http://getfitonthehill.com

Get it? ‘Training Log’? That picture is Rocky Balboa ‘training’ for a fight by sawing a ‘log’… what’s that you say? I’m a nerd? True…. On to the relevant information!!!

You probably track your nutrition.  Even if you don’t, you can likely recall what you ate yesterday, whether you ate too much, healthy or unhealthy.  Some of you might even be able to tell me what you had for breakfast days ago… but how much weight did your trainer hand you during chest press last workout?  How many reps of squats did you do in your last workout?

I’m sure some of you are thinking, “well, I have a personal trainer… they do that for me… I don’t need to worry about it”.  Well, yes and no.  You see, we here at Fitness Together do record your individual session trainings, weights/reps/sets, and we work toward improving your overall health and fitness level. But you should take some of the responsibility too, and here’s why…

1. Added Motivation:
If you are just a passive cog in your endeavor to be fit, you are going to start to feel like workouts are getting monotonous.  No matter how much us trainers mix things up for you in a workout, keeping a Training Log allows you to play an active role in achieving your fitness goals (even more active of a role than just going through the motions of an exercise) which will help you stay motivated and avoid workout tedium.

2. Consistency:
If you workout with a trainer on some days, and by yourself on other days, it’s important for your workout regimen to be consistent with your goals.  Depending on your specific fitness goals (strength, endurance, speed, weight loss, muscle tone), there are right and wrong ways to workout, right down to the sets and reps that you use.  Sure, a lot of theses attributes of fitness overlap with one another, and one rogue workout will not set you back,  but if you are consistently pushing your muscles to the point of overload (in a consistent/ controlled manner) then you will more than likely see consistent improvement instead of plateaus.  What better way then checking on your consistency than  keeping track?

3.Getting the Best Results:
Okay, as lists go, this is a bit of a cop-out. Getting the best results is really what the last two bullet points were talking about too… but that doesn’t change the fact that it is true!  The more you know about your body (height, weight, how much you can lift in any given exercise) is going to help you achieve the best results you can get, simply by not letting you slide! If you grabbed the 20lbers last time, don’t grab the 10lbers this time! Unless your goals are drastically changing from week to week (which would be a whole other conversation we should have if that’s the case) then your weights/sets/reps shouldn’t be changing too drastically either!

If you have any questions about how best to track your workouts, and how to get into specifics, feel free to contact us at ftcapitolhill@fitnesstogether.com or asking a trainer the next time you are in! Our team would be more than happy to help!

P.S. Even though I’m old school, keeping track of my workouts via pen and paper and storing them in a folder, you can just as easily do it on your smart phone… here are some cool apps to check out! http://www.greatist.com/health/best-health-and-fitness-apps/