Keeping a Fitness Journal
Walk into a gym in January and you’ll be waiting in line for equipment. At the same time, the grocery is sold out of produce and all things healthy. Come mid-February, however, there is practically dust collecting on the mats and ellipticals. The produce aisle is stocked but the ice cream supply is running low.
Perhaps you, like many others, are guilty of having jumped aboard and then abandoned the road to fitness, thus never actually seeing results. Be it crazy work schedules, continued education or having children, there are countless excuses for letting fitness slip. If you’re one who has let your health efforts fade out, I’ve got something for you to try.
It’s called a fitness journal. Find yourself a notepad and get started. Updating your fitness journal is easy. Here’s what to include:
Goals – Start off your entire journaling experience with a list of goals and their descriptions. Think running a certain mileage or incorporating certain food groups into your diet. If you only have one goal, that’s fine too.
Current state – Record your BMI at the beginning of your journal, and once a week after that.
Include the following on a daily basis:
Day and date – You’ll want to remember when you did what.
Emotions – If you’ve completed a workout, record how you felt during and immediately after. Then, at the end of the day, write about your feelings regarding the day’s physical activity and that day’s food consumption.
Workout specifics – How long were you moving? What exactly were you doing?
Wellness check – Are you experiencing any pain or discomfort? Where? When did it start?
Nutritional information – Write about what you ate that day. Was it healthy?
Keeping a fitness journal isn’t just something for athletes and serious competitors. Everyone can benefit from documenting physical activity and eating habits.
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Measure Progress
As with most new adventures, starting your exercise regime and/or diet is the hardest part. As far as exercise is concerned, the beginning stages of sore muscles and struggling for breath can leave you discouraged and wanting to quit. Sticking it out and having those trying moments written down will allow you to reflect on how far you’ve come since you started.
Even once you’ve gotten into a rhythm, you’ll find that some days are harder than others. When you hit any pitfalls, a fitness journal will remind you of all the hurdles you’ve overcome thus far.
Beginning a diet is also frustrating, often not bearing any immediately visible results. Overcome the starting-out slump, and your journal will show you that you’re improving, even incrementally. And if you’re not losing weight or feeling healthier, it should show you why.
Listen to Your Body
As you’re logging, insert some commentary about your feelings, both mental and physical. Having this information on file will help to determine which workouts are the most effective.
Don’t ignore aches and pains. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s your body’s way of telling you to slow down.
Make a Schedule
Regular entries in a fitness journal will help maintain a consistent schedule. And because you need to be practicing healthy choices consistently in order to reap the longer-lasting effects of diet and exercise, your date-keeper will come in handy. It will keep you aware of when you exercised last and what you’ve been eating. Now you can’t make excuses.
Plus by keeping a fitness journal, you’ll know which times of day work best for you exercise-wise, and which don’t work at all. If you can figure out which are your workout peak hours, you can enjoy the exercise even more.
Reach Goals
Even if you didn’t initially set a specific goal for yourself, a journal may help you develop one. Once you’ve got one set, you can actually track, through your descriptive entries, when said goal has been reached. So you ran five miles without hurting? You went an entire month with consistent exercise and balanced, healthy meals? Like a test measuring a student’s knowledge, keeping a fitness journal is like a written record of your fitness success.
As you begin your journal, it may seem tedious to record your efforts. Stick with it, develop a quick yet descriptive recording method and make journaling a part of your routine. Make it an enjoyable process, and hopefully your fitness journal will become a welcomed, helpful tool.
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