How many fill out a training log at the gym?

[nmoliver]

Hiya:

I keep an online journal for my workouts in the Over 35 Section too. Just as others have mentioned it is allows you to track your progress and hopefully even your frame of mind or physical condition in your notes if you are that in depth. Besides, you can create a baseline and then go back to a certain date or timeframe and measure how far you have hopefully progressed since then.

For those who think they do not need it and do not bother, they are misssing out on using a very helpful too. The Over 35 Section on this forum allows you to spend no more than 5 minutes each day and do something that is easy and free - for YOU!

So, more power to those who have recognized this as an important training tool. Not as important as sleep, diet and nutrution, but important nonetheless.

Neil

[cdcharbo]

I used to track my workouts in a notepad, but now I keep a log on my Treo phone. I use a program called PDAbs from http://www.acrocat.com. It has all of my exercises with the reps and weight. It tracks the order that I performed them in. I can copy any previous day and it pulls the reps and weight from that day. It has a little check mark that indicates that the exercise is complete. I always know what to do next and how much weight to add. I also have a goal number of reps to beat.

There is also a Windows desktop that syncs with the Treo. I can graph my gains and print logs of my workouts. If I need to change my workout then I make the changes on my desktop and transfer them to my phone. With all the money that I spend on gym membership and supplements, this was the best by far one of my best workout investments.

[dartol]

As a few others on this thread, I became obsessed with all the details. I even ended up buying a software program that tracked workouts and diet.

I have been down that path too... I started writing my own! LOL

Darren

[redweston]

I always thought it was a very good tool to keep on track and to look back on but call me a lazy lifter but I have not used one for say the last year, how about I blame my present partner?

[empresscat]

I don't, I really can't be bothered to sit there and write out what weight I lift for each rep. Neither do I see anybody else in the gym doing it really. Bar the very odd few

... wow, not like it takes more than a few seconds... jot it down between sets...

I can understand, if you remember your weights and reps clearly each time you go to the gym so you are tracking your progress in your head - you might decide you don't need it... but it can hardly be considered a "bother"

[QUALITYGUY1]

... wow, not like it takes more than a few seconds... jot it down between sets...

I can understand, if you remember your weights and reps clearly each time you go to the gym so you are tracking your progress in your head - you might decide you don't need it... but it can hardly be considered a "bother"

Well, for me, it would be a distraction that I don't need. Especially since I train alone and I have no one to load/unload the bar for me. I like to stay focused and I know this would detract me cause I've tried it. Of course, that is just me, I'm sure others are different.

[BlondeAmazon]

I don't, I really can't be bothered to sit there and write out what weight I lift for each rep. Neither do I see anybody else in the gym doing it really. Bar the very odd few

Huh- this bodybuilding forum is CHOCK FULL of those very "odd" few.... You cant figure out where you need to GO until you realise where you have BEEN.... so good luck with YOUR progress...

[empresscat]

Well, for me, it would be a distraction that I don't need. Especially since I train alone and I have no one to load/unload the bar for me. I like to stay focused and I know this would detract me cause I've tried it. Of course, that is just me, I'm sure others are different.

Oh, that I understand...

[bilnv]

I have always used a log. I can't remember specifics from one day to the next let alone what my deadlift was a week ago. With the log I have precisely what I did that last workout.

I also like looking back at older logs when I have doubts about my progress. I did that the other day and was surprised just how much a certain exercise went up. I had no idea. But in the end to each his own.

[IR45N]

Uh oh. Think I'm caught in a loggers stampede. Ok, here's the deal. It makes sense; similar to you wouldn't play a round of golf and not keep score etc everything points to logging as common sense.

But, aside from few actually do it; maybe it's more prevalent in the larger chain or other gyms or home trainers, my thinking is once one's used to going to a certain gym, know's what and where all the equipment is and how to use it, has the morning or evening's lifts in mind (and not too many) they should remember fairly well what their warmup weights were from last time (sometimes need to remember to bump those up a notch) AND pretty much know what their last max or most effort set weight was. Sets inbetween may vary in # and # of reps; sometimes depends on energy or motivation + or -. After a while, even for a math moron myself, you get to quickly mentally visually adding up the plates or recall where the pin was set on the machine. Some might say it's showing 'progress'; it is, just one form of progress; another is seeing or feeling results in the mirror or........what the damn scale says.

The other thing; maybe I might want to throw in some drop sets if a spotter is available (yeah, I know that can be recorded too) or some deviation from the planned workout - imho know the gym well enough to be able to switch to a 'plan B' if everything you wanted is in use.

It probably is unscientific, unstructured, ungoal minded not to log; but just a matter of choice for the time being. More probable in my case, it'd just be another thing to lose or forget in the gym; Guess I could start small though; a card saying "Pick Up" "Put Down" "Repeat". Thx for the replies.

[BurritoMan]

I didn't bulk up to where I am now without me little notes what I scribble in me log thanks very much

[De_Man]

I train in my home and I log everything on paper and later enter the data into a Excel file. I want to know what works. I really don't have time to fool around with things that don't work. I Train hard and want to see where I been so I can train smarter and live a bigger and better tomorrow. It also helps me focus on the task at hand.

[MRGTB]

... wow, not like it takes more than a few seconds... jot it down between sets...

I can understand, if you remember your weights and reps clearly each time you go to the gym so you are tracking your progress in your head - you might decide you don't need it... but it can hardly be considered a "bother"

Yes, I suppose so. I tend to remember what weight I lifted on a certain excercises in my head. So I guess I do do it that way instead of writing it down.

Saves on ink

[=M=]

Spiral notebook for me...then log it into my journal here.

Spiral to help me remember what I did, didn't do and why.

Journal here for feedback and/or advice.

Takes about 2 seconds to write it down between sets, since I have it all ready to go when it's time to lift.

Otherwise, like was said before, I'd waste half my workout trying to remember what I wanted to do instead of actually doing it.

[concreteman]

Heck, I keep a log, if I didnt, you probably wouldnt like me. I'd be in the way wondering where do I go next. let me see I just did biceps, now the legs, oopps, wait, this is back and biceps, not legs and biceps. what a dummy.
I think I will start carrying my palm pilot. keep it all in the notes section and have my music all in one. I presently carry a clip board with a log I printed from bodybuilding.com

[Plato458]

I have problems remembering how many sets I've done when still I'm in the middle of just one exercise

Seriously, I have to count down on my fingers. I'm so focused on what I'm doing, that I don't notice how many I've clicked through without it. Now you know why I have to log everything...

Hats off to anyone who can recall what they did 5 mins or was that 6 mins before ?

Px

[Mr. Someday]

I was never a log person always loved instinctive training and going in and deciding the workout on the fly. That worked for a long time for me. However, I found myself after my first show spinning my wheels for months. By switching things up, doing what I felt like doing and not writing anything down, I was masking the fact that my growth had stagnated after about 6 1/2 years into this. When I decided to gove DC training a try, the logbook became THE tool in my arsenal and now it is a war...me against the log book. I have to beat the previous numbers each time out or drop the exercise and find a new one. I haven't had to drop many of them 14 months later and my growth has taken off again. So I guess I'm a convert.

[ShadowRydr]

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

Most often I do however. The times I don't are usually after a couple of periods when I have. What I mean is this. I'll do an 8-10 week stretch where I am religiously jotting down what I do, how much I lift, how I felt (aches, pains, easy, hard, intensity) afterwards. I may do two periods of 8-10 weeks. Then I'll take a week or two off. When I return to the gym I'll just do say 2 weeks of whatever the hell feels right at the time. I use it sort of a warm up to the serious stuff after taking the time off.

I find I do better with the log book. It actually keeps me working harder and on schedule time wise. Sometimes without the log book, I find it easier to fart around and not get as much done.

[ShadowRydr]

The other thing; maybe I might want to throw in some drop sets if a spotter is available (yeah, I know that can be recorded too) or some deviation from the planned workout - imho know the gym well enough to be able to switch to a 'plan B' if everything you wanted is in use.

I

Yep, I do this too, and or deviate if I feel I want to that night. Those things dont' get recorded. If I throw in an extra exercise, it's extra, I dont' record it. I suppose I should, but I don't.

[GSOgymrat]

I had never used a log until I hired a trainer for 5 training sessions last month. He set up a new workout for me and I have been recording my progress. So far I have found it helpful. I forget week to week exactly how many reps I did. Every workout I try to best the one before.

[empresscat]

I find the log helpful because I track progress not just since the last workout, but over time... maybe when I have more experience, it will be less important for me to maintain a precise overall picture - but then, I am a writer, too - so when I type up my log for my journal here, I tend to include a lot of details.

[John Prophet]

I dont see how anyone can workout without a log....it would sort of be like a runner who didnt look at his watch

I think a lot of people fool themselves about "progress"....they do a certain exercise, they do good for a while then the gains stop...so they switch to exercise B. They start off lighter and they progress for a while on that one then they get stuck on it. So they go back to exercises A....they seem to progress for a while etc....but if they kept alog, many times theyd see that they havent progressed at all because when they went back to exercises A they are only basically using the same weight they left off with

Like a guy im training....we were doing lying leg curls for a while and he was makign good progress. After a while we switched to seated leg curls and we did them for several weeks. Then when we went back to lying leg curls I LOOKED BACK AT HIS LOG and we started 5lbs heavier than the last time he did them....and he was able to get his reps etc...so I knew he was making good overall progress.


Also, I like stepping into the gym with a plan. A log makes it easy

for instance last week for back I did this:

T Bar rows...semi wide parallel handle 2:00
135x6
205x8
205x7 (2 sets)

close V grip pulldown 90secs
200x10 (2 sets)
200x7 fail 8

db rows 90secs
120x6 (3 sets)

so I basically do the same thing, same rest intervals, except I try to increase everywhere.

So this week Ill do the 205 again on the Tbars but ill try to get more reps

on CG pulldowns I am going to 210 for at least the first 2 sets

on db rows I am going to try to get 1 more rep per set etc

[twentyfive]

i use a small notebook to keep track of my training log. when i flip back to the earlier pages and see how much stronger i have become since then, i get motivated to keep on training

[B-baldy]

I keep a written log every workout. It's so easy to get discouraged if you can't see where've you've been and how ffar you've come, especially when you suffer from severe CRS disease as I do .

[IR45N]

Man am I outnumbered! Kudos to the loggers!

[PhoenixBuff]

Sadly, I don't keep a log. However, I typically have envisioned my entire workout before even stepping in the gym, that way I don't waste time wondering around trying to figure out what I am going to do next.

I stay basic, same exercises, same number of sets and I will vary reps every so often, or depending on how I feel that day. Itotally revamp, or change up my routine every 60 days or so.

I'm not training for Mr. Olympia, so I try not to brain f*ck my time in the gym

[Outdoor Girl]

I used to keep really good track, then ironically stopped when my lifting got a bit more intense. I can usually remember my highest weights on an exercise and, depending on my intention for the day, build up to that or surpass it. I just started writing my highest weights down in a 2007 planner for fun.

[ChocoChick]

I dont see how anyone can workout without a log....it would sort of be like a runner who didnt look at his watch

I think a lot of people fool themselves about "progress"....they do a certain exercise, they do good for a while then the gains stop...so they switch to exercise B. They start off lighter and they progress for a while on that one then they get stuck on it. So they go back to exercises A....they seem to progress for a while etc....but if they kept alog, many times theyd see that they havent progressed at all because when they went back to exercises A they are only basically using the same weight they left off with

Exactly

[BergMuscle]

I've kept a log for years, ever since I realized that I was guessing at how much I lifted last time and for how many reps, etc.

The big thing for me - it's a plan. I write lesson plans for school, I keep lists of stuff I need to get done at home. If bodybuilding is important to me then it sure as heck deserves the same treatment.

And I do love to look back at old logs and see my progress.

[BurritoMan]

... wow, not like it takes more than a few seconds... jot it down between sets...

I fill mine out while I'm panting