app suggestion for tracking workouts?

[ENCBBQ]

Hi all-

What do you guy/girls use for tracking workouts? Trying to avoid spreadsheet or notebook.

Thanks

[Eternalstuden79]

I used trifecta for a while, tried strava and garmin, but to be brutally I prefer and still use a pen and notebook :-)

[ilovejunkfood]

The couple of apps I've used have been Jefit and Fitnotes. Jefit can be a little fiddly but it's what I'm currently using.

[ElrondHubbard]

I started out using a notebook, now it's a spreadsheet. I'm toying with the idea of developing my own app so I can fit it to different workout programs, but I haven't found the time to prioritize it yet.

[MrCarrot]

I started with scraps of paper, which I'd then transfer onto a spreadsheet when I got home.

But I kept losing the scraps of paper, so I just started using a notebook and pencil and have never looked back.

[Corbets]

Strong is the best iOS app I’ve used for pure tracking. Fitbod on the other hand does a really good job of generating programs (and then tracking against them is ok), so it’s a matter of what you’re looking for... but purely for tracking I’d strongly (hah) recommend Strong.

[OldFartTom]

I'm in the spreadsheet crew, keeping a single sheet for as long as possible. I've only relatively recently taken the time to review training going way back rather than in some recent 6 month block. I find that spreadsheet meant I could scroll back multiple years and see patterns where I'd highlighted bad stuff with red fill and comments.

I was able to see a pattern over a long time of over-reach and some vague illness or muscle injury then recovery and over enthusiasm leading to grinding myself down again, the cycle was over quite a long term and not obvious until I reviewed more than about 18 months at a time. It's a kind of long term 10 steps forwards 8 or 9 steps back - pretty inefficient training, poor recovery outside gym - I wished I reviewed it like that about 2 years ago when it the pattern established

I don't think I would have spotted really long term trends in some app rendering
Excel (or Google sheets etc) is pretty boring and uber-nerdy, but you can cut and dice the data: trend, lagged moving averages, graph it or however you want. Not an everyday need but pretty useful in an annual review

[blue9steel]

My temporary record is a spiral notebook, my longterm record is the forum. I've never found an app I liked and was sufficiently flexible / easy to use.

[Garage Rat]

Im old school and still prefer hand written notes and records.
I use a yearly planner which makes it very organized.
Never got into apps where i have to depend on my phone or computer to log it.
If lose it something goes wrong with your devise then your screwed if you want to record stuff.

[BillPhoto]

Jumping on my phone to record a set or reps is far too distracting for me. Way too many other things to look at on their. I prefer a notebook and pen as well.

[Plateauplower]

I use Microsoft word to make basically workout sheet templates in the form of a table where I can put bodypart/exercise in the cells on the left then sets and reps to the right. Date pm weight, start stop times etc all at the top. I used to transcribe all that $hit to a yearly planner and also post in my journal when I kept one on here. Lately I just use sheets to track what I did and they just kind of pile up...

[apmark]

Strong is a great app! easy to figure out and customize. Can use for free or keep more different workouts if you pay the annual fee which is worth it to me!

[homegymer]

If you're looking for an android app or mobile app, I very quickly became a fan of "Progression", and it was the very first app(s) I paid for. Simple, easy to use, to the point, and great statistics. Previously I jumped around between JetFit, BodyBuilding, handwritten notebook, excel sheets, etc and didn't really care for any of them.

[ameade84]

I’m in with the guys recommending strong. It works very well with the iOS app. Also, if you have an Apple Watch it works great with that too. I like the yearly sub instead of monthly. Also, I had a question/suggestion for them and both times they responded within 12 hours. Can’t ask for much more than that!

[TheT800]

Another vote here for Strong. The free version has everything I need for tracking different workouts and progression.

[robpalwrites]

The couple of apps I've used have been Jefit and Fitnotes. Jefit can be a little fiddly but it's what I'm currently using.

I've used jefit for over two years and it's been pretty great to track all my workouts, as well as able to share with a PT when I had one.

[supramax]

Pen and day planner notebook. The legibility of my writing tells me how effective the exercise (sets & reps & mode) was.

[BrownBear1968]

Reading this thread makes me realize that I need to upgrade my way of thinking.

The mesocycle and its macrocycles, in my case, are all in Excel.
But... sadly I am an old stubborn man.

I open my spiral notebook, pick a pen, drink the first coffee, and beging to write to the notebook the scheduled trainning session. Yes, that one already described in the spreadsheet. Slowly.
If it is a training day with clean & jerks or deadlifts... I begin to think the night before.

Coffee, transcription, home-gym setup, more one coffee, heavy metal playlist organized, notebook, warm up, last coffee, and the training session itself.
Every pause between series I sit down, pick the notebook, put a checkmark (counting days with chalk convicted style) on an exercise # set. But also I write a lot of comments, thoughts, ... , well a lot of stuff.

After training I return to the Excel spreasheet and update it.

I just can´t get rid of this habit. But I will try all the apps you guys described.
Thanks.

[snailsrus]

I started out using a notebook, now it's a spreadsheet. I'm toying with the idea of developing my own app so I can fit it to different workout programs, but I haven't found the time to prioritize it yet.

i kinda do this but it’s with the notes app on my iPhone not an actual notebook

[xilk]

My new favorite is GymRat
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...etrovic.gymrat

[supramax]

Reading this thread makes me realize that I need to upgrade my way of thinking.

The mesocycle and its macrocycles, in my case, are all in Excel.
But... sadly I am an old stubborn man.

I open my spiral notebook, pick a pen, drink the first coffee, and beging to write to the notebook the scheduled trainning session. Yes, that one already described in the spreadsheet. Slowly.
If it is a training day with clean & jerks or deadlifts... I begin to think the night before.

Coffee, transcription, home-gym setup, more one coffee, heavy metal playlist organized, notebook, warm up, last coffee, and the training session itself.
Every pause between series I sit down, pick the notebook, put a checkmark (counting days with chalk convicted style) on an exercise # set. But also I write a lot of comments, thoughts, ... , well a lot of stuff.

After training I return to the Excel spreasheet and update it.

I just can´t get rid of this habit. But I will try all the apps you guys described.
Thanks.

I've tried a few, but I prefer pen and paper. I only write down the workout as I'm doing it, though. My desktop picture is a Sticky Notes (this one: https://download.cnet.com/Sticky-Not...-75560734.html) image of my entire workout.

[ClimberTrav]

I've been using Strongur [sic] for 6 years, and it's been great for me. It's the only fitness app I've paid for. It used to be called Multi-year because it really is designed for long term tracking, charting and goal achievements.

[Leprechuan71]

Strong for Android. Great app.

[Gymyellon]

I'm using Stark - Workout Diary for Android.

It has very clean UI and it's so easy to use. Very wide modification possibilities, you can configure the details you want to track for every exercise: reps, weight, time, RIR/RPE and even resistance bands.

[BJoe]

i kinda do this but it’s with the notes app on my iPhone not an actual notebook

That’s what I’ve been doing since I started going to the gym again. I just have a section in Notes for exercises and either try and get what I want to do set up before exercising by copy/pasting the last time I did those lifts then edit if I end up lifting more than expected or can’t