Recently, I came across my old training journal, all the way back from 2005. While
there were definitely some notes and goals I chuckled at, it really opened my eyes
and made me realize how much I have been slacking over the years.

I always record my weights while I’m training. I keep note so I can reference them in the following workout, and try to beat those numbers. This is such an easy way to continue seeing steady progress. If you aren’t bettering your numbers in some way, shape or form, you are not going to continue changing your body. Remember that.

So what’s the difference? I have the numbers from last week, last month, last year
and so on.


I do not want you to think that just because you may not be a competitive athlete
that it is not equally important for you. While for powerlifting is all about the numbers, those other things, albeit small notes, over time will really have a profound impact on continued consistency and progress. You have to be analytical.

You may have a really difficult workout where you did not perform as well as you
should have and could start getting down on yourself. It easy to let that happen. If
everything always goes good that’d be great! But that is not always the case. Being able to go back and see things like sleep, whether you were as on point with your nutrition as you should have been, your work schedule, and so on, could be the reason. This is important to note and use to your advantage. Try to take notice of any trends, such as if you train a hard lower body day, then you are almost unable to do your long run the following day, note that and make sure you take extra rest time in between those workouts. Your body is constantly changing, and your workout will constantly change too. It’s like a puzzle that never ends. Don’t get discouraged though, because if you are keeping track of all of these things you will know certain workouts, foods, etc that really work awesome for you, and some that don’t.

So next time you need to make a change, you will continually make better choices with your programming.

The other thing I loved about finding this was my ‘Goals’ page. I have since started doing this again. As soon as I opened it, the very first page had all of my goals I was working towards, broken into 3 categories, Daily, mid term, and long term. As you can see from the pictures, I had easy things like drinking all of my water. Seems simple, but that was something at the end of the day I was successful with. If I did this all week, that was 7 things right there, that I successfully completed. This is something you should do, too. Create goals for yourself and write them down, not just to hold yourself accountable but over time, all of the little things that are consistent will yield a better payback than you think. Another one could be go on one 10 minute walk per day. Doesn’t matter what time. Make it good deliberate pace, 2 times around the block and your done. Not only will you feel better and get everything moving, think of how many extra calories you will burn over the next week, month, and so on…

Pick realistic mid and long term goals. Don’t say you want to lose 50 pounds in a
month, but give yourself a deadline for the first 25, then another for the other 25.
Staying consistent with your daily and mid term goals is essential in hitting those
long term goals.

You will also be reminded on a daily basis of what it is that is so important to you. It is natural to have days where you are less motivated than others. Pick up your
journal, look at all of the progress you have made, and remind yourself of how great you are going to feel WHEN you achieve the goals you have made for yourself. Don’t Let yourself fall off track. Willpower can sometimes be the hardest thing to keep consistent, but when I was dieting for my contest, I brought this with me everywhere as a constant reminder to NEVER GIVE UP.