Why Your Fitness Journey Keeps Crashing: Personal Pattern Tracking for Sustainable Fitness

Building a Sustainable Exercise Routine with Health Challenges – Part 3

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or therapist. This blog is based on personal experience and is for informational purposes only. Please consult a qualified medical and/or mental health professional before starting anything new. Full Disclaimer can be found at the bottom of this page. This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

If you have any kind of ongoing or chronic health condition, you've likely heard doctors tell you to keep track of your symptoms or to keep a food journal. Which, by the way, I've done (more than once, might I add), and then had those same doctors not be interested in the results. (But that’s fine. I’m fine. No resentment at all.)

But this won't be for them. This is for you. (And for that special someone who’s tired of hearing you pining about not doing the fun activities you want to do.)

Working with your reality starts with actually knowing what your reality looks like. And for that, you need data.

Why Pattern Recognition Matters

Beyond Medical Tracking

You’ll be surprised at the rhythms that float to the surface after just a couple months of tracking. And they are far more valuable to you than your realize. Both medically and for personal growth and achievement.

If you know that taking it easy on Sundays means you can make it through workouts on Monday to Wednesday but beyond that is a no go almost every week, you can take advantage of that.

If you know that spring is a really hard time for you due to allergies, you know that maybe working out only 2 days a week indoors would be better than the 3 days a week you were doing outside in the winter.

I know it takes a bit of patience to get a few months worth of data but you don’t have to exclude building on the flexible exercise plan we talked about in the last blog post. And it’s really worth it, if you go into a season prepared, you come out the other side with your motivation and momentum intact—you’ve successfully kept your crash-flare up cycle at bay and discouragement to a minimum.

You are finally being a compassionate coach to yourself.

It take less than 2 minutes a day to write this down and after a few months, you will start to see rhythms that you can definitely work around. This is pattern tracking for fitness in action—using data to work with your body instead of against it.

So grab a journal or download a symptom tracking app and start taking 1 minute out of your day to take stock of where you’re at. Let that cold hard evidence look you in the eye and tell you to take a seat (because you need it.)

The Big Picture vs. Details

This is going to seem odd, but let's start big and end small. Hear me out.

Understanding larger patterns gives context for daily fluctuations. How you body reacts to the seasons will give you much needed compassion when you’re having a particularly flare-heavy month. The ‘down’ months can be planned out with more downtime, more prep days, more rest involved.

Knowing your big picture rhythms helps you mentally prepare for your ups and downs, and gives you permission to plan according to your body’s needs. It creates self-compassion while also allowing you to avoid crash and flare-up cycles, keeping your momentum up.

Seasonal and Long-Term Patterns

The Yearly Rhythm Discovery

If you’re here, you’ve likely been living with your health condition for a while, or you’ve been recovering from your health setback for a decent amount of time. So you probably have some inkling as to which seasons are good and which are not so great. But I’ll run through some questions so you can start thinking about it:

• Do different seasons affect you differently? If so, how?

  • Is winter harder?

  • Does summer heat drain you?

  • Do allergies make you tired? When are they worst? In the spring or fall?

  • Does the frequent rain of winter or spring cause low energy?

  • Or the frequent thunderstorms in summer cause dizziness? (Me.)

• How do these patterns affect your energy for personal goals?

  • Do you tend to keep it up during winter and then lose steam in spring/summer?

  • Or do you tend to get really active in the summer and lose momentum in the colder days?

Write it all down so that later, when you have a few months of notes for yourself, you can look back and refine these answers.

Planning 'Building' vs. 'Maintaining' Cycles

When you’ve learned which months tend to slow you down and which tend to work for you, you can create yearly cycles between ‘building’ and ‘maintaining.’ It takes the pressure off trying to push yourself when you know the upcoming month or so is going to be difficult. This prepares you mentally to go easy on yourself. Or allows you to push yourself a little more.

Down months strategy:

The down months become your ‘maintaining’ months.

They can include more repetition and practice of skills you can already do without too much effort. Or small skills that don’t use much energy. Like increasing your grip strength, or tossing a ball from hand to hand. Hand strength and coordination practice are useful across the board for many different activities and sports. And they’re kinda fun (like when I think I’ve got pretty good at tossing a ball back and forth so I try to juggle and fail miserably 😂).

On top of that, posture workouts are usually lowkey and can often be done while watching TV.

Leg toning can be done while lying on the couch (I’ve done it) and arm workouts can be done while lying on the floor (also do this).

Stretching and mobility work can also be done on the floor while watching TV. When you have a set number of exercises that are easy and automatic, you can just start doing them while watching your favourite sitcom (what I do).

You’re maintaining where you’re at without overtaxing yourself.

Up months strategy:

When you can recognize the up months, you can plan for ‘building’ onto your current level. Plan to stretch yourself a little more. You naturally have a bit more energy those months, so have some fun with it. Plan with friends. Let them know you’re going to try something new or get back into something in the coming few months. Let them encourage you.

This is the time you can let your ambition shine. You can work a little harder to strengthen and tone. And know that when the ‘maintaining’ period comes along again, you will be prepared for it and don’t have to lose what you’ve gained.

Personal Seasonal Example

For me, personally, I tend to be better in the shoulder seasons. Winter is hard on me because of the energy drain of the frigid temperatures of where I live. My symptoms also tend to be worst in the winter. Summer tends to be very busy with both responsibilities and fun plans. The stress of trying to keep up during the summers can cause flare-ups as well. All of which eats at my energy for personal goals. So the spring and fall are the best times for me to really drive at my exercise and sport goals.

Knowing all of this gives you mental preparation and permission to plan according to your rhythms and needs.

Monthly and Weekly Rhythms

The Middle-Range Patterns

Within those general up and down seasonal rhythms, there are monthly ones too. Perhaps you get tired or have flare-ups around menstruation or during thunderstorms. Or heck, even around the full moon or the new moon.

Maybe once a week you go to the beach with friends during the summer, and you know you always have a little extra energy the next few days after. Or maybe you learn that you can rest for one week and feel pretty good the next week. A recovery week, a maintaining week, another recovery week, a building week. Rinse and repeat.

I often need a day of light activity after every full day I work. But if I push a little at an activity I enjoy, I can do that 3 days in a row before needing a rest day. Certain times of the month, I can do some pretty heavy practice 4 days a week but need lighter weeks the next week.

Knowing means I can keep my condition in line and move toward my goals. Once you know your weekly and monthly rhythms, you can really make some amazingly fast progress because you know you’re not going to pay for it later or burn yourself out.

These are all cycles I can prepare for. And they’re cycles that most athletes also plan for.

Strategic Recovery

Deloading, tapering, or active recovery periods (all words for the same concept of recovering in a strategic way) are an important part of a many athlete’s training cycles.

And now you know it can be part of yours.

If you build it in, it no longer becomes a 'lazy' day where you feel guilty or come down on yourself, it becomes a day filled with purpose. You need it to get back to what you really want to do.

This is you learning to coach yourself in a healthy, compassionate way. It's strategic.

The Key Requirement

But the key is still to write it down. You won't know it unless you keep track of it.

Only through tracking do these cycles become visible and useful. That one minute of writing it down is what stands between you getting active again in harmony with your energy and body, and going through that crash and flare-up cycle yet again.

Daily Check-ins: The Foundation

The Morning Assessment

Now that you've looked at the larger rhythms of your condition, do the smaller daily changes seem so surprising?

It’s still important to do a check-in with yourself before going ahead with what you had planned that day. Think of it as a quick coach’s assessment. Knowing what your energy and inspiration levels are can help you choose what you should actually do that day.

It helps you follow the 3-Option Rule outlined in this blog post. So you don’t overdue it.

Turning "Off Days" into "Part of the Plan"

Your 'off days' are no longer setbacks from your plan, they become part of the plan.

You're not failing when Monday's big plan becomes Wednesday's gentle movement. You're coaching yourself intelligently. And allowing your body to follow it’s rhythm while you dance with it.

Capturing the Good Moments

One thing that makes the biggest difference between 'getting tired' and 'feeling fatigued' is whether I am enjoying what I'm doing.

And when you do have a good day, be excited about it! Especially when it’s surprising. If you take a moment to just appreciate that you have the energy and you feel good today, you boost your other energy levels, banking and increasing motivation to keep going when you go through a rough patch.

When you have a good day, take note of it. Write down what feels good. And on top of that, take note of what activities create energy vs. which drain it. That way, if you’re having an ‘okay’ day but want it to get a little better, pause and look at your list of things that create energy to make it even better.

Your Personal Data Collection System

What to Track

Here’s a breakdown of a couple of simple things you can track and answer. Then once you have the answer you can put it in your agenda, or on your wall, near to where you plan out your week. This will help you keep that compassionate self-coaching mindset as you plan out your week ahead.

• Daily:

  • What activity gave me energy today?

  • What activity drained me?

  • Did I have more energy in the morning or afternoon?

  • Did lunch help with energy or tire me out?

  • What did I eat today that might have affected me? Could I try a different meal to boost energy?

  • How much stress was I under today?

• Weekly:

  • What consistently precedes crashes or flares?

  • How long do I typically need between challenging activities?

  • Am I more energized at the beginning or at the end of the week?

• Monthly:

  • Are there parts of the month where I'm naturally higher or lower in energy?

  • Are there parts of the month that tend to be more stressful?

  • If I have a light week, do you have more energy the next week?

• Seasonal:

  • Am I naturally higher or lower in spring? Summer? Fall/autumn? Winter?

  • Does the weather affect me at all? Sudden thunderstorms or rain? Hot, sunny days?

  • What can I remind myself of when coming into a ‘low’ season?

  • What 6 exercises or skills can I maintain during the ‘maintaining’ season?

You’re daily tracking will inform your weekly, monthly, and seasonal information. And once you have gathered that information, you can summarize and place it somewhere useful. You don’t have to track forever. But tracking long enough to get seasonal information will help you stick to your goals all year long.

Making It Sustainable

Don't over-complicate the tracking system. This shouldn’t take more than a minute or two at most. It’s a quick few notes about your day.

Check for patterns on the weekend to see if you can answer any of the questions above. At the end of the month, see if you can find any monthly rhythms you need to be aware of. Then at the end of each season, see if you notice anything about that season.

Use apps, journals, calendar notes: don’t stress about what to write it down in, just use what you like to use or what’s most visible. Set a timer at the end of the day as a reminder.

From Data to Strategy

How to translate observations into better planning is not as hard as it sounds. When you recognize that there’s a pattern to your month, your mind will automatically start to consider that. You’ll look ahead at your week and start to adapt. If not, then just take a moment ask yourself if what you have planned for this week matches what you wrote down for your monthly rhythm and adjust accordingly.

If you know this week is going to be a hard week, then you can prepare for it. You can do some self-care stretching and gentle movement. Or you can reduce your activity to only one or 2 days, on the days you’ll think will be better than the rest. Use the patterns to your advantage.

When you start to see the patterns, this will reduce the feeling of random chaos. It will help you feel more in control and less like your just along for the ride. And will motivate you because you have a way to still achieve your fitness goals.

The Power of Tracking Your Patterns for Fitness

All-in-all, knowing your patterns and rhythms prepares you mentally to go easy on yourself and allows you to push yourself at the right times.

Understanding your big picture rhythms helps you plan for your ups and downs and gives you permission to plan according to your body's needs.

You feel more in control, you can set your goals, and you can make adjustments as needed. You can dance without your dance partner (your body) stepping on your toes. You can make your fitness goals happen.

What's Coming Next?

Have you tracked your pattern before? How far do you usually get? Let me know in the comments below!

Coming up next: Now that you understand your patterns, the final post will show you how to build your complete personal training routine that you can actually stick with.

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Ready to break the crash-and-burn cycle? Get my Free 5-Day Movement Reboot  email series and learn to work with your unpredictable energy instead of against it. No equipment needed, no perfect days required—just practical strategies that actually work with your reality. Get started for free!

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"The body benefits from movement, the mind benefits from stillness. But wisdom comes from knowing when to do which." —Sadhguru

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