The Secret to a Successful Work Out Plan That Almost Nobody Uses
You’ve got a great work out plan for yourself in your head as you walk into the gym. So you bring your fired-up self out to the gym floor, and absolutely crush your workout!
And when you return to the gym the following week, you can’t wait to repeat that awesome experience. You just know your going to make killer progress with this routine!
But then something weird happens…..
On your third exercise, you can’t remember how much weight you did last time.
On your fifth exercise, you could tell you were sitting much lower in the machine than last time, but you got way more reps (you think), so you didn’t bother changing the seat setting.
And on your last exercise, you get 11 reps, and the last rep was a real struggle, but somehow you did it. But you can’t remember whether you did 10 or 12 last time, so you’re not sure if you got better or worse.
Well, who cares, you left all sweaty and your muscles felt great.
So you continue showing up to the gym consistently, doing your best to remember what you did in that first magical workout, giving it your all –
And yet somehow you haven’t made any visible significant progress in 3 months.
Is your work out plan written down?
You will get the most out of the time and effort you devote to your work out plan if it’s already written out before you start, and you record everything you do in the workout.
Without this data, you won’t know how or when to make progressive changes to your work out plan, and will drastically reduce its effectiveness.
And it’s very motivating to be able to see your week-to-week progress before your eyes.
“What Gets Measured Gets Improved”.
Legendary management consultant Peter Drucker famously said these words 40 years ago, and they are equally appropriate today.
You may be tempted to skip this step, and just jump right into the workout without creating your own written work out plan. And it may seem tedious to have to record each workout.
But skipping these steps would be a big mistake. Starting with a written work out plan, and recording important data as you go, is an essential component of success in pretty much any field.
Can you imagine a construction company trying to build a house without a written blueprint to follow? Or your doctor trying to rely on his memory of your past medical history every time you go in for a checkup? Do you think Thomas Edison didn’t bother writing things down while he was inventing the light bulb? Of course not.
And it works with exercise too.
Trust me, your results will be infinitely better if you write down what you’re doing in the gym on an ongoing basis, starting today.
What to record in your workout plan log for best results
- Make sure to record the date of the session.
- Record the weight you use for each exercise.
- Record the number of repetitions performed.
- Make sure to specify how that exercise be performed.
- Write down the seat settings for each machine so your positioning is the same every workout.
- Record what weight you’ll use for each exercise next time.
- Describe any pertinent information, i.e. “tired from red eye flight”, “pain in left shoulder on chest press machine”, etc.
Don’t forget –
Consistent and precise recording of key workout data is critical for achieving your fitness goals.
At Rock Solid Fitness, we keep written records of our clients’ workouts, body composition test results, medical history, goals and personal preferences. This helps our members get the best possible results in the shortest possible time thanks to our data-driven approach. We take out all the guesswork, and that allows for consistent, measurable progress over the long run.
