If you're serious about getting in shape or losing weight you may want to take the advice of many personal trainers and keep a workout journal.
Keeping a fitness journal or workout log can help you effectively track your progress.
After you've been working out on your elliptical trainer for a while it's hard to remember exactly where you started, as far as resistance levels, incline and minutes, so you can compare it to where you are currently.
If your workouts start to feel like they blend together you many not appreciate the progress you've made.
Realizing the progress you've made will help keep you motivated and give you a confidence boost.
Keeping a journal shouldn't be difficult; don't make it difficult or you may not keep it up.
You can use a pen and paper, a spreadsheet, a calendar, whatever works best for you.
The more detailed the better, as long as it's not too cumbersome or time-consuming to complete.
You want enough detail to give you valuable information, but you don't want information overload.
It also needs to be manageable and something that will be easy for you to fill out everyday.
Your log should include things like weight, body fat, maybe time of day, and a detail of time spent on your elliptical trainer.
Include total minutes spent on your elliptical with a breakdown showing how many minutes at what resistance level, or incline level and which program you are using.
Include all other forms of exercise as well like time spent running, doing sit ups (and how many), walking etc.
If you're trying to loose weight you'll want to keep a log of what you are eating as well, including all meals and snacks, as well as time of day you're eating.
Determine what works best for you, but many recommend checking your log once a month to track your progress, or in some cases lack thereof.
In some cases you may know you haven't been working out enough and it will show in your log.
By looking at a log every month it should help keep you on track and keep you honest with yourself.
But when you see those improvements it will be incredibly motivating and help you to keep going strong.
Keeping a fitness journal or workout log can help you effectively track your progress.
After you've been working out on your elliptical trainer for a while it's hard to remember exactly where you started, as far as resistance levels, incline and minutes, so you can compare it to where you are currently.
If your workouts start to feel like they blend together you many not appreciate the progress you've made.
Realizing the progress you've made will help keep you motivated and give you a confidence boost.
Keeping a journal shouldn't be difficult; don't make it difficult or you may not keep it up.
You can use a pen and paper, a spreadsheet, a calendar, whatever works best for you.
The more detailed the better, as long as it's not too cumbersome or time-consuming to complete.
You want enough detail to give you valuable information, but you don't want information overload.
It also needs to be manageable and something that will be easy for you to fill out everyday.
Your log should include things like weight, body fat, maybe time of day, and a detail of time spent on your elliptical trainer.
Include total minutes spent on your elliptical with a breakdown showing how many minutes at what resistance level, or incline level and which program you are using.
Include all other forms of exercise as well like time spent running, doing sit ups (and how many), walking etc.
If you're trying to loose weight you'll want to keep a log of what you are eating as well, including all meals and snacks, as well as time of day you're eating.
Determine what works best for you, but many recommend checking your log once a month to track your progress, or in some cases lack thereof.
In some cases you may know you haven't been working out enough and it will show in your log.
By looking at a log every month it should help keep you on track and keep you honest with yourself.
But when you see those improvements it will be incredibly motivating and help you to keep going strong.
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