Exercise Journals: The Key to Weight Training Over 40
November 29, 2009 by Scott Fisher
Filed under Health
Fitness experts and competitive bodybuilders all over the world insist that keeping an exercise journal was a pivotal part of their success. This is because an exercise journal allows you to track and analyze your progress. If you are able to analyze what puts you ahead and what sets you back, you know how to adjust your training program in order to make yourself stronger, healthier, and better.
Essentially, when you are journaling make sure you create a detailed record of the muscle group trained, each movement used in that training, and how many reps you performed of each movement. For example, assume one day of your cycle focuses on triceps using arm extensions and dips. Your journal entry would be similar to this: Triceps- Dips (8 reps), Arm extensions (12 reps). Also, note the total time you trained and the time spent on each movement.
The more information you include, the more you will be able to analyze your progress. If you are just beginning with fitness over 40, there is no such thing as too many details. Eventually, you learn how you body responds to strength training and will be able to recognize which information is most helpful to modify your entries accordingly.
Another benefit to journaling is to be able to quickly identify when you overwork a muscle group and correct it. If you overwork a muscle group, especially in the beginning of a session, you will notice that you are unable to do as many reps later in the session. Also, if you notice unusual pain or need an unusual amount of rest you should be able to pinpoint the aspects of your training session that caused the injury. Therefore, you can keep yourself from repeating the injury or causing more damage.
Make sure you include your warm-up stretches, cardio, and weights in your journal. If you are not getting your desired muscle gain or if you feel pain afterwards, this could be from a lack of adequate warm up. You will be able to compare the warm up of periods when you saw positive results to the warm up of periods when you made no progress. Analysis of these two periods should help you adapt your workout accordingly.
Expert bodybuilders also chronicle their nutrition, such as their daily intake of proteins, carbs, and fat. If you are bodybuilding over 40 then you will need to pay special attention to your nutritional intake because of your changing metabolism. You will also track the number of calories you consume and when. If you are having difficulty building muscle, you may not be consuming enough calories to counteract your training. If you are putting on unwanted weight, you may have to consume fewer calories or do more cardio.
Additionally, there is other information that would be helpful to include. Some experts recommend establishing a numbered rating system to describe your energy level and mental outlook. The morning after you train, record your number. Track how you are feeling so that you can analyze which training methods give you the most energy and motivation. Change those methods which overly exhaust you. As an example, if you find you are too sore the days following a change to your cycle, you may have to lower the intensity of your workout.
No matter how much you have prepared for bodybuilding over 40, you are probably not going to start with the perfect program. Most competitive bodybuilders know that they get the maximum results when they use exercise journals to track and modify their progress. If you keep a journal, you will have a tool to create a great fitness plan tailored to your body, your life, and your fitness goals.
To find out more about weight training over 40, check out Scott Fishers authoritative website. Youll find a range of articles related to fitness over forty.
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