The value of a training journal - Check out my record chart

I have grown tired of free handing my training journal on college ruled paper, so I created this first draft chart (I forgot to include recovery days). I’m also working on a body composition, measurement, and range of motion and cardio charts. This record chart is tailored specifically for me. (H.I.T. bodybuilder) (+/-/=) Column denotes progress, regression or sticking point.

When I was a "stimulus freak" (pre-H.I.T.) bodybuilder I would judge my training sessions based on how I felt. This is the most-counter productive thing a bodybuilder can do. When a bodybuilder judges his training progress or performance based on how you feel (during, post workout) it enters the real of subjective reality (perception becomes reality no matter how warped the perception might be).

The only way to evaluate your true training performance/progress is to take it into the objective world of mathematics via record keeping.

THE VALUE OF A TRAINING JOURNAL
By Mike Mentzer

“To become a massively developed bodybuilder takes time,
a number of years in most cases. I do believe, however,
that the amount of time it would take any person to
develop to his fullest potential would be reduced
dramatically if he were to keep a training journal from the
day he began training.

In very few arenas of human endeavor will you find anyone
who finds the most direct route from objective A to objective
B at the outset. All learning and moving ahead is
accomplished by trial and error. Usually we begin by
making a trial, missing the mark, note the error, and make
the proper adjustments and then proceed to our target or goal.

I have come to view my own training career as something
of a journey, whose destination is the fulfillment of my
physical potential. As it is with any long journey along an
uncharted path, I am bound to the inevitable detour. It is
vital that if I am ever going to reach my destination I must
avoid hitting the same blind alley, the same detours twice;
otherwise I will end up like a rat caught forever in a maze,
frantically seeking the one proper path that will lead me
to success.

Keeping a training journal is like making a map of your
journey. You must make a record of every proper turn as
well as every wrong one. The road to building a great
physique is just too long to remember all the mistakes.” …..