Comments from amazon.com customers:

"This is the BEST workout log I have found, and I have tried many. I love seeing my goals become reality. Thanks, Suzanne!" -Reader from Nashville, Tennessee

"This log has become my best friend. It shows my peaks and valleys and encourages me to keep going. My husband was so impressed with my progress he bought one too! -Reader from Santa Clarita, California

"I think that this workout log is indispensable for everyone -those just getting into a workout routine to those who are in serious training. -Reader from Oklahoma City

Features you’ll find in The Ultimate Workout Log, Second Edition:

•Goals for the Week
Start each week by identifying a mission.

•Cardio Exercise
Record three different activities, your times and distance, your intensity, the terrain, and your training partners.

•Strength Training
Record how much weight you lifted and the number of sets and repetitions you performed.

•Daily Rating
Rate the intensity of your workouts on a scale from 1 (an easy day) to 5 (a killer workout). Each week, transfer your daily ratings to the chart titled "Workout Ratings: The Big Picture."

•Stretching
Check this box on the days you perform flexibility exercises.

•Nutrition Notes
Use this box to track your eating habits.

•Weekly Wrap-Up
Give yourself a weekly intensity rating, assess your cardio and strength workouts, and keep yourself honest by noting whether or not your reached your goals for the week.

Excerpt from the Introduction:

I’ve never been a fan of diaries. Back in high school, our English teacher made us record our thoughts and feelings in a journal, but the assignment seemed like a hassle, so I ignored it. Then I paid: To pass the class, I had to spend one very tedious weekend faking an entire semester’s worth of diary entries.

Somehow, though, I’ve always loved keeping an exercise log. I have 15 logs in my closet, dating back to 1988. Tracking my workouts gives me a sense of purpose when I’m riding my bike or lifting weights at the gym. It inspires me to push a little harder on some days and reminds me to back off when I’m tired. My log gives me confidence and a feeling of accomplishment.

Whether you’re aiming to lose 10 pounds, do 20 pushups, or compete in a triathlon, your log will help you get results. It will reveal patterns in your workouts and help you discover how much exercise-and how much rest-works best for you.

This log has several designated spaces for recording your goals-goals for the next six months and more specific objectives for each week. You’ll accomplish a lot more if you have a plan than if you wander aimlessly through your workouts.

Top athletes know this well. Masters swim champion Alex Kostich used to write his goals on his kickboard; now he tapes them to his bathroom mirror. Amy Rudolph, the American record-holder in the 5,000 meter run, jots her long-term goals in the back of her training log. "If I have disappointments along the way," she says, " it helps me realize there are things further down the road to look forward to."

Weightlifter Pete Kelley, a 1996 Olympian, keeps a picture of the Olympic rings sitting next to his bed. "I wake up every morning and see those rings and it reminds me what I’m here for," Kelley says. "I’m a pretty lazy guy, so otherwise I probably wouldn’t work out."

The word "lazy" doesn’t exactly apply to a guy who can clean and jerk 424 pounds, but Kelley he has a point. It’s hard for anyone-accomplished athlete or complete novice-to stay motivated without a mission. Research confirms the importance of setting concrete workout goals. In a three-month study conducted at Miami University in Ohio, researchers told a group of exercisers that their goal was to increase by 20 percent the number of abdominal crunches they could do; they told a second group simply, "Do your best." Not surprisingly, the group with the concrete goal performed a significant 10 percent better than their rudderless peers.