Tutorial: Log your first activity

In this tutorial, you’ll create an exercise log using the POST method to track a user’s pain levels before and after an activity. This helps build a personal database of what brings a user relief to optimize their recovery strategy. This tutorial takes about 10 minutes to complete.

Before you start

Make sure you’ve completed the Getting Started guide on the development system you’ll use for the tutorial.

Log an exercise activity

Logging an exercise activity requires using the POST method to add a new user exercise log resource to the service. The POST method creates a new log entry with pain levels, exercise details, and notes.

This example logs a Piriformis Stretch performed by Sarah Johnson, user ID 1.

Make sure your local service is running, or start it by using this command in the terminal:

 cd <your-github-workspace>/SciaticaSisters-API/api
 json-server -w sciatica-sisters-db-source.json

Postman request

Open Postman and create a new request:
1. Click New > HTTP or the + icon in the header.
2. Set the request method to POST using the corresponding dropdown menu.
3. In the request URL field, enter:
```
{base_url}/userExerciseLogs
```
Set up the request headers:
1. Click the Headers tab below the URL field.
2. Add a header:
  - Key: Content-Type
  - Value: application/json

Set up the request body:

Click the Body tab below the URL field.
Select raw from the radio button options.
Select JSON from the dropdown menu on the right.

In the text area, enter:

{
  "userId": 1,
  "exerciseType": "stretch",
  "exerciseName": "Piriformis Stretch",
  "date": "2025-11-14",
  "painBefore": 7,
  "painAfter": 5,
  "effective": true,
  "notes": "Felt immediate relief in glute area"
}

Click Send to make the request.

The system returns the complete new exercise log with an assigned ID. Note that the system automatically generates the id field. You’ve just created your first data point for tracking a user’s recovery.

 {
   "id": 5,
   "userId": 1,
   "exerciseType": "stretch",
   "exerciseName": "Piriformis Stretch",
   "date": "2025-11-14",
   "painBefore": 7,
   "painAfter": 5,
   "effective": true,
   "notes": "Felt immediate relief in glute area"
 }

cURL request

Open your terminal and run this command:

curl -X POST {base_url}/userExerciseLogs \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "userId": 1,
    "exerciseType": "stretch",
    "exerciseName": "Piriformis Stretch",
    "date": "2025-11-14",
    "painBefore": 7,
    "painAfter": 5,
    "effective": true,
    "notes": "Felt immediate relief in glute area"
  }'

 {
   "id": 5,
   "userId": 1,
   "exerciseType": "stretch",
   "exerciseName": "Piriformis Stretch",
   "date": "2025-11-14",
   "painBefore": 7,
   "painAfter": 5,
   "effective": true,
   "notes": "Felt immediate relief in glute area"
 }

Check your results

Postman verification

Create a new request in Postman.
Set the request method to GET.
In the request URL field, enter:
```
{base_url}/userExerciseLogs?userId=1
```
Click Send.
You should see the new exercise log in the list for Sarah Johnson. The log shows the pain reduction from 7 to 5.

Using cURL

Run this command:

curl -X GET "{base_url}/userExerciseLogs?userId=1"

You should see the new exercise log in the list for Sarah Johnson. The log shows the pain reduction from 7 to 5.

Common errors and troubleshooting

Missing required fields

If you receive a 400 Bad Request error, ensure all required fields are in your request body: userId, exerciseType, exerciseName, date, painBefore, painAfter, effective, and notes.

Invalid exercise type

The exerciseType field only accepts two values: stretch or strengthening. Using any other value may cause an error or unexpected behavior.

User ID doesn’t exist

If the log you created doesn’t link properly, the userId might reference a user that doesn’t exist. Check that the user exists first by calling GET on /users/{id} before creating exercise logs.

What you learned

After completing this tutorial, you now know how to log an exercise activity using the POST method with Postman or cURL. This allows users to track which exercises help reduce their pain over time.

Next steps

Update a user’s pain level when pain changes.
Compare exercises to see which activities are effective.
Remove an exercise to remove ineffective activities.

Get exercise log by ID
Put exercise log by ID

Security note

In a production environment, this operation would require proper authentication to ensure only authorized users can change patient data. See Authentication for details.