DIY Hanging Driftwood Workout Tracker: Motivate & Decorate!

The most difficult part of working out is actually getting yourself to do it – at least, that’s what it’s been in my experience! I’ve found that the thing that motivates me most is when I actually keep track of my workouts. I used to make a little calendar for myself, and then circle the days on which I worked out. It was awesome to see the days I worked out all laid out in front of me – and I’ve always preferred to track my workouts after the fact, as scheduling them in advance can be a bit daunting. I loved that if I saw that a week had only one or two circles, it would motivate me to work out more the next week – and if I saw that one week was filled with circles, I’d be pumped on how well I was doing, and it would motivate me to keep it up!

There was only one teeny problem with this little calendar system I was using: It wasn’t cute. I’m a visual person in many ways and I like to be surrounded with things that are aesthetically appealing at all times. While my calendar was made using all different colored markers, it still looked like a calendar. It was full of letters and numbers and I just wasn’t having it, so I came up with a way to create a workout tracker that’s disguised as a decoration: the Hanging Driftwood Workout Tracker.

Hanging Painted Driftwood Workout Tracker

Here’s how it works:

Your workout tracker represents a month. Each hanging piece of twine represents one week within that month. Each time you work out, you can add a bead onto the string that represents whichever week you’re in. As you see the beads start to add up, you’ll become more and more motivated to keep working out – especially because the more beads you add, the prettier your decoration will become. :)

And here’s how it’s done!

What you need:

DIY Workout Tracker, What You Need

Picture nails, beads with wide holes, twine, a piece of wood (I used driftwood that I found at the beach), and a hammer. You’ll also need scissors.

Yellow Acrylic Paint

Optional: paintbrush and acrylic paint.

What you do:

If you want to decorate your wood like I did, do that first! I just made a little design using yellow paint. When you’re finished, allow the paint to dry.

Painting Driftwood

Painted Driftwood

Once your paint is dry, cut a piece of twine and tie a knot at either end. You can cut this as long or short as you like – it will be used to hang your workout tracker.

Twine and Driftwood

Position one knot on the top left of your wood. Place a nail through the knot, and hammer the nail all the way into the wood. Repeat on the top right side.

Nail in Driftwood

Nail in Painted Driftwood

Now your wood should be able to hang!

Hanging Painted Driftwood

Cut 5 pieces of twine any length and knot one end of each. Each piece will represent one workout week!

Twine

Nail each piece of twine to the bottom of your wood. When held upright, the unknotted side of each piece should hang towards the ground.

Painted Driftwood with Nails and Twine

Now it’s time for the beads! If you truly want to use this as a workout motivator, don’t add any beads until you actually work out!

Thread one bead onto the twine that represents the week you’re in, tying a knot beneath it to secure it in place. If you plan on working out multiple times this week, be sure to tie the knot close to the top, so there’s room for more beads!

Bead on Twine

At the end of the month, your workout tracker should look something like this!

Beads on Twine

Workout Tracker Driftwood

When you’ve completed a month, you can take the beads off and start again, or use the old workout tracker as a decoration and make an entire new one for the new month!

Enjoy and happy workouts!!

Photos by FP Brigette.

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Fiona
11 years ago

So cute! Great idea!

Moni
11 years ago

I love this idea! Can’t wait to try it. Now I just got to find some driftwood.

megan
11 years ago

went for a morning walk and found some driftwood..sadly its not from a beach, but a river is just as good right..lol…anyways, i’ll be making this more because its just pretty and less to track my progress, because i am a forgetful bug and i’ll never remember to add beads to it so it will never look this pretty..lol

11 years ago

seriously? this is the cutest idea ever. you folks at free people really are the upmost creative in so many beautiful ways! LOVE this post and the previous juice w/o juicer post <3 much love x

11 years ago

This is so cute, Brigette! I love it. I’m going to be doing this for sure. Thanks for sharing :-)

chelseajoon
11 years ago

Love, love, love this!! Combining two of my favorite activities, it’s GENIUS! Thanks so much xo

Kayla
11 years ago

Oooh! This is such a great idea! I was really curious though, as to where you got those beads? They’re absolutely gorgeous and so unique :)

11 years ago

my daughter and i love painting them and then making mobiles with them.

http://lilmuselily.com/2012/08/22/painted-leaves-and-stick-mobile/

11 years ago

and that was supposed to be a comment on the leaf post ;)

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