A Fitness Journal Is The Workout Buddy You Need To Keep You Accountable (2024)

This 12-week planner is a great way to dive into new fitness goals. Here's how it works: You set a specific goal to reach by the end of the 12 weeks (gain five pounds of muscle, maintain four-a-week workouts, etc.). Then, you fill in the blanks, like what exercise you performed or how many reps you did, to track your progress along the way.

It includes a designated section to track cardio versus strength training, along with a full food log. You even have the option to write down a reward you’ll treat yourself to if you hit your weekly goals.

Rave Review: "I am a certified personal trainer and have to say I am impressed. The best way to get started on a healthier lifestyle or to meet a goal that you have set for yourself is to plan it out ahead of time, have a solid plan, and set your schedule. This planner is very detailed with tracking food intake, resistance training, cardio, etc."

There's no better planner to help you chase your fitness goals than one that will motivate you. This one from Ban.do features encouraging tear-out cards, activity trackers, and paragraphs of inspirational advice, like one about embracing growth. With it, you'll be able to track your overall wellness, including physical and mental.

Rave Review: "I love my planner. It helps me keep track of what I eat and how I feel daily and it’s full of motivational tips and messages. I love reading it all the time!"

Training for a competition, race, or just like keeping track of new PRs? This planner has detailed daily fitness logs that let you record your training type, and even the specific exercises in your routine. There are weekly check-ins for you to reflect on how you feel after the past week and weekly planning pages to help you think about goals and dreams for the week ahead.

Rave Review: "This planner is EXACTLY what I was looking for!!! I've recently started a new heavy lifting workout plan, and this keeps me on track. I know exactly what I'm going to do each day, and I can quickly make any notations I want during my workout."

Track your progress for 140 days using this sturdy journal, which customers rave about for its durability. No matter where you lug it, the living room or the local park for an outdoor workout, the journal is resistant to wear and tear. It also features space for you to record sets, types of exercise, rating, body measurements, progress, and diet preferences.

Rave Review: "Comprehensive, well-organized, great quality paper. It has everything I need! I'm a personal trainer, and I buy one for every one of my clients as part of their onboarding process."

If you want to track your fitness regimen but also add a little more mindfulness, gratitude, and reflection into your life, check out this 16-week journal. Similar to the 12-week planner, this one helps you set a specific, shorter-term goal to focus on. Whether that's related to physical or mental health, this fitness journal will help you take the steps to get there.

In addition to daily fitness, nutrition, and wellness tips, there’s a space for you to think about what you’re thankful for. “For me, it helps me keep gratitude at the top of mind all day,” says Erin Bailey, trainer at Burn Fitness in Boston, MA, and fan of gratitude journaling. "It helps me be more giving in the little moments, and those little moments add up to a really wonderful life.”

Rave Review: "Love these journals. This is now my third one to date. It is so nice to get home and unwind by writing about my day and filling in what I ate along with the exercise I did."

This 16-week productivity planner will allow you to meet your goals at your own pace. It's undated, but you can fill in the dates yourself. It includes some of the basics like spaces for you to fill in your schedule and make a to-do list, but there's also room for you to regularly reflect on your personal growth.

Rave Review: "I treasure my wellness journal. It is one of my special purchases. It took me time to decide which journal, cover design, etc. as there are so many choices. I am very pleased with this product, and recommend this highly to others."

This wellness planner from Erin Condren is perfect for tracking all parts of your physical health from your steps taken to your fitness activity, meals, and water intake. The planner includes 80 pages and a motivational and health-themed sticker sheet.

Rave Review: "I love how this planner is laid out. It's straight to the point and has a weekly outline for you to see your goals one week at a time. The stickers are super cute too."

With nearly 3,600 positive reviews, this fitness journal is perfect for detailed tracking of your goals. The journal allows you to keep track of your measurements and exercises (like where you're at with a one-rep max move) and there's a space for you to jot down your daily affirmations.

Rave Review: “I use this every day to track what I'm eating (my macros) and to log the details of my at-home workouts. Easy-to-use, set up, and there's plenty of space for the day's details. It's simple to thumb through to see how I'm progressing. Highly recommend."

The goal of this daily training journal is to help you track your fitness regimen like elite members of the U.S. military. The pages have space for writing down your workout as well as tracking things like sleep, hydration, and alcohol intake. The journal also includes summary pages for the end of each week, where you can note your accomplishments, rate your nutrition, and track how you’re feeling (physically and emotionally).

Rave Review: “This is by far the best workout journal/tracker I have used. Its design forces you to slow down and really think about your workout. For someone who works out generally by themselves, this is an excellent accountability tool.”

This vegan leather planner combines gratitude, scheduling, tracking, and reflection. The daily pages have space devoted to writing down what you’re grateful for (and a few positive thoughts), planning your activity and meals, and rating how well you followed your plan. Plus, you'll find inspiring quotes and room to reflect on improvements you want to implement the next day. There are also weekly review and progress tracking pages to help you note your wins, insights, and potential improvements.

Rave Review: “This journal blew my mind away. 1) The company put in a LOT of thought to make this journal user -riendly. 2) I didn't realize how useful this journal would be! It literally does all the planning for you. It makes it so easy to be on top of your life, so you can make lifestyle changes. 3) It looks really nice."

This sporty, spiral-bound log is meant to suit any fitness goal. It starts with a few pages for goal-setting and includes 127 daily pages for detailing your workouts, as well as sheets for weekly progress notes. In the back of the journal, there’s space for you to write down the nutritional content of various foods.

Rave Review: “I love this fitness journal! The quality is perfect, the pages are thick, and it has everything you need to start or continue your fitness journey."

This journal is great for beginners, as its focus is helping you learn how to create SMART goals, which stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. The journal is great for building SMART-oriented habits you can build upon to meet any lifestyle change.

Rave Review: "I am a beginner trying to figure out how to workout to gain some muscle and lose weight and this book is so helpful! It’s got tips and it lays everything out so it’s very easy to use. 10/10 recommend."

If you want a tangible way to track your workouts, nutrition, and even how you're feeling from day to day, a fitness journal may be for you. It depends on which you buy, but you can find fitness journals with sections for tracking your meals, workouts, moods, and more.

Some journals are more detailed than others. For example, some include spaces for you to count your macros, as opposed to just your meals. If a fitness journal sounds like it's right for you, you should look for one that includes sections for what you personally want to keep track of.

Time

When you're on the hunt for a fitness journal, you'll notice that some are undated, allowing you to manually fill in dates. Others are dated and stretch for the whole year, or just a few months or weeks. Figure out what you need before you purchase a journal because you don't want to end up building extra makeshift pages if you run out while you're tracking your progress towards a goal.

Size

Think about where you'll be using your journal. Are you just writing in it at night to sum up your day or will it basically live in your bag and travel with you everywhere? If it's the former, something a little wider might not be too much of a biggie, but if it's the latter, you'll definitely want to skip anything too bulky.

What You Can Track

Some journals allow you to track specific workout details like reps and sets, while others just allow space for a list of what exercises you tackled. Some journals provide space for body measurements from week to week, while others allow you to write about how you feel you've progressed that week.

There are some journals that even put a focus on mental health, and others that don't. So you should really think about what sections you would prefer to see daily or weekly, and then shop for a journal according to those preferences.