"What get Measured Gets better" Measure your progress for continued motivation!

You’ve probably heard this expression before: “What gets measured, gets better”. it’s applicable for budgeting your expenses, getting your kids to do chores, building a business, and it’s very appropriate for workouts.

Do you write down the weights you lifted at the gym, How long you can hold that plank position in yoga, how many push ups you can do, the mileage you ran last night and the time it took you to do it, and the yards you swam in the pool?

Why bother?

It takes a little more time after each workout to write it down, but the effort is worth it! Everyone is constantly asking me how to stay motivated, well, If you know me, you know my philosophy on motivation, IT IS NOT SOMETHING THAT JUST COMES TO YOU AND STAYS WITH YOU!!!! YOU HAVE TO CONSTANTLY FIND THINGS TO MOTIVATE YOURSELF. every dang day!

So, besides motivation, what else can logging your 
workouts help?

Keep you accountable, either to yourself or others. Checking workouts off your “to-do” list feels good and helps keep you motivated! Take it up a notch and log your workouts in a place others can see it – peer pressure in a good way! Keep reading for some online tools to help!

Set benchmarks for future training, so you challenge yourself appropriately. Know when to do more…or less! What weights are challenging you now; is it time to increase? Ready to step up your long run?

See trends in your workouts, so you can listen to your body even better. Noticing your times are getting slower or you’re not able to lift the same weights…maybe you need to back off a bit. Or you might notice that your best workouts are on Saturday afternoons and you should plan your most challenging workouts then.

What Should You Record?

What information should you record? Although this may be different based on your goals, I typically recommend: 

distance 

weights (for strength) 

time (for cardio) 

comments about how you felt 

amount of time you can do body weight exercises 

How far you can stretch, can you touch your toes in yoga? go into a full 1/2 split? etc. 

Where Should You Log?

Anywhere you will actually do it! If you’re like me, this is not always easy to stick to. 

So pick a place that works for you. A few options are:

Paper and Pen: MY FAVORITE!!!! the classic paper and pen approach still works very well! The only downside to this approach is that graphing or comparing your results is a little more work, since there are no automated reports to fall back on. 

Put a calendar on your fridge where you write down your plan and check it off as you go. 

Bring a spiral notebook with you to the gym and track your exercises, weights, and reps. This is what mine looks like right now, but I change up how I do this according to my goals!


I also write down my menu for the entire week, but I do that on a board in my kitchen.  Some like to do it on their training journal.

Here are a few formats I have used in the past.

Online Tools: this is a pretty convenient option, with computers, tablets, and smartphones! Many tools have mobile and desktop versions, so you can access it anywhere. 

TrainingPeaks: This is the software my training mentor used with his athletes. There’s a free version for personal use and the calendar is an easy-to-use drag & drop tool. It also has capabilities to upload from your devices – Garmin, PowerTap, etc. Plus, there’s an mobile app for tracking on the go! 

It also has a ton of graphs for the data geeks! 

Beginner Triathlete: The website that started it all, as far as real training tracking goes. It’s optimized for triathletes, but runners will find it easy to track their training here too. Great basic charts and recording are available on the free version, with uploading from devices on the paid version. 

JEFIT: For strength training, the best app I've found is JEFIT Workout, Bodybuilding, & Fitness. I 

Excel Spreadsheet: It may be more do-it-yourself than some of the other tools, but excel is a great option for basic training! Set up a format that you like and use formulas to track your weekly increase in mileage or weights. 

There are so many more choices here than I can possibly mention, but these are three options that I have used personally.  Below are a few more examples, make it YOUR OWN!

 If you have any that have worked well for you PLEASE SHARE!!!!!