Track Your Routine

When I'm working out, I track what I'm doing on a post-it note.  It's easy and helps me to remember what to do.  After I'm done with my cardio, I pull one off and stick it to the wall of the garage cabinet.  With a pencil I put down the exercises that I'm supposed to do that day.  Below is an example.

1/18 Cardio 2.64 miles
Press Seat 210/10/10
   Lying 245/8/8  Incline 185/10/10
Curls Standing Bar 110/10/10  DB 55/8/8
   ISO 100/8/8  DB 55/10/10
Military Standing Bar 110/10/10
   Seated 135/10/10
Flys 135/10/10
Ab Blaster 25M/15M

This is a short way of tracking what I'm doing when I workout in a circuit format.  Normally, I find that after the first circuit, I'm so tired that I easily forget where I'm at and what needs to be completed.  In the example above, Press is Bench Press; Seat & Incline are on machine and Lying is Free Weight.  ISO is isolated bar and DB is using dumbbells.  The Ab Blaster ($40) is a killer on the stomach.  I like it as it doesn't hurt my back and it really works the stomach muscles like never before.  No amount of crunches or sit-ups can do what this dog does.  The M on the record is for "mixed" routine in which I focus on one side then the other.

All of this is placed into my excel report for long term tracking.  From there, I can see over the year what I have done, what patterns I develop, and what keeps me from not exercising.