What to record in a training log, and what to skip
Four fields carry nearly all the information. A field-by-field account of what earns its place, what does not, and why the effort field matters most.
5 min read
Workout logging
Keeping a training log that tells you whether you are getting stronger, in less time than the rest between sets.
A training log is only useful if it answers one question next week: did I do more than last time? These articles cover what to record and what to leave out, how to read progress out of a log, what progressive overload looks like in numbers, and why keeping food and training in one app changes what you notice.
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How to log your workouts in under a minuteA training log answers one question next week: did I do more than last time? What to record, what to skip, and how to read progress out of it.
16 articles
Training volume or intensity: what to track
Volume drives growth, intensity drives strength, and both are measured badly by tonnage. What each term means and which number belongs in your log.
4 min read
How many sets per muscle per week is enough?
Around ten hard sets per muscle group is where growth becomes reliable, with benefits continuing towards twenty. How to count them and when more stops helping.
5 min read
Strength plateaus: what a log shows first
Most plateaus are fatigue, under-eating or inconsistency rather than programming. A diagnostic order, and what to change when it is the programme.
5 min read
RPE and RIR: how to rate a set you just did
Two scales for the same thing, why the number belongs in your log, and how to calibrate a rating that most beginners get wrong by three repetitions.
5 min read
How long to rest between sets, by goal
Longer rest produces more total work and more growth, not less. Two to three minutes for compounds, sixty to ninety seconds for isolation, and why.
4 min read
How to read real progress out of a training log
Session-to-session comparison produces false alarms. What to compare, over what period, and the four signals that mean you are actually getting stronger.
5 min read
Progressive overload, in numbers you can check
Five ways to make a session harder than the last one, in the order they are worth using, and what a realistic rate of progress looks like by training age.
5 min read
Notebook or app: what a workout log is really for
A notebook has built plenty of strong people. What an app actually adds is arithmetic and instant recall, and those are the only two reasons to prefer one.
4 min read
Logging home workouts when nothing has a weight
Bodyweight and band training still need a log. What to record when the load is fixed, and the four ways to progress without adding kilograms.
5 min read
How to log cardio without lying to yourself
Record duration, distance and effort rather than calories burned. Why the machine's number is wrong, and what to track so cardio progress is visible.
4 min read
Why food and training belong in the same log
The useful questions cross both records: is this deficit costing me strength, did a bad week show up in both. Two apps means never asking them.
5 min read
Deload weeks: when you need one and how to tell
Fatigue accumulates faster than fitness decays. What a deload does, the two ways to run one, and the log signals that say it is due.
4 min read
Are the calories-burned numbers worth anything?
Watches and machines estimate expenditure from population equations. They are commonly 20 to 30 per cent out, and they read high. What to do with that.
4 min read
The first twelve weeks of a strength log
What a beginner's log should contain, how fast the numbers move, and the three mistakes that turn a productive first year into a wasted one.
5 min read
How to log your workouts in under a minute
A training log answers one question next week: did I do more than last time? What to record, what to skip, and how to read progress out of it.
7 min read
Terms used in this topic
- Deload
A deload is a planned week of reduced training load or volume, taken to let accumulated fatigue clear so that performance can rise again; it is a scheduled part of training, not a break from it.
- One-rep max
A one-rep max is the heaviest weight you can lift once with acceptable form; it can be tested directly or estimated from a set of several repetitions, and it is the standard reference for training loads.
- Progressive overload
Progressive overload is the gradual increase in training demand over time — more weight, more reps, more sets or better control — and it is the requirement that makes a training programme produce adaptation.
- RIR
RIR, or reps in reserve, is the number of repetitions you could still have completed at the end of a set; it is the inverse of RPE and describes the same thing in more concrete terms.
- RPE
RPE, or rating of perceived exertion, is a subjective 1–10 score for how hard a set was; in strength training a 10 means no repetitions left in reserve and an 8 means about two were.
- Training volume
Training volume is the total amount of work done, usually counted as hard sets per muscle group per week, and it is the training variable most closely associated with muscle growth.