Workout Journal Tips
Enjoy these helpful Workout Journal Tips! One of the best ways to keep track of your weight loss journey and progress is by keeping a workout journal. This is notebook with the exact workouts you complete for each day. This will let you see what you muscles you have already done and what muscles you still need to complete that week. You can also add in your diet plan for that week or day. Keeping track is a great way to chart your progress so you can either increase your workouts or decrease them.
If you are new to working out, you will want to start slow. Jumping into a routine with a ton of repetitions could possibly harm your body. You can start a journal with the amount of repetitions you completed and how much weight you used. You should jot down what exercises you finished for each day of the week. If you decide to take one day off during the week, just mark down "off" for that day. Once you have worked out each muscle you want, you can start your routine over. The journal is great because it will let you see how many repetitions you did the week before. Some people forget what exercises they completed as well. If you feel your workout was sufficient you will probably want to try the same exercises the following week. Now you can look back in your journal and see exactly what exercises you did.
Maintaining a Workout Log
It is a great idea to keep with the weight amount and repetitions you did the first week for a couple of weeks. Once you feel your routine is easy, you can bump up the repetitions or the weights. You should still be keeping your journal updated with the exercises you are doing even if nothing has changed. If you change things up in the gym make sure you document whatever you decide to do. This is beneficial because if you start working out too much weight, you will be able to look back and see exactly what the difference was. This will let you either drop back down to the original weight or go between the two weights.
Another reason keeping a journal is very important when it comes to your workout routine is in case of any injuries. If you hurt a certain muscle in the gym, it can be hard to realize exactly what exercise did it. If you are trying new machines and routines everyday it will be hard to remember which one hurt that certain muscle. With a workout journal, you can flip back through the book to see what exercise you did on the day you were starting to feel the pain. This will let you stay away from that exercise while your muscle is healing. The worst thing you can do for a strained muscle is hurt it more. Once you are injured, the only way to make it feel better is by "babying" it. Your journal will let you know how long ago you did the exercise and how much longer you need to stay off of the muscle.
A gym journal can also help you set goals and eventually reach them. If you set your goals when you first start your journal, you will be able to work your way up to that goal. You should make a section in your notebook with your personal goals. Whether these goals are a weight loss goal, weight lifting goal, or distance goal you will want to reach them eventually. If you write down all of your goals at once, you will be able to constantly look back to see what they originally were. Throughout your progress, you should write down how far away you think you are from reaching your goal. A common goal is being able to run a mile in a certain amount of time. If this is your goal you should write down your time each time you run a mile. You can look back to your goal to see how much harder you need to push yourself in order to reach that goal. A workout journal will help you keep track of your progress, help an injured muscle and help you reach your goals all at the same time.