So here we are in part 3 of this multi-part series on tracking and today we’re going to look at exercise. There are lots of good things about tracking exercise. In general, unlike sleep, and as we’ll learn next, food, there aren’t a lot of downsides to tracking exercise, but I will touch on a few cautionary points toward the end.
One of the big differences between tracking exercise and tracking something like sleep is that, until you get into more sophisticated tracking, you are pretty much just tracking actions that you have complete control over.
Whether or not you wake up in the night and can’t fall back to sleep is less under your control than whether you do 10 air squats every time you go to the bathroom. Other than just not wanting to do those air squats in the moment, there isn’t much else that is really stopping you, assuming you don’t have any limiting orthopedic concerns.
What to track and why
1) Frequency
Did I move my body today? Just a simple yes or no.
Why? When you’re trying to build the habit of being someone who exercises regularly, this is a great way of figuring out whether you’re achieving your goals. If you want to exercise a certain number of days a week, tracking the frequency with which you move your body will tell you whether you are reaching that goal. This can be done simply with a checkmark on a paper calendar. Nothing fancy is required here. And when you do get that exercise session in, don’t forget to celebrate even if it’s just a subtle “I’m awesome” under your breath.
2) Time
Why? So maybe you have the frequency down. You’re in the habit of exercising but now you’d like to push it a bit more so that that you’re hitting the recommended 150 minutes/week. This is when tracking time comes in. Fancy electronics need not show up for this either. You can check the time when you start, check it again when you stop and voila, you have your time. Write that down somewhere, again on a calendar is fine and at the end of each week, add up your minutes and see how you’re doing.
3) Intensity
Why? If you’re a regular exerciser, you might be wondering if you’re working hard enough. The Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines for adults recommend 150 minutes of "moderate to vigorous" physical activity/week. Maybe you’re getting out the door a few days a week but are you slowly strolling as the family dog sniffs every blade of grass along your route or are you working up a bit of a sweat? If you want to reach moderate to vigorous, you’re looking at a 5 or 6 to a 7 or 8 on a scale of 10. At a moderate intensity, you should be able to talk but not sing your favourite song. And at a high intensity, you can’t get more than a few words out without pausing for a breath.
Track your intensity on a scale of 1 to 10 for a week or two to see if you’re getting enough moderate to vigorous minutes into your routine. If you want something fancier, you can use a heart rate monitor but using a scale of 1 to 10 works just fine.
4) Type
What type of exercise did I do?
Why? So far, we’ve been talking about getting in that moderate to vigorous activity but even the type of exercise matters. As part of your 150 minutes (or as extra, your choice!), you want to get in 2 muscle-strengthening sessions as well. This could look like a specific strengthening class, weightlifting at home or even some heavy hard work. You might want to track your exercise over a 2-week period to see if you’re getting in enough variety including sessions that specifically target strength training.
5) Energy Level
How is my energy level today?
Why? While exercise is generally good for us, there can come a point when we overdo it. When we increase our fitness, we increase our energy but for a small percentage of the population we do too much, too soon and we exhaust ourselves. Pay attention to your energy level when you wake up in the morning. Just like the intensity of exercise, you can rate your energy level on a scale of 1 to 10 from exhausted to ready to seize the day! Are you ready or are you achy, sore, and exhausted from what you’ve put your body through lately?
If you find your energy level dropping, go back and look at the time and intensity of your workouts. It might be time to back off a little.
The volume and intensity of your exercise can also impact your sleep so something else you might want to keep an eye on. You can read more about tracking your sleep here.
6) Mood
How is my mood today?
Why? Exercise has consistently been shown repeatedly in the research to have a positive effect on mood. It’s even beat out anti-depressants in some cases! If you need some help sticking with your exercise program, it might be worthwhile tracking your mood while you’re trying this new habit on for size. Again, a scale of 1 to 10 from down in the dumps to jumping for joy will do the trick. Over time, see how you’ve moved along that scale. Is exercise boosting your mood? If so, what better reason to keep with it.
How to track
When NOT to track
I’ve said this in previous posts, and I’ll say it again now: “Know thyself”. If you tend to get a wee bit obsessive when it comes to getting your activity in, tracking might just lead you down a dark path of walking laps around your house at 11:45 pm trying to hit your step goal before the day is done. If this sounds like something you might do, keep the tracking to a minimum.
