What Could Pen & Paper Workout Tracking Do For YOU?

Sure, there are fancy apps to track your workouts but what about old school pen & paper. There is value in seeing your progress or lack thereof in real time and date. The more my body changes and as I age (gracefully trying at this) the more this information becomes critical to make immediate changes to my workout routine for the week or totally ditch a few exercises that didn’t agree with my body.

It’s also, oddly satisfying to have the 6-week programs just stack up. You can go back and see how long it really has since you may have incorporated a few exercises that aren’t your favorites, but you know you need to do again.

I have seen the value in writing my weight training workouts down and tracking changes and have done for many years. I can write perhaps that my upper back was tweaked during the last set due to the way I may have carried the weight to the rack or that I had long car rides and needed to shift my focus for the day.

Either hire a trainer like me to do a movement assessment on you virtually or when I’m back onsite (should you be reading this, and we are open in South Carolina) or do a few self-assessments such as:

can you touch your toes with your legs straight and feet together without being warmed up?

how many pushups can you do?

what’s your resting heart rate and blood pressure?

what’s your morning weight?

Have a body fat scale? What’s your bodyfat mid-afternoon when hydration levels are more level.

Look in the mirror and take a few selfies front, side and back or have someone else do.

How many bodyweight squats can you do for 1 minutes with your butt touching a chair at the bottom?

All helpful things to check out for yourself before writing in your notebook 6-12 exercises you will do on one day of week and 6-12 on another day for your strength training programs. Go for 1-3 sets of each exercise.

RE-TEST in 6 weeks and write yourself new exercises/programs 

Remember, you don’t need anything fancy, just grab a spiral notebook. Here’s a snapshot of 2 of my own workouts with a few notes. I have fancy cards I use when my studio is back onsite, but I have chosen to do pen and paper for the last 2 years. As you can see, I perform at least 9-10 exercises and if I add additional core/stretching exercises you won’t see these always as I consider them a bonus. I also have gotten lazier in the past 2 years since I have a lot going on and haven’t written the exact weight amount I performed as I have been lifting for so many years and I know where I am at the moment. I listen to how my body feels as to what weight and reps I will perform with the most common being 10-12 reps and 15 – 30 for some of leg/butt movement patterns.

Hope this helps!

Who else needs accountability and a fitness professional with my over 30 years of experience getting people feeling and looking great? Semi-private 30-minute personal training via zoom twice weekly can get you on track. Choose from 10 session intro package plus functional movement screening or 25 session packages.

Invest in yourself!

Get started by CLICKING HERE IF YOU WANT A FREE VIRTUAL FITNESS CONSULT (VALUE $87) or one of our other services listed above. Just give me a call or text at 901-466-6242 and we can get you started with a functional fitness assessment and a few things to do on your own before the Greenville/Travelers Rest area location is up and running.

If you haven’t had a functional movement assessment with a professional observe the way you move different joints and movements with your hips, shoulders, wrists and spine then how do you know you are doing the most effective strength training, flexibility or cardio program? Hire someone like me to get you on track with a program to help you reduce current pain, eliminate pain, improve your current program or enhance your athletic performance.

Tonya Tittle, M.S., ACSM, LMT, TPI Level 1
Energy Fitness /Owner/Dir. of Training
(Club 29 Fitness Inc.)

898 N. Hwy 25 Bypass
Greenville, SC 29690 (Travelers Rest area)