Fitness Diary

I've had a fitness diary more or less since I started exercising. I initially started with just a scrap of paper on which I wrote down the date and my running time. I started running at the end of September 2012, and so that was fine for the few months until the new year. I wouldn't have even thought of doing anything different. But for Christmas that year I got 4 different diaries. Yeah, four. Two from the same person no less. I re-gifted two, and decided to use one as a normal diary and the other to record my exercise progress, especially as I was planning to join a gym as well as continue with my running.

It was a great decision. It allowed me to better see where I was being consistent and where I wasn't. And especially when you're beginning any type of exercise, consistency matters a great deal.

In 2014 I didn't get any diaries for Christmas. I ended up buying a very cheap one that was similar to my one from 2013. It worked still, but as I was beginning to ramp up my training, and trying to record how I was feeling (this was as I was falling into the severe syncope) I found that I often didn't have enough space. This problem was compounded with the weekends, when I had extra time for exercise, but the two days shared a space in the diary.

Towards the end of last year I stared thinking about exactly what I wanted in my fitness diary. More space was a given, but that wouldn't be all. I wanted to be able to record the details of my weights sessions in it, rather than having them on a separate piece of paper. This would be really useful to make sure that I'm always varying my weights workouts, and progressing in terms of my strength.

I also still wanted space for my running information - the distance and the time. I didn't want it overwhelmed by the weights info.

And I wanted to record my bikram and other recovery techniques, so that I can notice which ones help me most (especially as I'm planning to try the dreaded ice-baths this year!)

Obviously, no diary is readily available that does that. I mean, I'm sure there are some somewhere, but I haven't seen them, and if I haven't seen them then I can't buy one. Conclusion, make / adapt my own!

So I bought a day to a page diary. I ruled off two lines at the top and labelled them cardio, and three lines at the bottom and labelled them bikram and recovery. The middle section is by far the biggest (18 lines) and is labelled weights. I've done this for about the first week, and then I'll rule up another week. I might end up needing more lines in one category than I've previously allocated, so not ruling up everything in advance means that I can change this at a later date if I find one space is getting a bit cramped.

Hoping this will be a great tool for me to better track and assess my workouts! Very excited to be using this!