Training diary: templates for downloading + review of applications for Android and iOS

What is a training diary for?

Primarily, the diary is designed to track your training progress, mainly for weight and number of repetitions. Such accounting allows the athlete to improve his level at each lesson, because each week of training must exceed the previous one, without this the athlete’s development is impossible.
Also, recording the results allows the trainee not to keep the working weight of each exercise “in his head”, but to clearly demonstrate the performance of past exercises. And this allows you not to stay in one place and constantly progress, to be better than in the last training session.
One more point as a tip for the coach. A journal can help a coach figure out why you are not progressing. Thus, by visually assessing your performance over a certain period, a specialist will identify all errors and help correct them.

Accounting for classes and exercises

Compile the workouts in the form of a table, print them out and hang them on the wall. You can take the sheet with you if you study in the gym.

An example of a training diary:

Example of keeping a diary

A table for recording physical activity aimed at losing weight should look something like this.

How to keep a sports diary

The diary should be filled out at each training session in the gym and directly during the process, and not at the end of the day from memory. That is, you need to complete the approach - and immediately make a recording.

The most basic criteria for keeping a diary are the presence of the names of all exercises in the program, the recommended number of approaches and repetitions, as well as the execution of the exercise in fact: with what weight the exercise was performed and the number of repetitions in each approach.

The oldest and most proven method is keeping a diary in a notebook. There are many options for filling out the fields, and you need to choose the one that is most convenient and understandable for you. For beginners, the format will be easier, since completing three approaches will not be particularly difficult to complete. But for those whose strength training contains 5 or even 8 approaches, you will have to draw more fields and, accordingly, fill them out longer.

Choose the individual, most suitable sample.

Example #1:

Example #2:

Example #3:

You can also print ready-made electronic samples and fill them out manually, or use online diaries. This will simplify the task, because you won’t have to draw the fields manually.

Why do you need to record information about food and activities?

The most common case is that a pregnant woman gains excess weight, and the doctor advises her to keep a food diary. There she should write down everything she eats during the day: the number of meals, the size of portions, drinks.

Gaining too much weight is harmful and dangerous not only in this case, but also for young girls, adult men and women, and people of the older generation.

What does a nutrition diary give during training:

A person often eats food uncontrollably. The feeling of satiety gives a temporary feeling of peace, which is so necessary during times of stress. Writing down helps make eating a more mindful activity.
The fact that someone can read your diary entries makes you feel ashamed about overeating. Gluttony is ridiculed even by small children. The feeling of shame serves as a safety net and helps not to break down.
This helps organize your nutrition. After reading the notes for the day, a person will draw conclusions and adjust the program for tomorrow.
Recordings help to avoid breakdowns in the first weeks, when it is especially difficult to give up your usual diet. This is a cunning psychological move that nutritionists use.

Everything is clear with nutrition. What does a training diary do? The situation is the opposite. A person proudly displays the results of his efforts, trying to break his own records. This method stimulates people, especially if group training is carried out and participants see each other's results.

Interesting! Recordings of training help you remember the entire course and the required number of approaches. This frees the memory from the need to control activities, which facilitates training on a psychological level.

Setting a goal

The goal must be clear.

How not to formulate a goal:

“I want to be slim.”
“I want to lose weight.”
“I want to lose a lot of weight.”

These are vague statements that express a general direction, but do not specify the main idea. The goal should motivate you. Formulate it so that one sentence gets you out of bed in the morning and gives you energy. Simplify it to the point: what does weight loss mean to you?

Correct goal statement:

“I want to make my husband jealous.”
“I want to amaze others with my beauty.”
“I want to bring back youth and beauty.”
“I want Svetka to turn green with envy when she sees my figure.”

The goal is the end result that lies deep in the subconscious. You should not go to a slender body, but to what it will give in the end.

Forming a plan

What will be included in the weight change program? Take whatever helps, but don't overwhelm yourself.

The plan must be realistic:

Drink a glass of water before every meal.
Specific number of meals.
List of prohibited products.
Number of workouts and other loads.
Forget about the elevator and take long walks.
Listen to music more often and watch encouraging films.
Repeat every day: “Now I am the most beautiful, slim and successful.” Self-hypnosis works wonders.

This is an example plan. General rules that are drawn up individually. For people who are used to eating stress, it is worth including a course of sedatives in the list, which must be agreed with a doctor.

It is not enough to change your usual lifestyle. You need to change everything and as much as possible: disassemble the closets, get rid of the trash, rearrange, change your hairstyle, sign up for dancing if you have been wanting to.

Stop all unnerving actions: feel free to leave unfaithful boyfriends, change your job to a calmer one, make peace with your family.

Think of it this way: by changing your lifestyle and diet, you've just taken your step to the next step. Comfortable? Hardly. Get over there completely. Change yourself for the better inside and outside, change everything that surrounds you.

Celebrating results and achievements

Every 2-3 kilograms lost is a reason for joy.

You worked hard, reward yourself. Buy a small gift, go shopping, take a day off.

Anything that won’t interfere with the process will do: you shouldn’t spoil yourself with a cake.

Decide what the reward will be. This will be an additional incentive.

Be sure to check out:

Simple recommendations from famous trainers on what to eat before a workout to lose weight What to eat before a workout: recommendations from experts What is the best thing to eat after strength training and cardio to burn fat What and how long can you eat after a workout

Templates for download

You can print in the format most suitable for you. But this also creates certain inconveniences and has its disadvantages.

Example No. 1

You can also print this sample to fill out yourself. By the way, this printed diary in A5 format is distributed free of charge in Samara fitness centers. The disadvantage of a printable template is that for each workout you need to print a new sheet, which is extremely inconvenient.

Example No. 2

The template is designed for recording not only strength indicators, but also cardio load. Convenient table. There are also inconveniences with constant printing. .

Example No. 3

Here you can choose a suitable template in pdf format for printing, which allows you to keep track of your nutrition and workouts, record your exercise goals, and control your load. Another advantage is that it can be downloaded in DOCx format for editing in Word, which means you don’t have to print out the diary. Disadvantage: for each training session there is a new document.

Example No. 4

A template for downloading in Excel format allows you to view your progress on graphs, monitor your nutrition taking into account the KBJU, and find out the number of calories lost. This is the most convenient electronic option, but Excel must be installed on your phone in order to use the diary during class. And this is no longer so convenient.

Where to keep records

A universal option is a notebook and a sheet of paper with a training table.

Records can be kept on a computer, but psychologists and nutritionists advise writing by hand.

If the power goes out, your notes will still remain with you, it's more tangible.

Other options

Specialized site with accurate tables. Today there are many of them.
Applications on your phone or computer.
Groups for weight loss. In every city there are specialists recruiting groups. Their fixation systems will be individual.

Developer: Sergei Ivanov

Price: Free+

Using the application, you can visualize your own progress thanks to color motivation: when progress decreases, the exercises become discolored, and vice versa. User-friendly interface, ability to track progress, plan workouts and combine exercises. In the pro version, a diary of measurements and progress statistics is available.

Tracking results over time

Your training diary is a record of every visit to the gym. In it you can then find everything you need for further lesson planning.

Dynamics of scales

First of all, after some time, you will see the dynamics of an increase in working weights. For example, 2 months ago you bench pressed a 65 kg barbell for 3 reps. And now it’s already 80 for 5 times. If you didn’t keep a training diary, you might not have seen this dynamics. But it is the results of training that stimulate you to practice and grow further!

A training log will never deceive you (if you are honest with yourself, of course). It will always truthfully show how much you benched and when.

Changing programs, exercises

Your summary includes, first of all, the names of the exercises. This is important because you can always remember what you did in the last lesson, what weights you took and how many times you performed it.

Believe me, over time this information is forgotten. If you decide to change your program, it will be difficult for you to go back to the same one after a couple of months. You simply won’t be able to remember exactly what you did and how you did it.

Having a record of past workouts at hand, you can always use the old scheme.

Injuries, problems

Any pain-related incidents should be recorded in your training diary. For example, you were squatting with a certain weight and your knee hurt. It is important to make a note - exactly how you squatted, how many times. When the information is recorded, you will, firstly, remember this event better. Secondly, you can always see where exactly your knee let you down and be more careful when doing a dangerous exercise.

There are times when an athlete pulls or even tears something. A competent note will help him, after recovery, to begin full rehabilitation and not repeat his mistakes.

Previous training history will be helpful in selecting weights.

Starting classes after long breaks

Price: Free+

Training assistant from fitness to powerlifting. With the help of a diary, you can increase endurance, strength and increase body weight. Convenient to use. It is possible to view training statistics using visual graphs.

How to write a diary

The ideal bodybuilding diary looks like this:

Time stamps (training time, seven-day day, month, date)
Burdening weight. Achievements.
Contents of program tasks.
Condition of the body.
Weight indicators.

Here's everything you need to write down during your workouts. But! There are no clear rules for keeping records; everyone approaches this issue individually. It is most effective to divide the exercises performed into basic and isolating ones. Don’t keep dry notes, add for yourself heart rate measurements, tone levels, training scores, minor injuries and other things that are meaningful to you.

Bodybuilders should know:

It’s very good if you gradually increase the working weights during each lesson.
The program must be worked through to the end and only after that the results are displayed.
Introduce innovations as they become available.
Practice dynamic change.

The program is drawn up, the journal is kept, and after that, three months later, you need to really give your work a well-deserved assessment. Usually for men it all comes down to gaining muscle mass and strength results.

For girls - losing weight and normalizing the muscle groups of the lower body. Adequacy in assessing weight, body parameters, and body condition is important. Along with your workout log, you should also keep a nutrition log. The main thing is to develop the habit of taking notes at each training session and then you will clearly see your achievements.

The benefits of keeping a diary

A training diary is not a strictly necessary element of training programs, such as proper nutrition, adequate sleep, etc. However, thanks to it, classes become more effective and allow you to achieve the desired results faster. It will allow you:

systematize training;
develop self-discipline;
do not overtrain the body;
select the optimal set of classes based on the collected data;
analyze errors and adjust the training program taking them into account;
track the dynamics of training in the long term;
Observe your own successes and failures, which equally contribute to the development of motivation for further activities.

Important: at the initial stages, the selection and adjustment of the training program should be carried out by the trainer.