One common possession of those who’ve reached their fitness goals is a training journal or log. Open it up and you’ll find meticulous notes of different exercises, most likely written in a specific order, with detailed sections of sets and reps. A good training log is often filled with lists of how much weight was used and blurbs of how you were feeling on that day.

Sometimes reaching your goals isn’t always as clear-cut as you think. When your progress doesn’t reach a level that is satisfactory to you, it’s common to go back through your training journal to see where things went wrong. This can be helpful, but many times there’s more you need to be looking at—recovery is often given