Using Your Fitness Journal to Overcome Plateaus and Setbacks

Setbacks can be incredibly disappointing, and it’s understandable why. This can be even more amplified when dealing with a fitness setback or plateau. This is especially true in social media, where there seems to be a hyper-focus on what our bodies look like over what they feel like.

Plateau can make you feel lost, which is why a fitness journal can be one of the most powerful tools to help you get over it. And even better undated monthly planners won’t make you feel guilty if you have to push back a date or two. 

Let’s talk about how we can use a fitness journal to help us.

The Mindset Of Setbacks

The first step is addressing the mindset of a setback. The fitness journal should have some space so you can really talk about your feelings first. Getting them out is like a great vent session. It’s essential to be aware of our feelings concerning the frustration of a setback; it’s necessary to flip the script and realize that we might take one step back but two steps forward.

We can only come to this conclusion when we get our thoughts on paper because holding the frustration inside or pretending things are OK is a common action that many of us do today. With Blank Space and the freedom to write, this is the first step to getting over our plateau.

Why A Journal Should Be Your First Step

Now that we are in touch with our feelings, what can we do with our journal? Well, several strategies work well for a fitness journey, which is why we’re going to go over each of them.

Block Out a Breath

It might be silly to block out some breathing time, but it is essential. If you’re familiar with the Apple Watch, there’s a feature that helps you breathe in and out that benefits you.

Blocking out time to breathe will allow you to think more clearly and slow down your physical heart rate. This could mean blocking out some self-care time meditation in the morning or even just reminders to follow your Apple Watch.

Organize Your Goals

Once we’ve had a chance to breathe and get in sync with our bodies, now is a great time to start organizing your goals. Our goals must change with our bodies because it’s not magic. This is why setting up specific objectives with measurements attached is helpful.

This will allow us to track real-time metrics. The most important thing about organizing your goals is to make sure you’re setting small goals leading up to a big goal. This is most people because they aim for something that’s not really within their reach.

Stay On Track Again

I set some goals that are measurable and attainable. It’s time to put them to work by placing them on a schedule. Learning not to over schedule yourself when it comes to fitness is essential.

As a part of these new goals, your schedule should reflect not being overly ambitious but providing enough challenge to be rewarding. Confidence and self-esteem can boost significantly with these small wins. 

This also motivates us to stay on track and consistent with our fitness goals if we know anything about them, even when we don’t feel like it is the most critical aspect.

Give Space for Mistakes

Regarding fitness journeys, there is never a perfect pathway to the goal. That’s what makes it so rewarding. It’s so important to give room for mistakes and to have graciousness towards yourself.

This is what gives us the ability to keep going after a setback. The harder we are on ourselves, the less likely we are to keep trying. Writing motivational quotes in your journal is very helpful for staying positive.

Start now

The awesome thing is you can get back on the horse right now. Even if you are going to order a specific journal, you can start doing a little bit of the process on a blank sheet of paper and transfer it over later.

Take some of that newfound inspiration and get going. The best part of a setback is being able to propel yourself forward and getting back on the horse to enter the race.