Progress tracking

Written by trainer winny

Progress tracking is a must, if you want to build the best physique of your life.

So let me show you the best way in which you can track your progress.

All of the things that I will lay out in this document are things that I use myself in every workout.

So I'm very happy to share my knowledge with you today!

What do I use for tracking?

There are 2 different ways in which people track progress.

The first option is to use your phone, after all, there are thousands of apps that you can choose from.

The second option is to go with the old-school method of pen and paper.

And you will be surprised, but I recommend the second option here.

Sure, you might feel a bit weird when you bring a notebook to the gym, but there is just something
magical about having a paper notebook.

I'm not saying you shouldn't use apps, feel free to do so, but a pen and paper just feels more
personal.

You will always see your progress when you flip through the pages and realize how far you have
come.

Plus minimizing your screen time is always welcome.

In this document, we will be focusing on tracking progress with the old-school pen-and-paper
method, but the same principles apply to every other tracking app, so don't worry.
Basic tracking
There are 4 main things that we want to track.

1. Name of the exercises

2. Amount of weight used
3. Number of reps
4. Number of sets

There are also some other smaller things you will want to track, but more on that a little later.

So let me walk you through the tracking process step by step.

1. Name of the exercises

Because you are reading this document, you already have a great training plan, which is very
important, because the first step is to write down your exercises for the day.

Write them down in the order that you will be doing them.

These are just random exercises for the sake of this example*
It doesn't really matter when you write it down; at home, in between sets, in the locker room, just
make sure everything is on that paper.

I personally write them down in between the sets as it's a bit more convenient for me that way.

1.5 Dates
I would also highly recommend you to add a date to each workout, so if you ever need to go back,
you will have an easy time finding what you need, and seeing how much you have progressed since.
2. Amount of weight used
After you have all of your exercises for the day written down, you can move on to the next step,
which is writing down the amount of weight for each exercise that you will use for that day.

And when you get that done, we can finally get to the repetitions.

You always hear me mention different rep ranges like 5-8, 8-12, etc.

So let me tell you how to work with them.

2.5 Pre-made rep ranges
But before I do that, I just want to note, that if you do not remember what kind of rep range you are
supposed to be doing on each exercise, you can just note it somewhere on the side, because it will
be pretty important to know what rep range you are working in.

Random rep ranges just for the sake of this example*

3. & 4. Number of reps & sets
Alright, now let's take a look at how to track reps and sets.

So let's say, that you are doing a set of 8-12 reps on the bench press, with 100 lbs.

On the first set, you manage to get 10 reps, so you write it down.

On the second set, you manage to get 9 reps, you write it down again.

And on the third set, you manage to get just 8 reps, and you also write that down.

This is how it now looks like on paper:

With this method that I'm showing you here, you should always be going to failure, unless you hit
the upper end of the rep range - but more on that in a second.

In this 8-12 example, we stopped at the rep number 10 in the first set, because we reached failure
on that rep.

In the second set, we reached failure at rep number 9, and on the third set at rep number 8.

You will continue to add reps in each workout until you reach the upper end of the rep range on all
3 of your sets, that’s the point where you can increase the weight.
5. Increasing the weight
Just to remind you, we were doing the 8-12 rep range in this example.

This means, that our ultimate goal, is to reach 12 reps on all 3 sets because that is the upper end of
the rep range.

This means, that when you are doing the first set of 8-12 reps, and you reach 12 reps, just stop, and
don't do any more reps even if you can.

Because it would make you weaker for the second, and the third set.
Remember, your ultimate goal is to reach 12 reps on all 3 sets, not 14 on the first set, and then 10 on
the other ones.

When you reach the upper end of the rep range, which in the case of the 8-12 rep range, is 12 reps,
on all 3 of your sets, then you are ready to add more weight.

Most of the time, you should add the smallest plate you got available in the gym, and continue in the
same exact way as before.

As you get more and more advanced, the rate at which you will be able to add additional reps or
weight will slow down dramatically.

That is completely normal though, just be aware of that.

6. Tracking additional data
There is a lot more stuff that you can track, besides just the names of the exercises, the amount of
weight used, the number of reps, and the number of sets.

Like for example, the time between the sets, or some type of special technique that you used on
that exercise in particular.

When I use myo-reps for example, I always note it next to the exercise, so I know that the amount of
reps was achieved using myo-reps.

When it comes to tracking rest times between the sets, I'm personally not that big of a fan of it, as it
can quickly get really inconvenient.

Don't get me wrong, it's for sure good to know how long you are resting between the sets, but it just
doesn't seem like something that you should write down after every single set, it just becomes a big
burden after a while.

Once you are aware enough of how long you are resting between the sets, just roughly estimating
your rest times, will be completely fine.

What you can also do, is write different notes next to the exercises, like for example „My right
shoulder was hurting“ or something else that will notify your future self, that something is wrong, or
that something needs to be changed in the future workout.
Because you will always be looking back at what you did in the last workout because you are trying to
always beat your performance from the last time, by at least 1 rep.

For example, we can say that the last time we did bench press, we managed to get 10, 9, and 8 reps.

So our goal for the next workout should be to surpass one of these numbers by at least 1 rep.

It doesn't matter in which way you progress, you can go from 10, 9, and 8 reps in the last workout to
11, 9, and 8 reps, or to 10, 10, and 8 reps.
It's basically the same thing, the most important part is that the total number of reps goes up.

If you are not sure if you have progressed, you can check the total amount of reps you did for that
exercise, and compare it with the amount of reps you achieved last time.

So if we did 10, 9, and 8 reps in the last workout, that would be 27 reps combined.

And let's say we managed to get 10,10 and 8 reps in the next workout, which when we add it up,
would equal 28 reps in total, which is greater than the 27 reps you did last time, so that means you
have progressed.

You don't necessarily need to count it up like this, it's just something that you can do if you are not
sure!

And this pretty much sums up everything that you need to know, in order to track your progress and
get the best physique ever!

So take one more look at the final product, and now go ahead and start tracking in the same exact
way yourself!