Now I never thought that I would say this, but I like data. I especially like data when I can see it moving in a positive direction and it is helping me get bigger, stronger and leaner.
I can’t remember how or why I started logging my workouts. I know I was at university at the time and training in an incredible, old school gym. Nearly everyone at that gym was bigger than me, and most likely enhanced. The easy thing would have been to jump on gear and grow to catch up with everyone, but I have always prided myself on researching anything that could potentially harm me if abused or done incorrectly, and I knew the time wasn’t right for me to run a cycle yet. I needed the next best thing.
Logging your workout kept popping up everywhere, but I kept ignoring it. Nobody in the gym seemed to log their workout, and they were massive. However, it soon occurred to me that these guys were coming in and lifting the same weight, repeatedly and with no real pattern of what they were training. It looked like guess work. If their training was like this, what was their diet like? I’m sure they ate big, but were they really in a surplus every day? The amount of time I have heard someone say ‘but I eat loads’ only for them to actually start tracking and realise they aren’t in a calorie surplus at all.
I had made my decision. I was going to track every workout I did and every calorie I ate. Progressive overload each session became my main goal, as did staying in a calorie surplus. I still do it to this day. Of course, I sway from a deficit to a surplus, but I always try and beat my last workout that’s logged.
I have been tracking for over 10 years now, here’s what you need to know.
There are some essentials when it comes to what you log in the gym, and your type of training is going to influence it. However, here are some of the things that will apply to most of us.
-
The date
-
What exercises you perform
-
How much weight you lifted on each set
-
Sets and reps
-
How much rest you had between sets
If I was to categorize my training, it would most likely be bodybuilding. I measure everything above except how much rest I have between sets. Although I am aware to never rest too long, I usually go again when I feel like I will be at my strongest.
Tracking like this allows me to step into each session knowing what I must do to be better than last time. That’s an incredible tool to have. Imagine if you had that kind of knowledge for your job? I’m sure you would be promoted in no time.
Remember, what you can measure, you can master. There isn’t a more powerful tool than consistency in the gym. If you can consistently come into the gym and be stronger than last time, coupled with a diet to match your goals, there is no reason why you can’t achieve your goal.
Try tracking your workouts for a minimum of 3 months and see how you progress.
