Why keep a workout log book?

It helps you to make a plan

How often do you go to the gym without a plan beyond saying ‘It’s chest day’? We all know how important a solid gym routine is to our progress, so make a plan and stick to it. Using your gym diary you can plan your workout before you hit the gym.

You’ll set more realistic goals

Setting an unrealistic goal is a sure-fire way to really demoralise yourself. Set yourself a realistic short term goals, and use your workout log book to monitor progress and keep yourself on target. You can easily see at a glance if things are moving in the right direction.

Inspire yourself

After keeping a workout journal for some time, you’ll be able to look into the past and get a detailed picture of how far you have come. Nothing is more inspirational than seeing how you’ve progressed from not being able to lift a certain weight, to that weight becoming your warm up!

You will train harder

You are much less likely to put in a ‘half hearted’ effort at the gym, if you have to actually write it down and have those numbers in black and white as a constant reminder of how you didn’t put in the effort that day.

It will keep you focussed

There are some amazing apps for logging your progress, and they have a place. Just not in the gym! Does your phone go to sleep while you are doing a set? Fiddling about unlocking it is just an extra step you don’t need. What if you get a text? Sure you don’t have to read it, but it will be in the back of your mind, wondering how important it is. Distracting. Simply write it into your gym log book, then when you are having your post workout shake you can update your app with the information from the diary.