Why Tracking Your Training Will Improve Success

I recently ran a small survey amongst my clients asking them if they track their workouts using a journal (physical or digital). The result? It was a resounding "NO".

This doesn't surprise me. Over the years I've learned few people (at least those who seek help with training) don't keep a journal log of their workouts. They rely on memory or go out and perform random workouts they picked up online or in a magazine.

I understand doing that if you have no particular goals and you're just wanting to stay active. But if you're reading this, you do have goals, performance driven goals that affect your process. And when you have performance goals, random workouts and lack of tracking will keep you spinning your wheels.

Why should you track your training? Why do I stress the importance? A few reasons:

·        You can see if you're progressing or plateauing, or heaven forbid, regressing

·        You don't have to rely on memory. Instead you have physical evidence of what exactly you've been doing.

·        It allows you to make tweaks to your training. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

·        You can make notes such as not sleeping enough before a workout, which is why the workout was subpar. Or maybe something you ate before the workout that affected performance.

·        Keeps you honest and accountable

·        Keeping a training log gives you structure, and structure (plus consistency), leads to progress

Wouldn't you like to know if what you're doing is right? Wouldn't you like to have structure to your program? I'm sure you do.

Keeping a training log doesn't have to be complicated. You just need to track the relevat data. Below is a chart of what you can log for strength training and cardio training, along with optional data points:

Strength Training - Exercise - Weight lifted - Number of reps - Number of sets	Cardio Training (intervals) - Exercise (ie running, biking, etc) - number of intervals - distance or time of intervals (ie 400m or 30s) - time it took to complete the interval (distance based) - rest between intervals	Cardio Training (steady state) - Exercise (ie running, biking, etc) - How long  (distance and/or time)
Optional Data - Rest - Length of workout (how long it took to complete) - Settings (on a machine, or equipment used) - How you felt before, during, and/or after the workout - time of day you trained	Optional Data - Length of workout (how long it took to complete) - How you felt before, during, and/or after the workout - time of day you trained	Optional Data - Pace (eg min/mi, or min/km, or km/h, etc.) - Heart Rate (ie average HR) - How you felt before, during, and/or after the workout - time of day you trained

To give you an example of what it can look like, below is a training a log from a friend I'm currently helping with her training:

And here's a look from my training log that's running based (pardon the very shitty looking writing):

Start tracking your workouts NOW. It can be pen and paper, or it can be a workout app. Doesn't matter what you use. It also doesn't matter if you don't have a program. Just start tracking everything that you do.