How to set up a training diary in a paper notebook

In this digital age, there are plenty of apps and devices that promise to faithfully track your progress at the gym, your mileage on the run, or any other type of exercise you do. But even as I jump between apps and devices, I always keep my Real training diary on paper. You know, in a notebook. With a pen. And maybe you should too.

Why should you keep a paper training diary?

First of all it is not only me. The venerable publication The Onion documented the subculture I am a part of in their groundbreaking investigative piece, Man in gym has precious little diary to keep track of all his exercisesI’ve seen top athletes do this too: Olympian Mattie Rogers wrote on Instagram that “if you don’t write down your workouts, how you feel, what you feel, what changes you made that day, what hurts, good things, bad things, etc., I think you’re missing an important part of your training.” This post is a bit older, but I’ve seen her use paper journals in more recent posts. She has very nice handwriting.

Another Olympian, gold medal rower Brad Alan Lewis, wrote his memoirs Attack on Lake Casitas based in part on his training diaries from that time. In one chapter, when he was feeling particularly disconnected from his training, he wrote that he didn’t keep any training diaries at all. It was a telling detail in the emotional arc of the story, as he turned over the reins of his training to a coach he didn’t really trust. He eventually quit working with that coach, stole a boat, teamed up with a player who had been cut from the same team, and returned for an underdog victory at the Olympic Trials. It’s a good story and a damn good book. But I digress.

I keep my training diaries on paper because a paper book mine. I can’t forget my password. It won’t disappear from the cloud if the company that makes it goes out of business. I won’t think back to a year when I set a personal record and wonder if I tracked my runs in Runkeeper or Runtastic, or if I logged my strength training in Fitnotes or Hevy. I have all my training diaries right here on my shelf.

I also use paper because I’m not limited to what an app designer decided I should track. I can jot down notes about what cues I was thinking about during a lift (“BIG ELBOWS”), insert percentage charts or kilogram/pound conversions, or write down workouts I did at the gym or at home. I can underline the lifts that went well and scribble under the ones I just did hardly I was able to finish. I find all of this incredibly useful when I look back, whether it’s a week later or a year later.

How to Start Your Paper Training Diary

First, you’ll need a notebook. The best notebook for a workout journal is something with a hard cover or a stitched cover, as spiral bindings tend to get damaged when you throw them in a gym bag. You can look fancy with a nice hard cover like a Lighthouseor go for the knockoff version – my favorite is a Michaels house brand that costs about $8, but here’s one from amazon for $4. Or get a composition notebook; those are two or three dollars and you don’t have to worry about spiral binding. Or go to your local craft store or office supply store and pick out something that you actually enjoy using.

Or choose a diary with pre-printed pages to help you organize your training. This has a line for each exercise you do, with sections at the top and bottom of the page to track your water intake, supplements, body weight, macros, and more. Here is a similar diary with a slightly different layout.

Are you a runner? This diary captures a week’s runs on one page, with areas to list the location, weather, and whether you’re experiencing any aches or pains for each. Or try thiswith each run having its own page and plenty of room for different aspects you want to take notes on.

How to track your workouts in your workout diary

What you decide to keep is up to you, but consider making room for (some of) the following bits of information:

• Time of day

• How long did the training last?

• The strength exercises you did, with the reps, sets and weight for each

• How the exercises felt: Did anything hurt? Did you feel particularly good at a skill today?

• How long you rested between sets

• Which muscle groups did you train that day?

• Did you do any running or cardio intervals? Was there a specific training protocol What were you following?

• How intense the training was, overall

• How did the training feel overall? Was it a good day, a bad day, or an average day?

• Other factors that may have influenced your workout that day (especially if you want to find patterns in those good and bad days): Did you eat before the gym? Was it a stressful day at work?

• Did you train with a friend, trainer or coach? If so, who?

• What was the goal of the training? Did you feel like you achieved that goal?

Photo: Beth Skwarecki

What to track in your training diary besides workouts

While you’re keeping this journal, you may also want to track other aspects of your health or fitness. Some people like to track:

• Steps taken every day

• How much water did you drink?

• Your calories and macros

• Your weight

• Your mood

• Quotes, tips or reminders about the energy you want to bring into your workouts or your life

• Ideas for future training or goals

• Big timelines, like how long until the marathon you’ve planned for next year

And don’t forget to use your journal to reflect on your progress and record your race results! If you run a race, write down how it went and what you would do differently next time, if you would do anything differently. If you achieve a goal in the gym, write down how you warmed up for it and what you did afterwards to celebrate.