<story><title>What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier</title><url>http://blog.bufferapp.com/why-exercising-makes-us-happier</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ZanderEarth32</author><text>Good post, but I think there is too much emphasis in general on tracking and logging workouts.&lt;p&gt;I find the whole tracking and logging weights, reps and feelings while working out to be daunting and pointless. Maybe it&apos;s because I am not a &quot;I&apos;m going to start working out and dieting&quot; type person, rather I just live a healthy lifestyle by design. I don&apos;t &quot;diet&quot;, I just try to eat healthy in general. I don&apos;t have a &quot;work out routine&quot;, I just try to be physical every day. It makes the whole exercise process more a part of my natural life, rather than something I have to schedule.&lt;p&gt;I enjoy going to the gym and getting a good workout, doing whatever I feel like at the moment. The important part to me is working up a sweat and getting my heart pumping, not how many reps with a certain weight I did. I can see if you have a goal of weight loss or increasing your strength to a certain level that can be measured by numbers, but if you are aiming for general health, why do you need to keep a detailed log? Just try to exercise everyday, regardless of what that includes.&lt;p&gt;If you do keep a detailed log of your workouts, what kind of actionable data does that information provide you? Do you refer back to it daily, weekly, monthly and try to optimize your workouts based on your previous history? If so, how?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>brown9-2</author><text>People that keeps logs tend to be those that want to focus on increasing the difficulty of their workout over time - progress in how much weight you can lift in a certain exercise, etc.&lt;p&gt;It&apos;s no surprise that if progression is not your goal then logging is not for you.</text></comment>
<story><title>What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier</title><url>http://blog.bufferapp.com/why-exercising-makes-us-happier</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ZanderEarth32</author><text>Good post, but I think there is too much emphasis in general on tracking and logging workouts.&lt;p&gt;I find the whole tracking and logging weights, reps and feelings while working out to be daunting and pointless. Maybe it&apos;s because I am not a &quot;I&apos;m going to start working out and dieting&quot; type person, rather I just live a healthy lifestyle by design. I don&apos;t &quot;diet&quot;, I just try to eat healthy in general. I don&apos;t have a &quot;work out routine&quot;, I just try to be physical every day. It makes the whole exercise process more a part of my natural life, rather than something I have to schedule.&lt;p&gt;I enjoy going to the gym and getting a good workout, doing whatever I feel like at the moment. The important part to me is working up a sweat and getting my heart pumping, not how many reps with a certain weight I did. I can see if you have a goal of weight loss or increasing your strength to a certain level that can be measured by numbers, but if you are aiming for general health, why do you need to keep a detailed log? Just try to exercise everyday, regardless of what that includes.&lt;p&gt;If you do keep a detailed log of your workouts, what kind of actionable data does that information provide you? Do you refer back to it daily, weekly, monthly and try to optimize your workouts based on your previous history? If so, how?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>enraged_camel</author><text>I use the Fitocracy iPhone app to keep track of the weight and number of reps for each exercise. It helps me push myself to get better. For example, if I deadlifted 300lbs for 5 reps last week, then this week I shoot for 305 x 5. I find that this type of tracking is the only reliable way to make progress. Plus, it&apos;s great motivation.</text></comment>