How And Why You Should Log Your Lifts

You many have seen people in the gym with their notebooks, or phones, recording their weights and reps after each set and thought, "bit overkill that init? Why take it so serious?"

The premise of this post isn't to tell you that you must do it to progress, because you certainly don't... but rather highlight the benefits of doing it, even loosely, to potentially have you progressing faster and more consistently.

"If you don't track it, you can't manage it"

Just like your car's computer system monitors faults and mileage, to notify when you are due a service.

Or your online banking tracks every transaction to tell you if you're saving money, keeping afloat or if you're going to be living off packet noodles until payday...

Logging your performance in the gym is the best way to assess your training from week to week, to ensure that you're moving in the right direction and not spinning your wheels - which is very easy to do. Naturally we seek comfort and convenience.

An example would be that person in the gym, that has followed the same routine for as long as you've noticed them (months, even years!), always using similar weights and never noticing any progress - that person may even be you 👀

The answer to this is...

Progressive Overload

This is the training principle of gradually increasing the stress on your muscles over time to promote strength and growth.

The simplest way to ensure you are doing this, is it log down the weight you lifted each set, and how many reps you achieved.

However, it isn't just as simple as adding more weight each session, because eventually you will reach your limit.

The most important thing is that you execute each rep with sound technique - not only to target the correct muscles, but to reduce the risk of injury - especially when it gets heavy. If you can't train, you can't progress - so we want to ensure you can keep training.

Next you will have a targeted rep range for each exercise, this might be 8-12 reps (for example).

If you can't perform 8 reps with good technique on that lift, it maybe a little too heavy for what you're trying to achieve.

If you're able to do 12+ reps and you felt every rep was bang on the money, then you could look at increasing the weight either on the next set, or next session.

Here is an example of how we have our clients log their lifts on the app at Strength Positive...

Back Squat (3 sets, 8-10 reps)

Warm-up 40kg / 50kg

1 (set) x 10 (reps) @ 60kg

1 x 10 @ 62.5kg

1 x 8 @ 62.5kg

This client performed two warm-up sets, gradually increasing the weight up to the 'working weight' of 60kg for their first set.

They then hit the full 10 reps with good technique, and marginally increased the weight for the next set.

Again, they hit the top of the rep range, but decided to keep the same weight for the third and final set, to focus on technique - completing 8 reps.

Let's take a look at how they could progress this the following week...

Back Squat (3 sets, 8-10 reps)

Warm-up 42.5kg / 52.5kg

1 x 10 @ 62.5kg - felt good all the way through

1 x 8 @ 65kg - moved well but felt the increase

1 x 7 @ 65kg - slight forward lean on last couple, maybe rest longer between sets ~3-min and focus on core bracing

Next week aim for all sets x8 @ 65kg. Practice core bracing though warm-up sets.

After they checked the previous session, they decided to start where they finished as they were still within the rep range.

The first set felt smooth after the warm-ups, and technique held through the second set - although they felt the increase of weight on the bar.

The final set was a grind towards the end and technique slightly dropped off as they fatigued - which is normal! It's a new weight for them and they identified that their core could have been tighter, and maybe they didn't rest long enough and rushed into it a little too soon.

Make Notes On Technique

Just because the numbers show the same amount of reps, doesn't mean that the quality of the reps was the same.

How did the set feel?

Did you have more reps in the tank?

Was the first half of the set just as good as the second half?

Were the reps full range of motion, or did you struggle with depth - and from which rep?

Did anything flag up for you to work on and improve next time?

These are the type of questions and observations you want to make as you go through your lifts, because as I said earlier - eventually you will reach your limit with weight, and you will need to focus on the details to be able to continue progressing.

At Strength Positive, all of our clients' programs are on an app where each week, we can look back at previous performance and identify what needs to be done on the current session to improve.

It might be increasing the weight, it might be an extra rep or two - or even take a step back to tidy up technique before pushing onwards again. Our experienced coaching simplifies this process and fast tracks results by months, and even years!

If you'd like more guidance on how you can start progressing your training, and actually seeing a clear path to get the result you've bee chasing for some time now - click here and get in touch to learn more about our programs!