I know I know, its a pain when your trainer asks you for your training card and you haven’t kept it up to date. But why do they do this? surely they can remember what I did last time?….. (Actually it’s because they have nothing better to do!!) There are many benefits for you to keep track of what your are doing on your fitness journey and we are going to cover the main points in this weeks blog.
Use an Exercise Training Card to get the most out of your workout.
A plan or road map is a great tool to have when you’re setting out on a long trip. It helps point you in the direction you want to go and can be a lifesaver when you’ve strayed off course. That’s why we have all of our clients on a specific plan that’s designed just for them. An exercise training plan can provide the same help as a road map when you embark on an exercise program. In many ways, it’s a lot more informative because it’s a daily record of your journey to your fitness goals. So let’s take a look at how to get the most benefit from your workout log.
1. Record the Basics
Record the date, start and end times, body parts trained for any strength work and record information about your cardio workouts.
2. It’s more than just sets and reps
For a strength training log you’ll certainly want to record the number of sets and reps you perform for each lifting exercise. Make sure you also record all warm up and mobility exercises as this will help you prevent injury and may also help you and your trainer know how to progress each exercise. A training diary takes away the guesswork.
Also be sure to indicate if you use any special training requirements or techniques such as forced reps, negatives or super sets. A training diary is a great way to uncover if any of these techniques actually work for you or if they’re just making you over trained. Also, recording the settings on exercise machines such as seat height and other adjustments can save you a lot of time during your workouts.
3. Details Matter
Details do make a difference! In the notes area of your diary page, be sure to record how you’re feeling at the start of your workout. Are you tired or are you ready to tear things up in the weight room? Do your muscles pump up quickly as your workout progresses or is the exercise causing any discomfort. Knowing how an exercise feels can help you as you may not be getting the most from the movement if you can’t remember what your trainer told you.
4. Don’t forget about nutrition
The other half of the fitness equation is diet. It’s vital that you record everything that you eat and drink throughout the day. We have more information on this later in the article.
5. Record vital measurements
Depending on your goal, you need to record how you are progressing; measure where you are starting from, (it doesn’t matter what this reads as its Day 1 on your journey). Pick a measurement you are comfortable with and that is relevant to your goal. Putting a tape measure to your neck, upper arms, chest, waist, thighs, and calves is a great way to track your weight training progress; measuring body fat% is a good tool for those wanting to become leaner and more athletic looking.
6. Review your log before each workout
Before you begin your workout, take a look back to the last time you trained the same body parts. Take assessment of the exercises, weight and reps you did for each exercise. This is the time to mentally challenge yourself to get an extra bit of weight or increase the cardio by 5%.
7. Using the information
Ever felt like you’re not making progress and each workout is still hard? look back over your record to see what kind of progress you’ve made. Have you been able to increase the weights for these lifts on a steady basis or have you hit a sticking point and are just doing the same thing?
This is a good time to look for any correlations. Did your body weight begin to drop off around the time you hit the sticking point? Same for the nutrition log and make sure you’re staying on track with your diet.
Benefits of Keeping a Food Diary for Weight Loss
Taking the time to record your food and drink intake may seem like a lot of hard work, but it is one of the most effective tools to assist with weight loss. Here are some of the benefits of keeping a food diary.
- You can use it to help you determine the volume and composition of your current eating habits.
- Food diaries force you to think consciously about what you are eating, and keeps you focused on your weight loss program.
- A food diary will help you visualise what you eat. When your food intake is written down, areas where your diet goes wrong may become more obvious.
- It helps keep you honest too. It does not work if you ‘forget’ some items or pretend that certain calories don’t count.
- The food diary can serve as a reminder about nutrition goals such as drinking enough water, or having the right number of serves of fruit, veggies, dairy, protein, cereals/grains and good fats each day.
- If you are keeping a long term food diary, you can look back over the records and see periods where things went right or wrong. You may start to see some patterns emerge regarding why you are eating when you do, increasing awareness and assisting behaviour change.
Maintaining an exercise and food diary is a little extra work, but it’s a commitment to your training program that will pay big dividends by keeping you on the road to training success!