Logging workouts is still somewhat of a highly debated topic amongst fitness culture. Depending on what you are training for or your training program, workout logs and their importance will vary. However, logging your workouts will only help you in the long run for numerous reasons.
Here are a few:
Motivation
There is nothing better than looking in the mirror or on a scale and visually seeing progress you have made physically. That same kind of feeling is possible even when it comes to seeing the progress you have made performance wise. Maybe the photos do not look as they should or the number on the scale do not seem to be budging liking you thought, but seeing an improvement in a lift or a faster 5k run can be the very thing that keeps you going. The eyes like to see progress, even if it is not a bodily one.
Continued Progress
The gym is all about a challenge. When you step foot in the weight room or wherever you are training you want to make sure that you are not short changing yourself. The body responds to a challenge, not something easy. By logging your workouts, you can see where you left off and make sure the next workout has challenges the exceed the last workout’s. You can assess where you are at physically and mentally for today’s workout, going off of what you did the last workout.
Balance
This kind of flows from “continued progress” in away. Logging your workouts will also allow you to recognize weak points. Maybe you have been focusing on a certain lift more than another which is indirectly causing another lift to get weaker. By logging your workouts, you will be able to pick up on this and plan accordingly. Could be time for a de-load on certain movements while you up the intensity on other lifts.
Safety
This is big, especially for people who are powerlifters. You are messing with extreme amounts of weight, so the jump in weight in any big lift is felt in a big way! Logging your workout will allow you to know what kind of jump you need to make in a lift. So, if you squatted 350lb last week and forgot to log it and plan on doing a 10 pound jump this week, the confusion begins. When it gets a little dangerous is if you thought you squatted 375lb as opposed to 350lb. Now you are about to attempt a 25-pound jump in weight as opposed to a planned 10 pound increase. Logging your weight, especially big weight, is important when it comes to safety.
