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Considering the systematization of training for beginners and professionals, we quite often returned to the need for additional measures to monitor progress. One such method could be the introduction of such a thing as a training diary. It is he who makes it easy to track and analyze the results of sports in the long term.

General information

First you need to decide what it is. Despite common misconceptions, this is not some mythical purchase diary, but simply a method of systematizing classes.

The training diary itself is a means of recording the results of exercises. Usually they write in it:

  1. Training date.
  2. Exercises included in a workout.
  3. Number of repetitions and approaches.
  4. Working weights.
  5. Rest time between sets (not always, only if it’s important).
  6. Anthropometry (not always, but it is useful to do this periodically to track progress).
  7. Additional notes and comments.
  8. Meals, their composition (BJU) and calorie content (not always, but will be useful for gaining mass and drying).

The combination of these factors allows you to determine the further vector of development, in addition, the training diary is useful in the event of a coach / gym change. In particular, it allows a new coach to determine the dynamics of your development and to choose more accurately a new training program according to your progress.

How to?

How to make a workout diary at home? Everything is very simple. It is enough to have a thick notebook or notebook and a pen on hand. The following should be entered in the diary:

  • On the first page – current anthropometric data.
  • Record your workout results on the following pages – exercises, sets, reps, and working weights. If food is important, allocate space for it.
  • Each page should be filled with pre-planned exercises, and only numbers should be entered during or immediately after training.
  • On the last page (when the number of pages comes to an end) – write down the new anthropometric data. Or do it periodically, for example every month.

Ведение дневника тренировок

Examples of filling (including samples for download)

Different training diaries are created depending on the type of athlete’s load profiling. The classic training diary involves recording only your results, and it can be kept without assistance right during the session.

More complex options involve the need to measure anthropometric data, record time work on a timer and a huge number of related factors. Such a training diary is often redundant for amateur athletes, but extremely necessary for professional athletes (for example, bodybuilders who must remember not only the number of repetitions and weight, but also ensure that the body responds correctly to a new type of training in the long term).

As for crossfit training, it is important to know how to keep a training diary, because every time you use a variety of WODs and monitor your progress without recording your performance in each exercise is almost impossible.

Today there are different ways to keep a workout diary in the gym:

  1. Online platforms.
  2. Applications on the phone.
  3. Paper (canonical).
  4. Use PDF, XLS or Doc template.

Online platforms

  • iWorklog.ru – has the most user-friendly interface and lightness of the site, which allows you to fill in the results even from a low-speed Internet.
  • GymPad.ru – quite user-friendly interface, many exercises with full descriptions and illustrations, the ability to add your own exercise. You can easily create your own training templates, however, you cannot immediately add the number of approaches and repetitions to the exercises. There is also a food diary with a food base, but without breaking down into meals. You can make your own measurements and build progress graphs based on them.
  • Fitmus.com – the interface is more minimalistic. It is a little less convenient to create your own workout templates. Not all exercises have a description. There is also a nutrition and statistics section.

Electronic variants

We bring to your attention several ready-made templates and programs that allow you to track your own progress.

  1. Training diary. Convenient workout and exercise diary. It has a page for training (however, a maximum of 5 approaches), nutrition, anthropometry and even a small base with BJU and calorieration of popular products.
  2. Weekly diary. Sports training diary with additional fields for entering nutritional data. Not very convenient for recording workouts themselves, sets, reps and working weights.

Editor’s note: despite the presence of a huge number of different proposals, it is better to understand how to compile a training diary on your own, and do it in an outdated “paper” form. This will allow you to better imbued with the ideas of systematization, and most importantly, the written data cannot be rewritten, which will allow you to be honest with yourself until the very end. Also, you will not depend on a third-party site and if it is closed you will not lose all data.

Ведение записей в дневнике тренировок

In summary

Whoever says anything about the benefits of using a fitness training diary, it is worth remembering that its use and competent maintenance is not only the fixation of results, but also the ability to systematize training. And no matter how supporters of “intuitive training” talk about “the need to listen to your body” and work in accordance with your well-being, the use of a diary allows you to systematize training, find a point of error, or determine which complexes the body responds best to in the long term.