This is part 4 of helpful tips and methods on “defeating the Itis” pertaining to the daily fitness routines that many go through.

One little tip that might seem mundane but I have found extremely helpful in terms of motivation when working out is to create a comprehensive workout plan and put it in writing. Yes it is really important to always have some type of routine or regimen planned ahead of time before you actually attempt a work out or hit the gym. But when you put it in writing it almost becomes like an appointment that you can’t break because “this, this, and this,” need to be completed before “that, that and that” can happen. I have since November kept a log of all of my workouts on my computer. I first before I attempted this looked up and thoroughly read through all the different exercises that you can do for each of the different muscles. This literally took me about 3 hours which is nothing, and it went so quickly because there is an infinite list of credible sources regarding all this info at your disposal on the net (but make sure it is from a credible source). Once I gathered all this information I saved each muscle group to a different word doc, and then the magic truly happens – especially for all you computer savvy, spreadsheet happy, home row key freaks like me.  

I then create a spread sheet with the day of the week and the muscle that I am working that day. Next I open up my word doc for that particular muscle and copy and paste 6-8 different exercises for that work out in the first Colum which is labeled Exercises and all the rows beneath it are the different exercises. The second column is labeled Last week and in the rows below I put the weight that I lifted the previous week and the next column is labeled this week and the rows below it are the weights that I lifted for each particular exercise, pertaining to the current week. Finally I will label the fourth-8^th columns sets, and I will leave all the rows below it blank. I do this so that when I am at the gym I can check the empty boxes so that I know exactly where I am in my work out without loosing track. This is a fantastic way to stay on track with your fitness goals. I will save the Doc by the muscle and the two months that I will be in and then I just create different tabs for each of the four-five weeks within the month depending on how the days fall for that month. I do this so that I can do one set of exercises for that muscle one week and another for the next week and then rotate in that order, an with the spread sheets I can monitor and total the progress of each muscle and each exercise in terms of progression in weight. I do this for a two month period because it is just enough time to get a good data range. Once all this stuff is set up, it literally takes me 10 min to set up a daily schedule for each day and muscle for the week.

Above is the tech version of what you can do but it can be as simple as grabbing a little pad of paper and do in the same in written version. Being able to see your progression while working out and being able to check off your exercises as you go can be an extremely valuable tool when trying to find reasons and motivation to get in the gym and while actually at the gym. I like to think of it in terms of Legos. On the one hand it is fun to just play with them in a freestyle fashion and create something on your own, but after a while you get tired of doing that. But when you get a brand new box of Legos with instructions, you are super stoked and blow right through the entire box and are then ready for the next one. Why because you had a set game plan laid out in front of you in the form of instructions, but when you have to constantly spend a lot of time trying to think of something new every time, you begin to loose interest. The above is also geared towards weight lifting routines but you can easily modify it so that it fits a different cross-fit work out every other day or different mileages and times on running routines or different abdominal exercises. It is really simple and very easy to do so I suggest that you give it a hot and see how it might benefit you. These are simply the opinions of a guy who has opinions about anything and everything, take it or leave it as you will.