An organized record of exercises and progress is both rewarding and motivating. However, it can be frustrating to exercise for months only to find you have forgotten to chart an important measurement. Logs take the guesswork out of the results and effectiveness of your program and provide grounds for a progressive and comprehensive exercise routine. It will also allow you to see exactly how much strength you have lost and provide you with new goals, should you get off track.
Step 1
Buy an appropriately sized log book or journal. A spiral bound notebook could be about half the size of a sheet of paper and small enough to carry in the gym but large enough to fit your full workout on a single page. Do not buy books that have pre-determined columns, because they often have too little room for writing exercise names.
Step 2
Design a template that will effectively maximize your space. Leave a few pages at the beginning or end of the notebook to record the results of test days. Your daily log should include the names of exercises, number of sets, repetitions and length and type of cardio.
Step 3
Test yourself every month. At the beginning of your workout and after each month, build test days into your routine to measure your strength (bench press), flexibility (sit and reach), body fat percentage (skin fold) and resting heart rate (pulse measurement). The bench press test is comprised of a weight you can only lift between eight and 10 times at the beginning of your routine. Later, lift this same weight until you cannot lift it any more and record the repetitions. If your goals are performance driven, look for a few performance tests online and record times in your log book.
Step 4
Use graphs to get a better perspective of your progress. Type your information into a program, such as Microsoft Excel, that allows you to create graphs from bits of information. A simple line graph makes change much easier to conceptualize.
Things You'll Need
- Small spiral bound notebook
- Pen
- Excel software
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