min0 lee

Just wondering how many of you at IM members keep an accurate log of each and every workout and record all their workouts ahead of time. And if so did it really make any difference?

I feel like a geek writing it down at the gym but if I don't write it immediately I forget. Duh!

Mudge

I found some going back to 1996. I believe for most people it makes a difference.

I can typically remember sets, weights and reps to some degree. But how many people here religiously try to add weight or another rep per week? Thats probably more than half of the challenge right there, ignoring diet of course.

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Rocco32

I definately write it down. I see so many people not doing that I wonder how they survive, LOL. I think it makes a difference for me personally.

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Duncans Donuts

Keeping track of my reps/weight is the single most important thing I do

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squanto

i try to religiously add reps every week. keeping track is very important to me too.
i use a litlte mini notebook. a lot of people at my gym use a training log piece of paper and keep it at the gym. i dont have a good enuff memory to remember every weight of every set i do, esp when doing p/rr/s.

LAM

yup...writing it down makes it very simple. you look at what you did the previous training session and you do more. nice and easy, no guesswork...

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What you talking about Willis ?

shutupntra1n

I was very into writing my wo down as I went along. I stopped for 2 months and just started again this week. I felt lost without it. It's like trying to read a thick novel but not letting yourself fold a page or use a bookmark.

min0 lee

I guess it does work, the one's who responded are big.

shutupntra1n

Or we just suffer from CRS

ponyboy

I log stuff but on the internet - most of my stuff is distance/heart rate based so it's easier to remember.

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PreMier

I log mine.

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BritChick

I always use a log, I find it makes me work harder as I am always trying to make improvements based on that last workout.

shutupntra1n

Phred

Yup me too. In fact I do RR/P/RR/S over a 4 week period and have all 4 weeks exercises planned out ahead of time. I constantly find my self reading back to the last similar week to see if I have made progress or not and to gage my progress. I also note my start and end times for the WO and if I feel tired or lack energy. Or any other out-of-the-norm things (aches/pains, hot/cold, etc.)

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Cyber_Pinky

I don't write them down at the gym. But I do have a spreadsheet at home that I track my exercises and sets. I don't tind the weight amount to be that important because A)I remember what I can do and want to do and B)If you adjust form a little bit than your weight amount changes anyways.

So... yes in a sense I do. But that's just to make sure I'm focusing on the right exercises and doing enough sets. I don't micromanage my weights/reps.

Paynne

Given the number of ppl here with online journals I would say quite a few here do

I've seen one or two others at my gym who do.

LAM

why would you be adjusting your form ?

Dumbest statement made in the Anabolic Zone for Nov

TBD

-----------------------------------------------------

What you talking about Willis ?

Egoatdoor

Every book on bodybuilding and most personal trainers who know anything suggest keeping a training log ( as well as a nutritional log) and for the life of me, I cannot understand why any serious trainer would not keep a log. It is a basic principle.

This is a game where you constantly have to keep increasing the stresses on the body to keep it from adapting or stagnating and thus continue to grow. So over time, how can you remember what weight you did for deadlifts, last week, the week before that and the week before that, for how many reps, whether the set was easy, hard or to failure, how long your rest periods were and whether its time to increase the weight by say 5 pounds or see if you get more reps using the same weight?

The answer seems to be that 95% of the people in the gym do not want to improve and take the easy weight out by doing "plate lifting", which is counting the number of 45 pound plates and doing the same workout with the same number of reps and same number of sets for workout after workout after workout after workout for months and months and months and they all look the same for month after month after month after month.

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KarlW

definately keep a log. I use an A5 clipboard with my workout in Excel format printed out for the next few weeks and record every set. Yeah like you see people in the gym saying "OK what you wanna do next, chest oh yeah lets do chest, how much can you bench? yeah then we'll do biceps? yeah cool blah blah blah"

What this means is that when we drop a ball and it falls to the ground, it wasn't the ball that moved (down to the ground), but the ground that moved (up to the ball)

simbh

Thats it , I write it down also. Each and every workout , I must do more than I did before. If I can't go up in weight , I have to do at least an extra rep or 2 . I wasn't doing that before , and since Im doing it, my weights are progressing real well. Cuz , I know that if I did a rep of 7 last time , I have to do 8 , no less with the same weight.

When a goal is reached comes satisfaction . You're accomplished as a person when you surpass those goals .

CowPimp

I never used to record my workouts, but I began to once I started doing P-RR-S. It started to get crazy to try to remember all the weights I used. Although it's more simplified now, I still find it beneficial in case I forget. It's also nice to go back and check my progress once in a while.

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Deezus

i keep a log and throw it into excel when i get a chance so i can chart progess and whatnot.

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kr1s1

I log what I lift, what Im eating, what supplements Im using, how Im feeling . It can seem a bind sometimes but is invaluable when you look back over it. If you also measure regularly its a beut morale boost when you look back and see the strength and size gains.

Peasnall

for you lot who put them in excel, can i see yours as im going to make one up.

Vince2005

My workoutlog is my journal here at IM if I can remember what I did that day.

19 years old Bodyweight 135 pounds Bodyfat 14% 5"6
Max Squat unknown Max Bench Unknown Goals for March
Bodyweight 150 pounds.Max Squat 250 pounds Max Bench 200 pounds.

KarlW

Here's what I've used for P/RR/S. It prints onto A4 then you cut it down the middle giving 2 A5 pages.

Attached Files

PowerRepShockWorkout 3 day split.zip (4.0 KB, 20 views)

What this means is that when we drop a ball and it falls to the ground, it wasn't the ball that moved (down to the ground), but the ground that moved (up to the ball)

MtnBikerChk

I log my workouts in a little notebook as I go and I log my food intake on excel - usually as I go each day.

the notebook is invaluable because I can rarely remember what I wore to work the day before, nevermind how many reps I did 6 days ago

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JerseyDevil

I have a series of workout log books going back 14 years. Every single wo I've done is written down and documented. Even with the online journal, I still keep an ongoing written log.

Egoatdoor

Exactly. Why don't more people in the gym "get it"?

Getting bigger is a battle and the weapon is my fork.

"The harder I work, the luckier I get"- Jenny Lynn