I guarantee you it will be entertaining and will provide important information that will help catapult you to your goals.
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