Your Most Important Piece of Training Gear - Part 2 (Lifting Gear Series)

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

In Part 1 of this mini-series, we discussed why the training log is your most important piece of equipment. Today, let’s cover how to set one up and correctly use it.

Be sure to check out the included videos as they also cover some additional material not included in this article.

This is the seventh article in our “Lifting Gear” series. Click below to read the previous articles in the series:

New Week? New Page
A few basic guidelines make keeping an effective log straightforward and simple, and my first recommendation is that every week gets its own page. Whether you train two, three, four, or even five days per week, you can fit all of your training data on one page if you’re committed to doing so. 

If you don’t finish that week’s training - suppose you’re supposed to train Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but you missed Wednesday’s session - don’t use the unused space on that page to start a new week. If it’s a new week, then use a new page.

How to Setup the Page
At the start of the week, divide that week’s page into the appropriate number of sections. For example, if you train three days per week, you’ll draw two horizontal lines - one line a third of the way down the page and the other line two-thirds of the way down the page - to divide your page into three sections or “boxes.” This will force you to fit all of a given day’s training into a reasonable amount of space and will ensure you don’t run out of room at the end of the week.

Day and Date
In the upper left-hand corner of each section, write the day and the date of the workout - for example, “Mon, 08/19/24” if you’re training on Monday, August 19, 2024 will work just fine. The date is a must - you need the ability to look back and know exactly when a certain session took place.

Component #1: Prescription
Suppose today’s session consists of the squat, press, and deadlift. Set up three corresponding columns inside today’s box for those lifts. With the squat as the sample lift, you start by writing down the first component of the lift, which is the prescription for the day, i.e., the name of the lift and the planned sets and reps. For example:

Squat
3 x 5

This ensures that you’ve recorded the goal for the day, which is to squat 3 sets of 5 reps.

Component #2: Warm-up
Since you already know what you’re going to load on the barbell for your work weight (since you’re able to look back at your last session in your log), it’s time to write out the second component of each lift - the warm-up. If your work weight for the day is 235 lb, your warm-up might look like this:

45 x 5 x 2
95 x 5 x 1
135 x 3 x 1
185 x 2 x 1
215 x 1 x 1

Separate your prescription from your warm-up with a short line, and with this done, your training log now looks like this:

Squat
3 x 5
—-------
45 x 5 x 2
95 x 5 x 1
135 x 3 x 1
185 x 2 x 1
215 x 1 x 1

Component #3: Work Sets
Now, it’s time to record the data for the work sets, which will be 235 lb x 5 reps x 3 sets. As a result, you have the following in your log:

Squat
3 x 5
—-------
45 x 5 x 2
95 x 5 x 1
135 x 3 x 1
185 x 2 x 1
215 x 1 x 1
—-------
235 x 5 x 3

Remember the golden rule of lifting notation, which is that the number of reps is always the second number written down - watch the included video if this is confusing.

Component #4: What You’re Going to Do Next
You squatted 235 lb today, and you successfully completed all of your work sets, so your next session will move to 240 lb, and thus, your training log looks like this now:

Squat
3 x 5
—-------
45 x 5 x 2
95 x 5 x 1
135 x 3 x 1
185 x 2 x 1
215 x 1 x 1
—-------
235 x 5 x 3
Next: 240

This would also be the time to note any upcoming programming changes. For example, perhaps you’re planning to squat 240 lb for a top set of 5 reps and then move on to 2 back-off sets of 5 reps - this “Next” section is the place to note it. Don’t walk out of the gym without writing this part down. Ever.

If you’re only performing one set at a given weight, the “1” at the end of the notation is optional. If you’d like to be a bit more concise, you can write it all out as shown below:

Squat
3 x 5
—-------
45 x 5 x 2
95 x 5
135 x 3
185 x 2
215 x 1
—-------
235 x 5 x 3
Next: 240

What Else?
You’ve got your prescription, your warm-ups, your work sets, and what you’re going to do next, so what else is there to write?

For starters, write down any cues that you want to use for your next session. “Midfoot,” “knees out,” “stay in your lean,” are all examples of cues that you might want to write down so that you remember what you’re working on the next time you lift.

You can also record how the training session went that day. Something like “235 felt pretty heavy today” is very satisfying to look back at 6 months from now when 235 lb is just an easy warm-up.

Lastly, it’s a good idea to keep a PR sheet. Set aside one page in your log on which to record your PRs - 1-rep PRs, 5-rep PRs, what you’ve done in training vs what you’ve done at a meet, etc. This is an excellent way to look back and measure your progress.

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better. 

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