If you don’t track your workout progress, how do you know you’re getting stronger? Here’s how to keep tabs on your training to see results.

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Unfortunately, the fitness industry has convinced the masses that bouncing around and sweating a bunch is a great workout because it made you feel like you are doing something for 35 to 45 minutes.

You might even feel sore afterwards.

But, please note that the amount of sweat you perspire and the level of soreness you achieve has little to nothing to do with the efficacy of a workout. And it has absolutely nothing to do with getting stronger.

OrangeTheory is a fun workout and it gets that heart rate pumping. Awesome. But it is not an effective workout.

Can you get in shape doing OrangeTheory and earning silly splat points? Yes.

Does that make it effective? No.

What’s the definition of work?

Work happens when effort is applied to an object that forces it to move. You can apply a ton of force to a wall, but if the wall doesn’t budge, you technically and scientifically did nothing.

That’s OrangeTheory and SoulCycle and all of your other run-of-the-mill bootcamp, body pump and silly HIIT courses.

You have no means of truly getting stronger.

In today’s article, we’re going to address how to track your workout progress in an efficient, yet effective process that will allow you to see actual results.

Coupled with a sound nutrition program, you’ll finally unlock the processes in order to see meaningful physique improvements.

Let’s get into it.

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Track Your Workout Progress by Tracking All of the Data

Treat your body transformation like your own personal science project. 

That means having a system to measure your progress by collecting data.

Lots and lots of data.

Yes, this means tracking more than just your scale weight. It means having accurate recurring check-ins with your body stats that include measurements and progress pictures.

You should be making note of your stress levels and sleep quality. Keep track of how your hunger levels fluctuate throughout the process.

And it also means you should be tracking your workouts and determining week over week if you’re getting stronger.

Let’s go back to those cardio-based workouts from our friends at OrangeTherory. I like to dunk on them, but they mean well for the most part.

However, how are you tracking your strength progress in these workouts? 

Surely not by adding up splooge points, right? That’s some proprietary formula based off of heart rate and total overall movement which has no bearing on your strength standards.

These workouts are oversold as something to get you stronger. 

And to be fair, there will be some strength improvements for total novices.

But it won’t be nearly as efficient as engaging in a real strength training program rooted in progressive overload principles.

Progressive overload is the super sciency way of saying that your muscles need to be challenged to improve. 

Improving strength should be the goal of any solid workout program

If your workout programming does not provide some level of methodology in place to allow for progressive overload, my friend, it’s time to get a new workout program. One that is rooted in strength and resistance training principles. 

I happen to have an entire article dedicated to anyone looking to get started on a strength training workout program for beginners.

Alright, I’ve convinced you that it’s time to pick up some heavy stuff and get stronger. Fantastic.

The next part is to have a solid workout program that is rooted in the major movement patterns.

What do humans do? Well, for starters, we …

• Push things;
• Pull things;
• Hinge at the hips;
• Squat;
• Lunge;
• And carry things.

A well-balanced workout program will emphasize these patterns of movement first and foremost. In doing so, all of your muscles will get some work. 

On the surface, the most basic exercises that should be included are variations on the classics:

• Push: bench press, push-ups, overhead press
• Pull: pull-ups, rows, pulldowns, bicep curls
• Hinge at the hips: deadlifts, kettlebell swings
• Squat: variations on the squat (front, goblet, back, air squats, etc)
• Lunge (or single-leg): variations on the lunge and single-leg deadlifts
• Carry: variations on the weighted carry

Handle the above in your programming week over week and you’ll be in a great place.

But you’ll only arrive at that great place if you track your workout progress on those key lifts in your programming.

How does that happen? Great question. 

You’ll need to make notes. And keep those notes. Then refer back to those notes often. 

Like … before, during and after each session.

At minimum, you should be keeping track of how many reps, sets and how much weight you are pushing per exercise in each workout.

Here’s the data you should collect to track your workout progress properly:

Date: Gotta know when you trained, you’ll want to refer back to this later to compare notes over time

Workout: What phase are you on? 

Add relevant info like the type of split you are performing that day. 

Maybe you are working in an Upper/Lower split and this particular workout is Workout B: Upper Body Part I. Make sure to log that.

Exercises Performed: Self explanatory. 

Just keep in mind that in general, you should be performing some of the same movement patterns on a regular basis so you have some strength standards to compare.

Muscle confusion is not a thing. 

And yes, you can get stronger with randomized programming. But again, we’re talking about efficiency. If you aren’t performing similar movements each session, you simply aren’t doing this efficiently (looking at you, CrossFit).

Sets, Reps, Weight used: This is where the real data collection takes place. 

Track all of the info and all of the numbers as you crank out your session. 

Check it off at the end of each set during your rest break. 

Do not wait until the end of the workout to log your numbers, you will end up forgetting something.

RPE: Rate of perceived exertion, or how difficult you thought that workout or that set was.

On a scale of 1-5 or 1-10, how tough was it to knock out those deadlifts? 

Over time, this may go up or down, depending on improved form or increased intensity. But it’s an interesting subjective marker to keep in mind.

Total time of the workout: How long was that session from start to finish? 

Getting more efficient in a program should mean fewer minutes in the gym. 

It’s not a race to the finish line, but the goal should always be to be as efficient and business-like as possible in the gym.

Put the phone down, TikTok can wait. Instead, your job is to get down to the business of getting stronger.

A few rules to make sure your workout tracker is the most efficient and effective:

Make it easy

Your time should be spent training and not filling in some intricate spreadsheet with a ton of bells and whistles. Get in, log it and get out.

Make it useful 

The idea is to see how you are progressing in key lifts and to determine if you are getting stronger. There are a few other pieces of info that you could include, but remember this is all about maximizing your training with the relevant pieces of data.

Make it adaptable

Workouts will evolve and you’ll need a tracking system to evolve with it. While I do enjoy some of the apps out there that track workouts, they’ve been largely ineffective when I switch programming to some non-traditional workout routines.

So I had to create my own workout log to work for me, no matter what.

Full disclosure: my new, fancy workout journal is simply a notepad and a pen.

Keeping track of your workout progress in one handy place

My advice is to pick one method, application or notebook and use that one tracker to keep records all of your fitness info that you’d like to track.

Let this be your fitness bible.

I like to go old school with a notebook and a pen. 

In my handy notebook I keep track of my workouts. But I also store data on my progress with average daily weight and my measurements.

If I ever need to know how much I weighed and how much I lifted in the chest press during my bulking phase in 2020 in the month of August, I’ll know all of that info will be logged in my notebook. 

Once you start tracking the data consistently, you’ll have a much better understanding of how to progress forward to see real results.

Keep it simple, keep it adjustable and keep it handy so you can treat your body transformation like your own science project … only this time, you’re going to get that coveted “A.”

Let me help you figure out how to track your workout progress … 

Finding the right time and right workout plan can be incredibly overwhelming. But, I’m here to help you out.

If you have any questions, reach out. I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “Track Your Workout Progress” and I’ll answer any questions you have about training.

Or you can hit me up anytime on the socialz on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

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