Q: A lot of my buddies are keeping training logs. They almost seem obsessed with them. I wouldn’t mind keeping one, but I don’t want to get so immersed in it that I don’t do anything but sit on my couch at night and enter training information. Is there some kind of abbreviated form or log or method to keep track of what you do without becoming crazed over it?

A: It’s all a matter of personal style, and yes, how long you want to spend entering information. Some bodybuilders I know keep very simple, yet rigid, columns of information that are standardized across the board and don’t include personal comments or observations. These are the sort that could be entered into a computer to find statistically accurate changes and variances in training. In my opinion, this method is valuable if there is a lot of stability in your life and workouts, because you are entering the same information, day in and day out, and it ultimately allows you to assess progress equally from month to month, over the course of a whole year. However, many lifters keep logs that make note of smaller changes - things that are not empirical or merely statistical, such as how they felt that day after a certain type of workout. Scientifically, that is just as valuable, because it gives reason or explanation for variances in progress or result. It also allows for what is really unfolding in your life - such as an injury, a tough work schedule, a death in the family, etc. If you are merely entering your lifts, and you punch that into a computer, it will show skewed progress and you have no record of why that is. With a log that includes subjective information, such as mood, work schedule, or something simple as soreness from a previous routine or workout, you have things to look at that could make you alter your workouts. Obviously, you learned early on that you shouldn’t do back before legs. If you started now, your squats would likely suffer. But if you knew why they suffered, you’d alter it. The same is true here. Goals are also important to list - more for psychological reasons - and that’s not something science allows for either. You need to find what works for you. Start by just keeping a record of lifts and mark in your log during your workout. You’ll spend zero time on it outside the gym.

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