A fitness log is a record of your workouts and a simple way to track your exercise progress. It can be a journal containing logs recording past workouts and a helpful way to prepare for future workouts. A fitness log can contain multiple trackers including space to track water and food intake, hours of sleep, body pain reflections, and more. Using a fitness log is a reliable and consistent tracker that allows you to look back on your exercise and record your progress.
Before creating my fitness log, I created a SMART goal, on which I wanted to focus my training on. My goal was to complete 25 push ups in a row by May 1st. With a date set, I planned for this goal to take about 2.5 months to accomplish. In my log I wrote down my SMART goal, created a month calendar of my workout plan, a fitness log for each day with space for reflection, a mood and pain log, a water log, and a mile tracker.
Every day after completing a workout or two, I would fill out my fitness journal and each tracker for the day. Most of my workouts consisted of a HITT workout or Strava in the morning and one or two sports practices after school. Because I was preoccupied after school, I focused my morning training on working towards my goal. At the beginning of my fitness journey, I was able to complete 10 push ups in a row. Each week, I would complete push ups after my HITT workout and add an overall of two pushups per week. I rotated my HITT workouts through all parts of my upper body so I could get stronger.
At the end of each week, I would take time to reflect about my journaling process and how I was progressing. I recorded the amount of push ups I was able to complete and set up my fitness journal for the upcoming week of exercise.
THRR stands for Target Heart Rate Range. This is the heart's work rate at which you get the most benefits with a low risk for injury. This value is usually expressed at a 70-85% work rate. The formula to calculate the high end of your THRR is: HRR*0.85=HRR+RHR=THRR high end, where HRR stands for Heart Rate Reserve and RHR stands for Resting Heart Rate. Keeping track of my heart rate allowed me to maximize each workout. By understanding and following my THRR, I was able to exercise while achieving the best results.
SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. Each portion of the SMART program helps to create an exercise goal that is carefully planned, clearly stated, and easily trackable. Creating a SMART Goal was the first step in creating my fitness log. In the beginning, my goals were unrealistic and unmanageable. Using the SMART philosophy, I was able to create a strong goal alongside a plan to stick with it.
FITT stands for Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type. Following the FITT principle will help to create an effective workout plan for each individual who uses it. The FITT principle actually coincides with your SMART goal because if you know your main fitness goal, you are able to create specific workouts working towards that goal. Learning about the FITT principle helped me achieve my SMART goal because I was able to adjust each element (frequency, intensity, time, and type) to my specific workouts and overall progress to achieve the best result.
There are 5 main health components and these include cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, muscular strength, flexibility, and body composition. Using these health components, I was able to create a SMART goal focusing on muscular strength and muscular endurance. I was able to apply my knowledge into each workout and better understand each exercise.
Skill related fitness includes 6 different fitness components that are important in performance activities including sports. The components that make this up are agility, balance, coordination, speed, power, and reaction time. I was able to incorporate skill related fitness by trying out new workouts that related to my performance in sports.
Resistance training helps to increase muscle strength using equipment including weights, bands, machines, and more. I used resistance training in line with my skill related fitness components. For example, I used weight training to work on power and speed, relating directly to my sport.
Yoga is a practice including breath control, simple meditation, and the practice of specific body exercises. It is used widely for health, relaxation, and inner peace. Overall, I really enjoyed participating in yoga and even did a couple practices on my own. I found yoga helped me to remain calm and find control over my breath.
Body weight exercises are another type of strength training exercise that uses your own body weight to provide resistance. Because my smart goal was based on pushups, I continually used and practiced different body weight exercises to achieve my goal.
ATP stands for Adenosine Triphosphate and is the source of energy for the muscles in your body. I used my understanding of ATP to develop my workouts and adjust my eating habits.
The overload principle is basic exercise knowledge. It states that to see progress and to reach goals, you need to increase the time, type, intensity, and duration of each workout you do. This ties directly in with the FITT principle as these are the same components. I used the overload principle in my training to increase the amount of push ups I could complete.
Overall, I really enjoyed the process of completing my fitness log and felt really satisfied with the work I accomplished. I learned a lot through the process of setting goals and holding myself accountable. Relating to the 6 C's with this in mind, I think I did the best in the Conscientious Learner category. I was able to manage my time effectively (Conscientious Learner) by planning out my school work, sports, and PE workouts. I also set and monitored my growth towards my SMART goal. There were a couple challenges that I faced, one being unmotivated after a long day. However, I embraced this mindset with the most positivity I could and turned the lazy days into productive ones. I was able to prove to myself how much I have grown mentally with a positive mindset. Another challenge I faced was balancing my time between studying, working out, and family obligations. I allowed myself to take time and plan everything out so I would not be stressed throughout the week. One thing I learned about myself throughout this process is that I am very dedicated to my work and will do whatever it takes for success. I learned this because through my failures, I did not want to give up and they only motivated me more. One new skill I can take out of this process is using a positive mindset towards activities and projects I do not want to do. On some days I would not want to work out but instead of going into the workout with a negative mindset, I tried my best to use a positive mindset. This got me through workouts and I am trying to apply it to other things in my life. After reflecting on this project, I am proud of myself for accomplishing my goal and I am excited to apply my knowledge to other areas of my life.