(If you want faster progress)
The idea of tracking your food to get in shape isn’t new. But what about the concept of tracking your exercise? It’s not just athletes who should keep a note of their workouts.
Here’s why I recommend all my clients track their exercise…and even their non-exercise!
Why Do You Exercise?
Maybe it’s to help you lose weight, get leaner, or be healthier. Perhaps it’s for a specific sporty goal like getting better at running or stronger at lifting weights.
Tracking Your Workouts And Activity
For the majority of my clients, a physical transformation is the main reason for focusing on exercise. The type of workouts we do – short, structured, intense – are really good at burning calories and maintaining muscle, the result being a leaner, stronger body.
I encourage all my clients to track their exercise, the same way they keep note of what they eat. Here’s why.
The Benefits Of Tracking Your Exercise
1. Valuable Information
I’m sure you track data in your job, your household budgets, and your own finances. If you don’t keep track of things, you can never really know what’s happening. It’s the same with exercise. If you don’t track it, you’ll always be guessing.
Track what you do, when, and how often.
You could make a note of calories burned (but be aware that most gadgets can only estimate this).
You might like to note how hard you felt on a level of intensity.
Of course, you can track what you did (weights lifted, miles run or biked etc).
The aim is to gather important data and be consistent with it.
2. Viewing Your Progress
One of the main reasons to track your workouts is so you can congratulate yourself!
Most of us aren’t very good at looking back and accurately recalling what we did in the past.
As a result, we’re likely to play down our progress.
If you write down what you lifted, how fast you went, or how far you got, you’ll be able to see how much you’ve improved.
And that’s very motivating!
3. Know What’s Working (And What’s Not)
If exercise is part of your weight loss journey, or if you’re working towards a specific performance goal, you need to identify what is working – so you can do more of that, and less of the stuff which isn’t so helpful.
By keeping track of your workouts, you can identify patterns, see when you have spikes of progress, and even see when you are due a rest day or deload week.
4. Understand Why You’re Tired Or Sore
On that note, a training log is really important if you’re a type-A personality who gets the bit between your teeth.
Everyone needs to rest sometime, and most people benefit from an undulating approach to training (with peaks of effort).
Tracking your exercise will help you see that you need a break.
5. Be proud Of Your Efforts
Whatever your starting point is, you should congratulate yourself for exercising more often or with more intensity.
Tracking this data shows you exactly how much you’ve done and what you’ve achieved.
You can look back over your training log and be rightfully proud of yourself.
What Type Of Exercise Should You Track?
I recommend you track:
– Official workouts (gym or Personal Training)
– Cardio sessions
– Running and cycling
– Team sport training sessions
– Your daily steps
– Non “official” exercise such as long walks, paddleboarding, kayaking
Are you confused about how much exercise to do to lose weight the right way?
I have space for male and female transformation clients – get in touch and we’ll get you started.
