Did you ever think about maintaining an exercise journal? Keeping tabs of what exercises you are doing is the very key to your fitness success. How else will you know if what you're doing is working?
Maybe you are doing too many reps of one exercise and not enough of another. Keeping a workout journal will show what a great or not-so-great workout routine you're following. It will show that you are totally slacking off and you need to get back on that treadmill. Or it may reveal you're on the right track and should keep up the good work.
NOT ENOUGH TIME
Who wants to take the time out of their busy day to write down in a book the workout and exercises just completed? It's difficult enough trying to fit in a vigorous workout as it is. By keeping a fitness journal, you will discover an entire plethora of fitness information about yourself. You may be working out too many days a week, thus harming your body by not taking time off.
Or you may be doing the complete opposite and not meeting the daily requirements for working out. That's where your fitness journal comes in. By writing down the days you worked out, what exercises you did, the equipment utilized can be a real eye opener to your workout routine.
DISCOVERY TIME
Keeping an exercise journal will afford you the knowledge of discovering how to put variety into your workout routine. You may discover that you have been doing the same dull exercises every day. You may have quit working out and found your fitness log lying around in the house somewhere. By switching it up and varying your daily routine you will make the workout more interesting and stimulating. You may also discover a new and exciting way of exercising, such stripping to the beat. It's a much more fascinating way of exercising than doing dull sit-ups!
MOTIVATION YOU NEED
Your good old journal, your diary of exercise, will be the motivation you need to keep going. Your daily exercises will be printed in front of you, for you to see in black and white. You will stay motivated because you see in written word what you are doing that is so awesome for yourself. You will see the wonderful progress you have made, and how hard you have been working to accomplish those goals.
YOUR BEST FRIEND
Your journal will be very much like your best friend in that it will give you the straight facts. You just might be working out for all the wrong reasons. Your journal will help you create future fitness goals by being there for you. You will see how your workout routine may not have been doing you any good. You may not be in any better shape and not have lost any weight. There's a reason why that happened and your journal will give you that much needed information to get you on the right track.
It's important to record all of the important details in your fitness journal. Include what exercises you do and how many reps are included. Write down what machines and/or equipment were utilized for each exercise. Write down if someone helped you and who that person is. After each workout, write down what the results were such as "Shook for 30 minutes after due to the intensity of the workout." Fess up -- give all of the major details you would give to your best friend. This way you will know what you need to change or do more of.
Your fitness journal will become your most effective tool, helping you become the person you want to be. Write down your fitness goals, and all the necessary information. Your best friend will tell you what you need to change and what you are doing right.