March 27, 2026

More than a Diary: How Journaling Can Help Teen Girl Athletes Train Hard Without Getting Injured

By Dr. Ali Ross, PT, DPT, Owner of Salta Wellness Collective

As a young female athlete, have you ever wondered, “How do I know if I’m pushing myself in a good way… or pushing myself toward injury?” You’re asking a very insightful question, and most athletes don’t know how to answer it.

Your training program is likely built for a group of athletes, not specifically designed for you as an individual. Even if you’re doing the same workout as your teammates, your body is having a unique experience. There will always be natural differences in each athlete’s capacity, tolerance, and ability to recover, based on multiple variables. Your energy and stress levels, sleep quality, and hormone balance all play a role in your performance and recovery. So learning how to safely test your limits isn’t just about working harder, but about understanding yourself better.

Unfortunately, no one really teaches you that, in school or in life. But I believe it’s a knowledge base that should be taught. You spend hours practicing your sport, but not much time learning how your body actually works. Maybe you take a biology class, which is a great first step. But that is only scratching the surface.

High-level athletes push the boundaries of human physiology and performance. So they should be empowered with the knowledge to understand biomechanics, energy production, and injury prevention and recovery. Furthermore, for a young woman, our society does the disservice of disconnecting her from the power of her female body. One of the hardest skills to learn is how to actually listen to your body.

Many teen girls are taught to ignore discomfort and avoid negative emotions. To not be “dramatic.” To not complain. And to just keep going. You usually aren’t given space to understand or process your emotions, so they get stuck in the body. Therefore, instead of getting curious about what you’re feeling (physically or emotionally), you push it down or keep pushing through without significant regard.

Over time, it may become difficult to tell what your body is actually trying to communicate. Miscommunication and misunderstandings change the sources of your motivations and intentions, which can distort how you perceive your body’s cues and functions. Fatigue, pain, frustration, and pressure… it all starts to blur together.  

That’s where reflection becomes so important. When you’re training, you’re in it. You’re focused on keeping up, doing what’s expected, and sometimes even just finishing. But when you step away from the demand, when you’re able to rest, that’s when you actually create the space to process and potentially understand what you felt. This is where journaling comes in, and not in a “sit down and write a perfect diary entry” kind of way.

It can be really simple. Just take a few minutes to check in with yourself. Thinking back on your training for the day, ask yourself: 

• What felt different today/yesterday? 

• Why did that one part feel really good? 

• What am I most proud of today?

• Why did something feel off? 

• Was I pushing because I felt strong and motivated, or because I felt like I had to prove something?

Ask yourself follow-up questions to dig deeper. If you feel stumped or can’t get into a flow, write down the question and then respond with an answer. Don’t construct the questions to be demanding or judgmental. Pose the questions with kindness, as if you were talking to your best friend.  

It’s less about tracking every detail and more about starting to notice patterns. You might realize that a day where you felt amazing had nothing to do with the workout itself, but instead with how well you slept or how relaxed you felt going into it. Or you might notice that when something starts to hurt, there were small signs leading up to it that you didn’t recognize at the time.

If you’re dealing with pain or a specific injury, journaling can help with that too. But this isn’t about obsessively tracking or overthinking every sensation. Journaling is just about noticing, writing it down, and then letting it go. You don’t need to drag your issues around in your head all day. Write it down and close the book. There’s a difference between being aware and being consumed by it.

The key aspect of journaling is how you talk to yourself in the process. Athletes can be really hard on themselves without even realizing it. Every reflection turns into something they “should’ve done better.” Journaling is less about the structure or logic of the activity and recovery, and more about how you felt:

• What motivated me during my practice or competition? (Your WHY?)

• What were the intentions behind my training? (Your HOW?)

• Why was I pushing myself?

• How could I have given myself a little more grace?

• What emotions were elicited, and did I react instinctively or respond deliberately?

Use your journaling time to understand yourself a little more deeply. Recognize when you listened to your body and how you adjusted. When you start to build this kind of awareness, you don’t get stuck between pushing through everything or backing off completely. Instead, you’ll begin understanding how to balance challenging yourself while still respecting your body. This is where you learn to test your limits without crossing into injury.

I write this not to instill fear, but to encourage healthier self-awareness and communication. When you build a solid knowledge base, it becomes easier to communicate clearly with others, such as coaches, parents, or medical professionals. You can express what you’re feeling without worrying that you’re complaining, whining, or being seen as weak.

If you’ve ever felt unsure about what your body is telling you or how to make the right call in your training, you’re not the only one. This is something I work through with young female athletes in my wellness coaching program, where our focus is on helping you better understand yourself. Learn how to listen to your body and make healthy decisions that support your growth into a powerful young woman! Connect with me at saltacoaching.com/health-and-wellness-coaching-for-young-female-athletes.