Why you should keep a workout log

... so you can create charts like this!

This is my F1 progress over the last six months, represented in chart form.  The exercises are on the bottom (the first bar is for FL, which for some reason refused to appear), and the y-axis is the number of workouts I've done with that element.  Every time a bar change colours, that shows moving up to a new PE.  At a glance, you can see how you've been doing, and it really offers some perspective.

For example, I thought FL was my strongest element, but the chart suggests that, yes, I may have advanced fastest with that, my sPL progress is actually more consistent.  Also, it seemed like my SL PE1 took forever, but that's about the same time as my HBP PE3, which seems quite normal to my mind.  Finally, I've noticed that I haven't even done 50 workouts with any of these elements.  Do I really expect massive progress in less than 50 workouts?  No, not really, and this makes me realize I'm not falling behind or being slow.

For the past few weeks I (and seemingly everyone else I know) have been sick, and then workouts are a real struggle.  It's depressing getting ready to go for finally mastering RC PE1 but getting sick the weekend before and then unable to even do 8 reps of a deload week.  Making this chart helped show that things are, generally, going pretty well, and if the worst thing I have to worry about is a PE taking 50 workouts, that's pretty good.

As a final note, I've trained martial arts almost exclusively my entire life, and we can see here the strengths and weaknesses of such a discipline: pushing and core strength, yes!  Pulling, non-existant.  Lots of leg strength, no problem with hip-related iMs, but struggling badly with SLS progression.  Interesting.

I like it

I'd like to see my own, but I didn't keep records of when I moved up or stepped back to reorient on a more difficult than expected element

Too bad I've lost my logs before november! Still, I will keep it up from now on with backups =)

I started keeping track on a excel worksheet date and workout. would be cool to see how you can make a mock up with a formula to evaluate a years worth of work

Logs are huge.  I just bought F1H1 last week and I've been trying to figure out how to switch from weightlifting logs (easy to find apps and spreadsheets) to GST logging.  How is your spreadsheet laid out?  What data points are you tracking?  Would you mind posting a sample of it?

Honestly, I was simply bored and copied all my handwritten, barely legible notes from the last six months into Excell.  From there I pressed a few buttons and produced a chart.  Now I'm trying to make it more useful.

It's tough, because a) I'm nothing special with Excel, b) the same exercise group has different ways to count a workout (for example, PE1 of FL is based off time, while PE2 is reps, so the unit scale isn't consistent), and c) it's hard to input when you don't meet a goal for a set (for example, the goal was 5x10, but you managed 4x10 and 8 in the last set).  It would be nice to set something up where you can see, for example, how many reps of a certain exercise you did in a month, or a cycle, and then compare to previous months to see progress or stagnation, but that's a bit beyond my current abilities.

Now that I think about it, it would be awesome if, as a community, we could create some kind of GST template, like a Google document.  You could download the template, fill it out and be auto-updated on things like how many workouts you've done, how many reps you've done, etc.  It would also be a standardized way to share and record progress.  Would be a very ambitious undertaking, though!

jfreaksho said:

Logs are huge.  I just bought F1H1 last week and I've been trying to figure out how to switch from weightlifting logs (easy to find apps and spreadsheets) to GST logging.  How is your spreadsheet laid out?  What data points are you tracking?  Would you mind posting a sample of it?

i did! i said i post the date and the workout. warm up / work sets / extra mobility or stretching, maybe a note saying if i felt like duke. that's it.

Sensei JP said:

Honestly, I was simply bored and copied all my handwritten, barely legible notes from the last six months into Excell.  From there I pressed a few buttons and produced a chart.  Now I'm trying to make it more useful.

 

It's tough, because a) I'm nothing special with Excel, b) the same exercise group has different ways to count a workout (for example, PE1 of FL is based off time, while PE2 is reps, so the unit scale isn't consistent), and c) it's hard to input when you don't meet a goal for a set (for example, the goal was 5x10, but you managed 4x10 and 8 in the last set).  It would be nice to set something up where you can see, for example, how many reps of a certain exercise you did in a month, or a cycle, and then compare to previous months to see progress or stagnation, but that's a bit beyond my current abilities.

 

Now that I think about it, it would be awesome if, as a community, we could create some kind of GST template, like a Google document.  You could download the template, fill it out and be auto-updated on things like how many workouts you've done, how many reps you've done, etc.  It would also be a standardized way to share and record progress.  Would be a very ambitious undertaking, though!

I think i'm more than sure that will probably be the evolution of the workout scheduler.  it'd be pretty dope! 

Sensei JP said:

Honestly, I was simply bored and copied all my handwritten, barely legible notes from the last six months into Excell.  From there I pressed a few buttons and produced a chart.  Now I'm trying to make it more useful.

 

It's tough, because a) I'm nothing special with Excel, b) the same exercise group has different ways to count a workout (for example, PE1 of FL is based off time, while PE2 is reps, so the unit scale isn't consistent), and c) it's hard to input when you don't meet a goal for a set (for example, the goal was 5x10, but you managed 4x10 and 8 in the last set).  It would be nice to set something up where you can see, for example, how many reps of a certain exercise you did in a month, or a cycle, and then compare to previous months to see progress or stagnation, but that's a bit beyond my current abilities.

 

Now that I think about it, it would be awesome if, as a community, we could create some kind of GST template, like a Google document.  You could download the template, fill it out and be auto-updated on things like how many workouts you've done, how many reps you've done, etc.  It would also be a standardized way to share and record progress.  Would be a very ambitious undertaking, though!

I think that what you are describing would almost be better as a phone app than as a spreadsheet, unless it can be done on a webpage.  It's not so much that Excel is difficult to work with, but it's not all that easy to work with on a mobile device.

If you meet the standard for every workout, then all you need is a checkbox to mark it as complete.  Failing sets is where it gets a little tricky.  For me, the log has to both record previous workouts as well as predict future workouts with minimal thinking on my part.

I'm just getting started and I want something handy that has the required sets x reps/time as well as the name and pictures of the exercise for my whole workout.  I might just make a single jpeg that has what I want.  I'm just getting started and not comfortable with using the abbreviations only.  I barely remember the seven main exercises.

Sensei JP said:

Honestly, I was simply bored and copied all my handwritten, barely legible notes from the last six months into Excell.  From there I pressed a few buttons and produced a chart.  Now I'm trying to make it more useful.

 

It's tough, because a) I'm nothing special with Excel, b) the same exercise group has different ways to count a workout (for example, PE1 of FL is based off time, while PE2 is reps, so the unit scale isn't consistent), and c) it's hard to input when you don't meet a goal for a set (for example, the goal was 5x10, but you managed 4x10 and 8 in the last set).  It would be nice to set something up where you can see, for example, how many reps of a certain exercise you did in a month, or a cycle, and then compare to previous months to see progress or stagnation, but that's a bit beyond my current abilities.

 

Now that I think about it, it would be awesome if, as a community, we could create some kind of GST template, like a Google document.  You could download the template, fill it out and be auto-updated on things like how many workouts you've done, how many reps you've done, etc.  It would also be a standardized way to share and record progress.  Would be a very ambitious undertaking, though!

Regarding the units, It appears, at least for the F1 PEs that I have worked, that time is treated as about 4 seconds per "rep"  (i.e. 5x15 reps = 5x60 seconds, 3x3 reps = 3x12 seconds, etc.).   That may not track for some more advanced elements, though.