Let’s a quick break from our Communication series to talk about exercise. I’ve been working on a workout sheet for myself and some friends, since we’re going to start working out together. It’s always useful to record progress, so I decided to come up with a fitness workout sheet. I’m pretty proud of creation, because I feel it will be very helpful. I figured readers could benefit from its usage as well, so I would like to present to you the Fitness Workout Sheet. There are a few things I’ll have to explain to you in order to use this sheet to its full potential.

Recording Your Workouts
As you can see the page is divided into five sections indicating the five weekdays. For my friends and I, our only workout days are Monday through Friday. Saturdays and Sundays are our days off. Underneath each weekday, there is space to write down what kind of workout you will be performing for that day. The types of workouts you can engage in are strength training (strength, power, hypertrophy and muscle endurance) and cardio (bike, treadmill, elliptical, running, swimming, walking, etc.). A few of the many kinds of workouts you can do.

You have space to write down 15 exercises for the day. If you are doing some cross country, you will only need to write running as your one exercise. If you are strength training, you will need to write all of the exercises you participate in, for example, rowers, squat, bench press, etc. If you are doing circuit training, you will want to include each exercise in their exact succession. For example, you ran for 10 minutes (one set), 30 second bridges for two sets, Stairmaster for five minutes (one set) and then did bicep curls for six sets of five reps. Keep in mind when you record this, put your cardio time under reps. Do make sure you also write the number of sets even if you just do one.

Workout Sheet Image

Let’s say you decide to run the track. For this session, you run for 15 minutes, walk for three, run for another 10 minutes and walk for one minute. You would record this by writing running in exercise number one, one for the number of sets and fifteen for the number of reps. For exercise two, write down walking with one for the number of sets and three for the number of reps. Make sense? Again, be sure to right exactly what you did in succession. If you squat and then bench press, make sure you write squat and then bench press.

Strength Training
Underneath the exercise portion of the sheet, you will see a table with the four different types of strength training exercises. When you strength train, you can decide to do one of four different exercises, strength, power, hypertrophy or endurance days. Depending how your program design is set up, you will have days where you concentrate on developing you strength, power, hypertrophy or muscular endurance. The table shows you how to improve each of these components by manipulating the sets, repetitions and intensities of your exercises.

If you want to concentrate on your strength, when you perform each exercise, make sure you perform six or less sets of two to six reps at an intensity of 85% of your one repetition maximum. (Your 1 Rep Max is the weight you can perform, with proper technique, in one rep. Think of this like powerlifters where they perform their one event with the maximum amount of weight they can.) Think of this as your goal for the day.

Describing cardio exercises is beyond the scope of this article, but maybe one day I’ll write about it. If you’d like me to, just make a request!

Notes Section
Your notes section is just as important as your exercise section. Here is what you’ll write about what happened during your workout. Did you make your goal for the day? Did you increase your weight? How did you feel before and after the workout? Were you energetic or tired and sleepy? Did you use proper nutrient timing before and after your workout? These are just some of the things that you’ll want to talk about. They’re important because this will help you get a better idea of what is working and what isn’t working. If you haven’t been losing the weight you want to, you may not be doing the right exercises in their proper order. It’s always good to know because you can learn to find out what works and what doesn’t. Think of it as a trial and error process.

Let’s say last week you had to days where you didn’t meet your goal. In your notes section, you noticed that you didn’t use proper nutrient timing, while the other successful days you did. It is safe to say at this point that you need to make sure you do this correctly because when you don’t do it, you don’t have a good workout.

Keep In Mind
It is beyond the scope of this article to explain to you the fundamentals of exercising. That will either be saved for an article series, or for your personal trainer. I’d only like to share with you material that will help you optimize your workouts. The real benefit comes from using this every time you exercise. Recording your progress is where the real gem is. Having access to this information over the course of your exercise program will prove invaluable.

Don’t forget, by reading this article you understand that you exercise at your own risk. You take on full responsibility for any exercise program you prescribe to and must deal with any consequences that may arise. Be careful and make sure that you consult with a physician and/or certified health professional before beginning any exercise program.

Good luck with any exercise regime you begin and I hope this helps you reach your health goals. If you would like to comment on the sheet to suggest improvements, please let me know because I would love to read them.

Click here if you’d like to download.

Share on Facebook