Reviewing Your Fitness Journal: What to Look for

After keeping a journal for at least six weeks you get to play the role of detective. It can be fun to look through and evaluate patterns in your behaviour. With a fitness journal, it’s simple to detect problem areas or successes at a glance.

Let me share some common fitness roadblocks and patterns that people discover when keeping a journal:

#1 - Exercise Patterns

Try to find a pattern of which days are your most successful activity days. Many people discover that Monday workouts are essential. If you look at your journal and see that week that starts out with a Monday workout consists of more total workouts for the week, then you should try to always make time for a workout on the first day of the week.

#2 - Decline in Activity

If you notice that your activity level declines as the week progresses, then it is important for you to discover why. Is it because you are sore, tired, or just busy? Your fitness journal notes will help you to create a plan to stay consistent.

#3 - Distractions

Life can be hectic and full of surprises, but do you notice that a certain family member or friend is disrupting your workout plan? If this is the case, you need to ask them for support or invite them to join you.

#4 - Emotions

Certain types of exercise can affect your emotions and your emotions can affect your workout

This is why we are tracking our "Mood" section every day.

When your mood is not great, I suggest you do something that you love, maybe brisk walking or dancing.

Also, you will be able to assess if your stress levels are aligning with your monthly cycle or personal routine.

#5 - Food & water

It is highly likely one starts to eat nutritious and clean at the start of the month and as days go by, they opt for easier, ready-made options. This can be easily tracked with the journal.

To stay healthy, proper nutrition and water are necessary. Awareness of how you feed your body can help you take the right decisions.

How Journaling Helps You Stay on Track with Your Goals

What you do determines your success, and once you begin to keep a regular and honest account of your fitness, you’ll ensure your yo-yo activity levels are a thing of the past.

I believe that my role as a fitness professional is to help people take control of their fitness and keeping a fitness journal will help you discover how to work with your personality and time commitments to be more successful.