When you start a fitness journey whether it be for weight loss, body building or whatever reason, it is a good idea to keep a journal for record of your progress. Here are reasons why you should document what you do.

Before & After

We usually start a fitness journey with a goal in mind. Some of us wish to achieve a new physique, others just want to feel a certain way, whatever the reason is there is a goal and a process that needs to take place for the goal to be reached.

Keeping a journal is like storytelling, it will give us a good understanding of the journey and work that has taken place to go from start to finish and the process along the way.

Documenting the process can be as simple as a before and after photo, measurements or a list of workouts with dates they were conducted. This will allow us to see how far we have come, especially if we may not see a physical difference, a journal will show that there has been a change over the duration of the time.

What works and what doesn’t

When we feel that there is no change, there is generally something that went wrong along the way, maybe the wrong exercises or the wrong foods. By documenting our journey, we can discover reasons why things don’t work out the way we would like them to.

Journaling can also teach us what does work, so if we wish to go on this journey in the future we can identify patterns that work and can be repeated. Sometimes fitness journey’s cannot be repeated, but it is good to have a core understanding of how our bodies work in terms of losing weight and gaining muscle to identify ways we can adapt our fitness routines to make them work for future goals.

Timing

When we go on a fitness journey, our duration between starting and reaching the goal may be different to others’. By documenting the process we can identify how long our bodies take to make change. This will put us at ease when we think that our workouts aren’t working, it’s just that they may take longer.

Although this could be the case, some of our fitness journey’s require fast results. While they may not be sustainable, they may be just what we need for an event or so. Having record of how we achieved the fast goals may be able to help us in the future, either to regain that result, or to find a more sustainable way of maintaining the result.

To teach others

When we learn new things, it is a great feeling sharing them with others. Having record of how we achieved our goals can be beneficial in helping others who have the same desires.

Sometimes we can learn new techniques or create our own programs that can be shared on social media or potentially monetised.

Maybe there’s a career in health and fitness for you!