Bullet Journaling for Fitness

Bullet Journaling for Fitness

Bullet Journals are a great way to organize all matters regarding your fitness. It doesn’t have to be fancy, neat or pretty. The most important thing is just getting the information on the page. Below I will cover some Bullet Journal pages I have created to help me streamline my fitness journey. There is no right or wrong way to bullet journal and they are endlessly customizable. You can create charts, graphs and lists regarding whatever form of exercise you preform weather it dance, martial arts, or swimming.

Overview

·         o   Weight Lifting

o   Workout Log

o   Progress Chart

o   Ab Chart

·         Running

o   Distance

o   Speed

o   5k Options

o   Motivational Music

·         Overall Progress

o   Weight Graph

o   Measurements Chart

   

Weight Lifting

o   Workout options

§  Creating a workout options page in your bullet journal is a great way to stream line the choosing process of which workouts to do. You can create a list of workouts for each body part and choose a few of each or focus on a specific body part for you work out. Ex. Leg Day! This is your master list which you can add to and even color code for easier reference. Pinterest is a great resource for finding new workouts.

o   Workout Log

§  Benefits: The Workout Log Page is where you log your daily exercise activities. This is helpful to keep track of your progress and to reference in the future. For example if you are planning on doing squats but cannot remember the weight you used last time, it is written down in your log.

§  Notes: Notes can also be added to indicate if you should increase your weight or the difficulty you experienced. I simply draw an up or down arrow to tell myself to either increase or decrease my weight during the next workout. The same can be applied to the number of sets and reps preformed. I leave a space at the bottom of my workout log for any additional notes. For example how log I spent working out or “do not do pushups and chest press the same day.”

§  Organization: There are numerous ways of organizing this information. My Workout Log is organized into 3 sections. 1. Exercise preformed 2. Sets x Reps 3. Weight (lbs). My workout log is also color coded based on body part to ensure that I am covering every body part in each workout at a glance.  I keep all my workouts in a separate mini bullet journal specifically for workouts because this log will begin to require a lot of pages. I use one page for every two workouts. Also having a smaller journal allows me to carry it to the gym with me.

o   Progress Charts

§  If you would like a quick overview of your progress on a specific workout create a progress chart. Write down in one place every time you did a specific workout, how much weight you lifted, reps and sets. This can also be done in a graph format.

o   Ab chart

§  Abs are made up of several different muscle groupings and I find it useful to have a quick list of which workouts effect the different groups. This is a chart that a transferred to my bullet journal from Pinterest. You can draw it free hand or just print it off and glue it in your bullet journal. For a link to the chart click here.

·         Running

o   Distance Chart

§  One of my favorite exercises is running and I love to keep track of my monthly progress. Creating a distance chart if fulfilling because each time you run you get to add another bar to your chart. It is a visual representation of your progress. I use the Nike running app to track my exact distance than fill the information into my chart.

o   Speed Per Mile Chart

§  I use this graph as another visual representation of my progress. I also get this information from my Nike Running App but I have to open each individual run to see my times. The chart I created in my Bullet Journal allows me to see the speed of all of my runs in one place. This chart is composed of the Time on the vertical axis and the date on the horizontal axis. I color code each mile I run to see how they compare drawing dotes for each time. As I log more runs I connect the dots with lines to show my progress. See the photo below.

o   5k options

§  I try to run at least one 5k a month as part of my 2017 goals but there are so many to choose from, so I created a chart to compare which run best suits me. The chart consists of: Date, Title of Run, Location, Price, and Extras (if the run includes a t-shirt, medal ect.). This is a great way to get an overview of my options and I can refer back to it later. I research my 5ks on the Run the USA website.

o   Motivational playlists

§  A simple fitness Bullet Journal page I have created is a list of songs to add to my workout playlist to get me motivated. I find it easier to just write them down in my journal to add to playlists later and it keeps them all in one place. Add doodles and drawings to your bullet journal to make it more unique.

·         Overall Progress

o   Weight

§  Once you have been using the workout and running logs you may also want to track how your body has reacted. You may have lost fat or gained muscle. A weight tracker is a great way to log your transformation.

o   Measurements

§  Keeping a measurement log may be a better way of tracking your fitness progress because weight tends to fluctuate and even if you gained weight you still may be in better shape due to muscle. I try to keep track of the areas in my body where I carry the most fat I want to lose: Waist, Arms, Butt, and Thighs.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below!