Do you keep a 'performance diary' ?

[unimatrix7]

In case you don't know what one is, here is a good article by one of Australia's leading personal trainers. I've been keeping one for a while, and I honestly believe that it helps keep me focused and has improved my results. But that may just be the OCD side of me coming out.

So does anyone here keep one, or anything similar? Or have you tried and found it not to work?

I'm asking for two reasons: firstly, I'm curious about you all. Secondly...well, some background first. I'm studying a master's in exercise science whilst I work as a personal trainer, and there's a client at our gym who has been seeing two experienced trainers every week for, at least, 6 months. She's frustrated with never getting results and this week, for whatever reason, she's having a session with me. I'm thinking of suggesting the idea to her, maybe giving her an exercise book and a pen and telling her to write down the things that frustrate her the most and what she wants to achieve overall, and within the next month. And then suggesting that she use the diary for some of the things I outlined in the link above.

So what do you all think? How would you respond if a personal trainer came at you with something like that?

 

[RoJoHen]

About 2 years ago, I used to keep a log of my workouts. I wrote everything down, from weight to reps to the number of sets. That way, I could see what I did the previous week and then force myself to do better the next time (even if was just adding a single rep to bench press or something). It helped a lot.

Then I got busy with life and lost track of stuff. My results definitely stopped.

I need to start doing this again. It worked really well.

 

[archeryguy1701]

I've been keeping a log for my running. In H.S, I would try to log regularly, but after a while, I would stop doing it every day, and I would fall so far behind that it wasn't worth tracking. However, one of my running friends sent me an Excel spreadsheet that he designed that I've really liked so far. It allows you to plug in your distance, time, altitude, wind, temperatures, and will churn out figures like MPH, average mile times, and things of that sort. I've found it really interesting. I don't really use it as motivation because my goal is just to be able to stay out for hours on end, but it is fun to track the numbers.

 

[RAMA]

I used to but not for many years. I sort of keep a loose track on two websites, but i could be a lot more consistent.

 

[Danoz]

About 2 years ago, I used to keep a log of my workouts. I wrote everything down, from weight to reps to the number of sets. That way, I could see what I did the previous week and then force myself to do better the next time (even if was just adding a single rep to bench press or something). It helped a lot.

Then I got busy with life and lost track of stuff. My results definitely stopped.

I need to start doing this again. It worked really well.

This is what I'm doing now. I'm being very meticulous about it, but it definitely keeps me honest and improving the workout every other day when I train those muscles.