By Amy King
As you begin your quest to be fit and healthy, documenting the entire journey can be an incredibly powerful tool. The work and dedication put into working out and engaging in any physical activities is important to recognize and reflect on. Keeping track of your nutrition as you chase your fitness goals is also critical and can help you form better plans as you progress.
And…
Building what I like to call “an owner’s manual” on your other health and fitness markers, rituals and healthy habits help you feel empowered, informed and in control. Afterall you are the expert on your own experience and the more you organize this the faster you’ll progress.
Documenting can be as easy as:
Other records can include:
The key is to measure regularly, but at an interval that is easily sustainable for you and to schedule in time for regular reviews of what you have documented. Not just to reflect and adjust but also to ensure what you’re tracking makes sense. For example, at first weighing yourself weekly maybe useful as you’re first starting out, but as your goal changes to building a sculpted physique and more lean muscle, measuring body composition scan on a quarterly or half-quarterly basis maybe more meaningful.
Here are some other reasons why documenting your health and fitness and progress is useful:
Documenting your fitness journey makes it easy to be accountable to yourself as well as help you maintain your commitment and focus. Having a plan and documenting what you are doing helps you quickly identify what is working and what is not. It also helps you get the most out of your team, as they can help you identify opportunities for improvements, anticipate potential setbacks and accelerate your journey.
The trick here is to document without judgement. If you didn’t hit what you intended, if you ate outside of your plan or missed a workout entirely. It doesn’t matter. Documenting it helps you own what you have done and unpack obstacles and make adjustments to the plan where necessary.
Whether you're looking to improve your lifestyle habits, take your athletic performance or overall performance to the next level I'm here to help.
As an experienced fitness, nutrition & performance coach I work with you to optimise all area of your health & well-being.
To see how I can support your journey, why not connect with me over a virtual coffee?
When we first start, we don’t know what we don’t know and we don’t know what we learn until we reflect back on how we have been tracking. This often means that we overestimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what we can do in a year. We also identify areas that we need to learn more in and gain clarity on what we really want and develop more realistic expectations once we learn more by doing.
Recording your progress helps you celebrate milestones as they occur, adjust the plan and identify areas of learning as you progress.
Is it not a good thing to just stop for a moment and appreciate how far you have come? This is the case when you document your fitness journey. You can easily compare your before and after. This will not only make you proud of yourself but will give you the grit to continue with your fitness journey.
Things to celebrate can include:
Documenting your journey helps you maintain cadence and recall what you have had to overcome where you are today. It can remind us on the days that feel harder what consistency has done for you to this point, it can remind you of other obstacles you have had to overcome and it can remind you how far you have come. When we see our progress staring back at us it provides motivation to keep going. Remember action builds motivation… and so reflecting on the actions we have documented and seeing what we have achieved so far it can spur us on.
Similarly, it can take the pain out of not seeing progress, you can look at your records and make adjustments to the plan to get back on track.
There’s something satisfying and rewarding in checking off an item we planned to do, such as your fitness routine. This positive reinforcement helps embed healthy habits and helps you achieve a small win / feel accomplished.
The small wins done daily have a compounding interest impact on your health and well-being. It can also help give you the commitment to wake up every day and hit the gym or engaging in the physical activities of that day. As you do this every day as expected, you will witness tremendous improvement in terms of your body composition and fitness levels.
Failure to stick to your plan will give you unsatisfactory results... and you’ll be reminded of this as you document your journey, in this instance the discomfort or negative reinforcement of failing to follow a plan and unpack why that is may compel you to get back on track quicker.
You need a plan and routine if you really want to achieve your fitness goals. Documenting your entire fitness journey is a tremendous way to identify where you might need to make improvements, track your progress, stay motivated and just appreciate what you are doing all through. Therefore, it is important that you follow your plan to the latter.
P.S. Did you know my clients have access to a full athlete accountability program and log both in an app or PDF journal?
If you’d like to learn more, why not schedule in a virtual coffee?
Amy King is the founder of AKE Fitness & Nutrition. When she’s not serving her clients, she is pursuing her corporate career in mining, bodybuilding and spending time with loved ones. She calls Perth, Western Australia home.
© 2022 All Rights Reserved
