Everyone, and I mean everyone should log their workouts. No matter what routine you follow, you should always log your workouts. It’s a great way to see how much progress you have made and even better if you have a goal. If you have a goal you can actually see how close you are to your own goal.
If you’re following a strength cycle it’s important to track your reps, sets, and weight for each of those. This will help you notice how close you are to changing your 1 rep max (1RM). Especially if you’re following a routine with percentages, you need that 1RM written down so you’ll never forget it.
If you’re an endurance person, and are running, biking, rower, or swimming it’s still important to log your workouts to notice the time difference. How else are you going to remember your PR in a distance if you don’t have it written down.
For crossfit athletes, you will sometimes repeat a workout occasionally. This way it’s easier to see how much better you did if you have your previous time written down. You can also see how you have improved from the scaling option available before.
There are many different ways to log your workouts, especially using technology. You can go with the classic pen and notebook style which works well. I would recommend you use either the front cover, back cover or the front of the notebook to write down your max lifts, and have the common workouts you do at the front so they are easily accessible. I personally use an iPhone Application called MyWOD to log my workouts. I love this app a lot because I’m able to track my max weights for lifts, and my conditioning workouts in the same application. I bring my phone to the gym obviously, so it’s always with me, and I can just go check it if I can’t remember what I did last time lifting in order to improve my strength. It also has A LOT of workouts already programed in, all of the girls, hero’s, games workouts, and even some road workouts for when you can’t make it to an actual gym. You have the capability to add or delete workouts in it, and can also add PR sections to the workout if a lift isn’t already programmed into it.
Logging is very important in improving your own strength, endurance and overall fitness no matter if you have a certain goal, or if you just want to get better. Which you most likely do want to get better if you’re going to a gym. If you’re not logging already, I highly recommend you try it for a little bit to see if you notice a difference in your workouts. If you already are, keep up the good work and save your books or keep checking on how much progress you have made!
