Not Just a Man's World

Many trainers will tell you that it is vitally important to maintain training records. 

I was starting to think about changing my workout and putting a few new exercises in recently.  As a result I had to dig back through my training records which reminded me about the importance of keeping them. 

My lastest records sheet

What to record

To make my records useful to me I find that each time I go into the gym I need to record all of the following things from my workout:

• the date (obviously)
• exercises done
• order of the exercises (generally you’ll perform better if it’s the first exercise of the workout than if it’s at the end)
• weight used
• set and rep combination
• rest period/timing for each set.

Some people also record their bodyweight.  While this can have a significant impact on certain exercises, especially bodyweight exercises, I don’t tend to see this as a necessity.

Choose your format

I started out with a cute little notebook for my records but quickly became frustrated with endlessly flipping pages looking for things. 

Next, I tried keeping records on a “Training Log” on Facebook, but rapidly became disillusioned with the difficulty of trying to quickly glance back over earlier workouts.

For a while, Chris maintained my records on his computer using a complex spreadsheet that he had built but we quickly fell into disarray – Chris’s computer wasn’t always present when I wanted to start a workout, when it was I sometimes had to wait to boot it up first, and I was reliant on Chris to maintain the spreadsheet.

In the end I have shunned technology and settled on using sheets of paper. 

When I start a new program I usually start a new sheet of paper, recording the data in the most sensible way for that program.  When I did three very different workouts each week, I put the three workouts on different parts of the paper and completed a line in the relevant section after a workout.  For a while I recorded each new workout on a separate small square of paper.  At the moment I have a series of workouts which all have the same four-exercise structure so I maintain a four-column sheet with a new line for each workout.

There’s no rule for how to record your numbers and ignore anyone who tries to tell you that there is only one way to keep them.  Find what works for you. 

Benefits of keeping training records

A few things instantly sprang to mind when I started thinking about the benefits I’ve had from keeping detailed training records.  In case you’re not already a dedicated record-keeper, try considering some of the things below and see if you are convinced enough to make record-keeping a new habit.

• Getting consistent progress each week:  It may seem obvious, but are you really going to remember the weight, sets, reps and rest period scheme of every workout last week when you walk into the gym tomorrow?  Sometimes you might, but can you guarantee it?  If you want to consistently progress then you need to know what you did last time in order to put up whichever element you want to increase (reps, sets or weight) without risk of overshooting yourself or repeating a workout and missing out on potential progress.
• Being able to get instant benefits from changing your program:  Unless you select your exercises from a small pool and are always doing all the exercises in your repertoire, there will be times when you want to incorporate an exercise back into the program that you haven’t done for some time.  In my case, I started doing Good Mornings a couple of months ago after an eight month break from them.  If you don’t have any records to look back on how do you know what weight to pick for that first workout?  At least with a record you can see what you were doing before, what weight you were using on other exercises at the time and shift the weight up or down a bit depending on how other contemporaneous exercises compare.  It is likely that you’ll set the first weight fairly well which should mean you get some training benefits from the very first workout.
• Making you feel better when things are bad:  We all go through those times when things get tough in the gym.  You don’t feel like you are progressing or you are convinced that you were lifting a heavier weight ten months ago when the exercise was in your training program before.  Records can stop you beating yourself up over mythical failures.  The number of times I’ve been convinced that I was squatting or deadlifting something heavier several months earlier and, on checking the records, I find that there was a crucial difference.  Perhaps I was doing doubles and now I’m doing triples or maybe the rest period was twice as long before.  Sometimes I really have just forgotten and I’m lifting a PB.
• You can celebrate the PBs:  While I’m on the subject of PBs, records can help you be certain that you’ve smashed the record.
• Gaining a sense of perspective:  I sometimes get frustrated with my progress.  When that happens I can do one of two things.  Option one is to rant, rave and cry about what a failure I am.  Not a productive solution, although it still happens – see the dark, diagonal line near the top of the page in the photo where my pen tore through the paper.  I was angry and frustrated to not even be able to do my first exercise, so records can tell interesting histories too.  Option two is to get out my old records and scan over them, finding similar exercise schemes from a year or two ago and realising just how far I’ve come since then.

Do you find any other benefits in record-keeping?  Do you keep them meticulously or sometimes forget to write down what you did?  Do you have other ways to maintain records?  If so, I’d love to hear your ideas!

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2. Lessons learned: training outside the box
3. Lessons learned: workouts to suit your body
4. Lessons learned this week: the menstrual cycle and making workouts more challenging