Training journal/log

[element00]

Been wondering about the benefits of keeping a training log. Exercises done, weight, reps etc to be able to more accurately map my progression. I think I've got a pretty good sense of where I'm at, but I go by feel each workout.
How many of you guys keep a journal and does it really help?

 

[dnoyez]

Been doing it for 20 years.Helps us from going in circles and continue change.As by nature we go in circles.

 

[Seven]

I've turned my cycle log into more of a training/journal log. Its been helpful to go back and see what weight I used. The only thing I didn't care for at first was carrying around pen and paper in the gym, but I've gotten use to it now.

 

[element00]

I've turned my cycle log into more of a training/journal log. Its been helpful to go back and see what weight I used. The only thing I didn't care for at first was carrying around pen and paper in the gym, but I've gotten use to it now.

Haha yes I am wondering how I'd go with a clipboard do you just write after you finished with an exercise? I'm getting a bit shaky in my old age so doubt I could even hold a damn pen between sets

 

[Docd187123]

I've been logging workouts on forums for less than a year but I have notebooks and loose leaf paper of recorded workouts dating from the late 90s to early 2000s. IMO every serious lifter keeps a notebook or log of their day to day lifting.

What I write in mine includes the date, the lifts performed, reps/sets/weights for ALL work done including my warmups, little notes occasionally about how nutrition and hydration was on that day, how much sleep I got the night before, how the sets felt whether had good bar speed or shit was moving heavy that day, etc.

 

[rigs03]

I would definitely recommend at least recording your main lifts. I just log weights sets and reps in the notepad on my phone , then just try beat that the next time. I use it for music when in the gym so already have it in my pocket anyway. There are however many days where I just go by feel, but when doing the main bigger lifts I always log them

 

[element00]

I've been logging workouts on forums for less than a year but I have notebooks and loose leaf paper of recorded workouts dating from the late 90s to early 2000s. IMO every serious lifter keeps a notebook or log of their day to day lifting.

What I write in mine includes the date, the lifts performed, reps/sets/weights for ALL work done including my warmups, little notes occasionally about how nutrition and hydration was on that day, how much sleep I got the night before, how the sets felt whether had good bar speed or shit was moving heavy that day, etc.

Yeah a dude I was talking to last night also logs how he felt, ate that day. I like the idea but wonder how I can ensure to keep it up. Don't want to start then 3 weeks in forget to take my pen and just let it go. You log immediately after the set or end of workout? If I start I want to ensure it is useful

 

[Docd187123]

Yeah a dude I was talking to last night also logs how he felt, ate that day. I like the idea but wonder how I can ensure to keep it up. Don't want to start then 3 weeks in forget to take my pen and just let it go. You log immediately after the set or end of workout? If I start I want to ensure it is useful

Simple: leave the notebook and a few pens in your gym bag and never take them out. That way youd have to forget your bag to forget the log book lol. After a few weeks it becomes habit also. It will be as useful as you make it to be and by that I mean how regularly you update it and how detailed the info you put in it is.

For the internet logs I go by memory. I normally remember my last 2wks of workouts down to the weights, reps, sets, and lifts done so it's pretty easy in that regard for me. The notebook I take to the gym I update in between sets and at the end of a certain lift. Sometimes I also add in rest between sets but that's usually enough rest to ensure I can get all the reps in on my next set whether it be 2-3min or 5+

 

[Seven]

Haha yes I am wondering how I'd go with a clipboard do you just write after you finished with an exercise? I'm getting a bit shaky in my old age so doubt I could even hold a damn pen between sets

Yeah I write it down after every set, I have to....memory isn't what it use to be. Sometimes its a bit difficult bc of the pump and yeah my hands tend to shake also makes it hard to read what the hell I wrote. I always thought my shaky hands is from the pre-workout and pump, but it could be age....I ain't no spring chicken. Lol It will definitely be a big help to your training. Docd's way of logging everything is impressive and is the best way to do it. Lets us know how it works for ya!!

 

[Masters Power]

Doc and I have a lot in common on the lifting front. I have workout notebooks from the late 1980's through about 2010 at which time I switched to logging everything online.

It is interesting to go back and look at where I was at 10 or 15 years ago. I never recorded things on a set by set basis but rather put everything down whether on paper or by computer after the workout is done.

It is definitely worth keeping a log as remembering what you did a week or even a month ago can usually be accomplished but you will be surprised over the course of six months or a year how much your numbers may differ from what you remember. I also have found a lot of value in videoing the same lifts at least once every couple of months and comparing form.

Often times when I go back and look at my logs when things were going very well on a particular lift that has now stalled and then go back and look at a video from when the lift was going well I notice some form differences from my current form which gives some a good place to work forward from.