Are you looking to achieve your fitness goals? One powerful tool that can support your journey is tracking and logging your routine. Mar Soraparu, Chief Wellness Officer and Co-Founder at BIÂN, shares the benefits of fitness journaling and offers guidance on how to make the most of it.

Why Track and Log Your Routine?

Tracking your fitness routine provides valuable data that can help you understand your patterns of motivation and hurdles. By observing these themes, you can make informed adjustments to your approach and stay on track towards achieving your goals. Tracking your progress over a period of time allows you to identify trends and make targeted improvements.

Essential Elements of a Good Fitness Journal

A good fitness journal should include the following elements:

1. What is working?: Take note of how you feel during workouts, any noticeable changes in your body, and positive outcomes you are witnessing. Celebrating accomplishments and recognizing what is going well boosts motivation.
2. What needs work?: Identify obstacles or behaviors that are hindering your progress. Explore emotions that may be driving unwanted behaviors and reflect on strategies to overcome them.
3. Did I hit my fundamentals?: Choose three key fundamentals that are important to your fitness journey, such as movement, sleep, and nutrition. Evaluate your adherence to these fundamentals and assess their impact on your overall well-being.

Different Approaches to Fitness Journals

Fitness journals can take different forms, and finding the one that resonates with you is essential. Here are a few approaches you can consider:

1. Prompted Journal: Instead of starting with a blank piece of paper, opt for a journal that provides specific questions or prompts. This structure helps guide your reflection and makes journaling a more enjoyable experience.
2. Customized Journal: Create your own fitness journal that aligns with your unique goals and preferences. Personalizing the content and format allows you to focus on areas that are most relevant to your fitness journey.

Tips for Effective Fitness Journaling

Mar Soraparu offers some additional tips to make your fitness journaling experience productive and enjoyable:

1. Usefulness over Crutch: Journaling should serve as a useful tool, not a crutch. Once you understand your themes and needs through tracking, shift your focus towards how you feel. Trust your intuition and listen to your body rather than relying solely on tracking data.
2. Avoid Overtracking: While tracking is valuable, it's important to strike a balance. Too much tracking can consume excessive time and energy. Once you have established a routine and gained self-awareness, allow yourself to rely more on intuition and experience.

Finding the Right Journal for You

You can create your own fitness journal or explore available options in the market. For a more structured approach, consider engaging a coach who offers journal-based coaching programs. At BIÂN Chicago, we offer personalized coaching services that incorporate fitness journaling to support your fitness journey.

Remember, fitness journaling is a powerful tool to help you stay focused, motivated, and accountable as you work towards your goals. Embrace the practice and unlock its potential to accelerate your progress.