Tool Talk Thursday...

Welcome to the third feature here at Lighten Up Fitness! Thursdays will be dedicated to tools of the trade. I'll give my reviews and advice on all the fitness world has to offer to get you into shape. The first weeks of this series will be featuring my "must haves" for anyone wanting to venture into the world of physical activity.

So first up is a workout journal. Wow, there really are so many reasons for keeping a journal but I'll highlight a few. 

Keeping a journal will keep you motivated: Once you're in the swing of things recording your workouts, not having anything to input on a day that's a scheduled workout day, can be enough in itself to get you into your sweats to torch some calories.

Keeping a journal will boost your confidence. On those days where you feel like no progress is being made, looking back in your journal can reveal just how far you've come.

Keeping a journal is educational: This is the big one for me.  After keeping your journal for a few weeks you'll really begin to see where your personal pitfalls are. Does your workout suffer on the days you have 6 hours of sleep? Or do you feel sluggish on your run when you've had too much coffee and not enough food? These may seem obvious but often when we see the evidence in black and white, we're much quicker to take action.

Keeping a journal can help prevent injury: As anyone who has participated in physical activity can tell you, injuries happen and are just a part of life. Many however can be avoided with a little common sense. Far to often there are lead up signs to an injury. If you look back in your journal and notice that when you pushed yourself after a few days of repeated ache, and then suddenly your groin was pulled, you can use that info to help avoid this in the future.  Far to often we dismiss these tell tale signs but again seeing a history can help knock some sense into us before we re-injure ourselves. 

So after all that, what should you look for in a journal? Honestly a plain spiral note book will do but if you're doing it on your own, you should be recording the following at a minimum: Hours slept the previous night, type of cardio conditioning and duration of activity, types of strength training exercises as well as info on reps, sets, rests,  as well as a comment section for how you feel your workout. If you really want to go all out you can include dietary choices as well. There are plenty of premade journals available and they will set you back about $15.00. This is one of my favorites. There are also a ton of online printables if you do a search on workout journals or logs.

So grab a pen and paper and get ready for the changes in your body!

See you tomorrow for Foodie Friday!