workout

I've been actively and regularly exercising for the past 5+ years. Throughout the whole time I've generally done strength and condition training with my friends at Live to Lift (website in Bulgarian). I've had different goals, from fat loss and muscle gain to simply maintaining a healthy, strong and fit body. What I've found out though is that the higher working out was in my priorities list, the better results I had. When I exercised regularly and followed a balanced and healthy diet, not only I was lifting heavier and heavier weights and my technique was improving significantly, but also I was way more productive, handled stress better, slept better and most important of all, felt much better in my own body.

Regardless of how well I know the benefits of working out, I've had variable and inconsistent results. When you're not a professional athlete, maintaining a regular workout routine and progressing have been challenging. I have yet to beat my personal best results that I achieved through the first three months of my gym experience. Still, I am confident that I can progress much more than that.

One of the things I learned at Live to Lift is to observe myself. Observing helps you know yourself better and understand what drives you and what hinders your progress. What may work for others, may not necessarily work for you. So after years of observing, I know what hinders my progress - inconsistency, lost focus and priorities shift. This year, however, more than anything I want to focus on my inner well-being, health and productivity. Working out regularly and eating well will be a priority. And I know it will be a highly challenging goal for me.

Committing publicly and logging a journal to monitor my progress is what I know will help me stick to my promise, so here am I. I do hope that my journal, hopefully progress and good results will motivate not just me, but also others to go out and exercise more, regularly. Nothing motivates me more than progress and results in work and life overall, so I hope that this will keep me go further with exercising.

After almost a 2-month break, I got back to my workout routine this week and have already started a beta version of my public diary. G. is working on a more visually appealing web based one, integrated with this blog. I'll update this post once it's ready. Until then, this Google Sheet will have to do the work. It's still work in progress, but will be ready within a day or two.

What about the actual goals then? I am not a fan of aiming for things like 60kg squats, or 70kg deadlift, or 10 chin ups. I don't like such approach to goals because it's limiting. What if I can actually do 70kg squats? For that reason my goal is less specific and more general progress oriented. I want to see progress in several aspects: fat loss, muscle gain, overall strength and maintaining consistent diet and workout habits.

And finally, if you know of any other people logging public exercise and food diaries, please let me know!

Btw, you can buy the lovely print from the image above here.