A workout diary is one of the most important self-control tools that allows you to thoughtfully plan your workouts, monitor your condition and see all your successes, achievements and failures. Even experienced and advanced athletes do not give up the habit of keeping diaries, using them to find individual reserves for further progress.
Usually, as a diary, a separate thick notebook or diary is started, in which notes are made with a pen. Many people keep a diary electronically - on a cell phone or tablet.
Training records
Usually, before each workout, the athlete plans the upcoming lesson: he writes what exercises and in what sequence to perform, how much weight to take as a worker, how many repetitions and approaches to do.
If in the course of training it was not possible to complete an exercise, to do the planned number of repetitions, it is recorded how many repetitions were done in fact. This information is very important for the correct selection of the working weight for each exercise. If the exercise is performed in the planned volume, the working weight can be increased by 0.5-1 kg for beginners and by 5-10% for experienced athletes. If not, it is better to reduce the working weight. Or give the body a longer rest.
Many beginners try to work out with the same program. A week later, without noticing the results, they change it to another, then to a third, etc. This is mistake. To judge the effectiveness of a particular training scheme, you can judge no less than a month of regular training. And the diary is a means of visually, in numbers, to show this effectiveness.
Self-check records
It is also useful to write down other parameters in the diary that are directly or indirectly related to training: the state of health before and after training, the desire to train, and much more.
Bodybuilders who are trying to gain muscle mass using a variety of diets record their weight by weighing themselves on an empty stomach. Thus, they find out whether this or that diet suits them, modify them for themselves. Many bodybuilders record anthropometric indicators - neck girth, shoulder width, chest, hips, waist, bicep and forearm circumference.
Many athletes are training based on heart rate. If it is insufficient, the intensity of the training is increased, that is, they try to complete the entire planned amount of work within a shorter period of time. Recorded heart rate values before, after and during workouts allow you not only to control their intensity, but also to notice the state of overtraining in time. If the resting heart rate rises day by day before training, the muscles are considered overworked and should be given an extra day of rest to avoid a decrease in athletic performance.
Each workout is recorded and graded on a 5-point scale. This is necessary in order to subsequently calculate: how many workouts were missed, how many sessions were carried out with full dedication, and how many were “careless”.
