Stuck in a rut? Convinced you’re not making progress? The feeling of stagnation can take hold of the best of us at times. Luckily, ruts can be gotten out of and one of the simplest ways to do that is to start recording your workouts.
Here are some of the benefits of taking two minutes to do that each day:
It tracks progress
One of the reasons why you may feel you’re not progressing is because you’re not paying enough attention. When you write down your times, reps and lifts, you’re creating a record that you can use to track your incremental gains over time. Nothing feeds the motivation to keep working hard more than seeing that effort pay off. If you don’t record your workouts, you may lose sight of where you were a week, a month or six months ago.
It reveals hidden patterns
Your fitness log allows you to see overall trends and patterns in your life that can help you achieve your goals. For example, maybe you aimed to lose 5 pounds/month and you found it easy two months ago, but last month it was a challenge. If you consult the data in your workout log, it may give you some helpful information. Maybe you did a lot of running and plyometric workouts in those easier months, information that suggests your body responds better to that kind of stimuli. These are just examples, but the point is that by logging your workouts, you’ll develop a better understanding of the movements that help you achieve what you want to achieve.
It has a domino effect
We are creatures of habit and once logging your workouts becomes second nature you may be surprised at how that practice may trickle into other aspects of your life. It might be harder to grab fast food after you take the time to log that you ran a mile today and did 100 sit-ups. It may also be a great resource if you’re felled by an injury or soreness— you can pinpoint vulnerabilities in your training by keeping track of what you’re doing each day.
People who write down their workouts get better results for a variety of reasons, but one of them may be that they simply track them. So, this is a really good time to let you know that we’ve switched our sign-in software app to better help our members track their workouts. Zen Planner will allow you to record your efforts and post it on your member profile. Give it a shot and let us know how it changes your Alchemy experience.
Broder McNeill is a coach and co-owner at Alchemy CrossFit.