How to keep a workout diary

A person who is fond of sports needs to keep a training diary, where he can record the load, his results and achievements. How to properly keep a diary, what data should be recorded, read today in our article.

Why do you need a workout diary

In order for your workouts to give the long-awaited results, it is important to consider a few points. For example, the load on the muscles should be regular and gradually increase. During classes, you should work out all the required muscle groups, in addition, you need to allocate time for rest. It is simply impossible to take all this into account in your head. By following all the rules, you can quickly put your body in order. This is most important in bodybuilding, when each subsequent workout should be more difficult than the previous one. You need to know exactly the number of sets and repetitions of each exercise in order to do even more this time. It is almost impossible to take into account the progression of classes. Your results become blurry and your workout loses its meaning.

Having a training diary with you, you can always determine exactly how many approaches and how many times you performed a particular exercise, how many minutes you rested between approaches. Based on the recordings, you will immediately notice the progression in your workouts.

By trying to surpass previous results, you intensify your activities, filling every movement with meaning. For example, you can speed up your progress during training by:

• weight gain;
• performing more repetitions or approaches;
• reducing rest between sets.

Your load increase may be minimal, but it should be. Even a weight gain of 0.5 kg is already progress.

Keeping a workout diary is also essential for weight loss. Burning calories through exercise can be tricky. In the graph, it is necessary to put down not only the power load, but also aerobic, static and stretching... All these directions are necessary for the formation of a beautiful body. Therefore, before starting training, you need to plan them out and gradually increase the intensity as well. This will greatly speed up your results. In addition, body parameters are recorded in the diary, which change with each lesson. "By eye" it is not always noticeable and often after a week of intensive training, some give up this lesson. But if you take body measurements every 10 days, you can see positive results that will become an additional incentive on the path to excellence.

How to write a workout diary

Now we will tell you how to correctly compile a training diary. Decide which form is most convenient for you. Someone works with a notebook, someone with a tablet or computer. If the second option is closer to you, try to find a suitable application and download it. If it does not suit you for any reason, develop your own version by collecting all the data that is important to you. However, electronic forms do have some advantages. Most of them allow you to calculate not only the calorie content of dishes, but also the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. And this is a very important factor, everyone who leads an active lifestyle knows about it.

When compiling a diary yourself, determine the parameters that are important to you. Leave some space where you can describe how you feel after class.

Record your results honestly, do not exaggerate, in this case, the meaning of your records is lost.

How to keep a workout diary

There are no clear rules for keeping a diary. You yourself must determine the parameters that are most relevant to you. However, the following information should certainly be reflected in your reports:

• types of exercise;
• the number of repetitions, sets and weights used;
• rest time between repetitions;
• time and dates of classes;
• individual weight;
• your volumes;
• nutritional information;
• warm-up features, what types of exercises you did;
• personal assessment of your efforts.

You can independently develop a diary form and regularly fill in the columns manually or on a computer. Today you can download the application you need for free and work with it. It is important that you feel comfortable. After all, the purpose of these records is to stimulate you to achieve new goals. You may not even notice that the volumes have started to go away, and the real numbers will show you this.

Based on the diary, you can evaluate your training. However, this should be done no earlier than after 3-4 months of regular classes. By analyzing the recordings, you can create an individual program that is ideal for you personally.

Nutrition and Exercise Diary

In addition to a training diary, you need to monitor nutrition, which is very important for those who strive for certain results. Indeed, in this case, it is necessary to take into account not only the calorie content of the dishes, but also the combination proteins, fats and carbohydrates. It is simply impossible to keep all the information in your head, therefore, some people prefer to write it down and start food diaries. In addition to the daily menu, you can collect recipes for your favorite dishes.

A food diary is invaluable for those looking to lose a few pounds. It is often impossible to calculate the exact number of calories consumed at the end of the day. You may not always be able to remember exactly what and how much you ate during the day, but if you entered everything in your diary, then this is much easier. Sometimes it is these records that help analyze your diet, find the cause of weight gain and eliminate it later.

Food diaries are quite popular today, there are electronic versions that can be downloaded as an application on the phone.

Training Diary: Sample