Document your progress: Create a training diary

Rodri Mora 4 min. of reading Fitness Leave a comment

A Training Diary is a quite useful resource in order to document our progress and evolution in the gym.

Index

1 It is easier than you believe
2 For everyone
3 How to do it
4 Notebook and pen
5 Smartphone and apps
6 Links to the apps:
7 Related Entries:

It is easier than you believe

We tend to become obsessed when we reach a stagnation point. We focus on the routine, we try to change the rep number, the series number, the weight that we lift… Sometimes, we blame the diet or the macronutrient distribution… “What if I ate 37 minutes after training, maybe I will recover better”.

Nevertheless, we forget about the simplest things such as documenting our progress.

For everyone

It does not matter if you are a beginner at the gym or a experienced athlete getting ready for a competition.

Documenting your progress will be indispensable.

We can see it in all high performance sports, since it is a way of recording all the marks and workouts. In fact, it is even useful to take notes about feelings or observations that may be relevant when you look back. Therefore, you will see clearly if what you did worked or if there is something you have to change.

Notebook of a Chinese Weightlifter

How to do it

So you want to start documenting your progress, but how?

Logically, there are many ways of doing so, specially with today’s technology: mobiles, computers, etc; but you can also choose the “analogical” and traditional method.

Notebook and pen

Most certainly, it is the most common method and the most used one traditionally. It is fast and easy.

Put it on your gym bag, do not worry about it running our of battery or breaking it (the one from the picture has lasted me for a long time).

Advantages:

Write fast, specially if you are not familiar with mobile keyboards.
Cheap (2€ and it lasts several months).
Easy to use. Leave it on the gym bag and do not worry about it.

Disadvantages:

You can lose it, break it or wet it.
It does not have online synchronization.
It will not last forever.
It will take some space, specially if you have been training for years.

Smartphone and apps

Everybody has a smartphone nowadays, either iOS or Android. There are thousands of apps for the gym, nutrition… that can be useful when it comes to taking notes about our workouts.

Even if there are specific gym apps that allow you to create your routines and workouts; I personally prefer using minimalist apps, similar to spreadsheets or notes.

Right now I am using Google Drive, which is the hard drive in Google cloud. More specifically, I am using a sub-app for spreadsheets called Google Sheets.

It is very comfortable, since you can plan it online or in your pc and upload it afterwards. Moreover, it will always be available and up to date with the last changes you made.

It is also very easy to use in the mobile phone and it will synchronize with your Google account or iCloud, depending on the service you use.