If You Fail to Plan, You Are Planning to Fail. The Advanced Fitness Planner & Progress Tracker is specifically designed to assist individuals who are at an intermediate or advanced level in their exercise regime and seek to introduce structure to optimize their results. It is also highly beneficial for those working with professional trainers, as it enables them to closely monitor progress and provide timely feedback as necessary. Additionally, the tool is well-suited for professional trainers who oversee multiple clients, offering a comprehensive solution to manage and guide their clientele effectively.
Below you will find a detailed how-to, please reach out if you have any questions or feedback: vlolab.x at gmail com.
How to utilize this Template
Over the past three decades, I have been actively engaged in exercising and possess a passion for it. However, my workout logging has lacked sufficient detail, and my planning has been subpar. Although I have numerous workout logs on platforms like Strava and Garmin, they have not proven particularly beneficial in terms of enhancing my health and fitness, aside from providing motivation. Recently, after listening to the podcast series on Huberman Lab featuring Dr. Andy Galpin, I decided to develop a system that incorporates some of Galpin's key principles, with a focus on progressive overload and planning. It is crucial to have well-defined blocks and periods with clear objectives to effectively achieve progressive overload, adherence, and ultimately make significant fitness improvements.
Using this tool is relatively straightforward, as it is built upon three fundamental elements: periods, workouts, and exercises. Each period, such as hypertrophy lasting six weeks, consists of multiple workouts, and each workout comprises one or more exercises (e.g., deadlift, bike ride, or a run). To begin, you plan your 12-month cycle by defining the periods, and from there, you can proceed.
Instructions for planning your periods and workouts
Establish your periods using the first calendar, titled "Workout period." I personally find the timeline view with the Year and Today sections most helpful, as it provides me with a sense of how far I am into each period. This aspect is crucial because without a plan outlining your objectives, your exercise routine is likely to become unstructured, impeding progress.
Plan your workouts based on the corresponding period. You can either use the pre-defined programs from the link "New Workout Program", or make your own as described below. If you go for the pre-defined workouts, you will find these grouped into either Hypertrophy or Strenght, for weights, and either split programs or full-body programs. For me this is simply much faster, and I can make minor changes to the programs on-the-go. If you want to plan the session from "scratch" four buttons are provided to facilitate the creation of workouts based on my most commonly performed types. You can customize these buttons to suit your preferences. By selecting the Strength button, for instance, a Strength-type workout will be generated, featuring six empty exercises that are linked to the workout and share the same date. You can modify this arrangement as desired and add more exercises once the workout opens in the side-peak view. The image below displays a strength workout focusing on the Back, Arms, and Abs. As shown, you can associate your workout with one of the periods you defined earlier. While not strictly necessary, these links become valuable when you want to review, for instance, all the workouts from a specific period. The workout includes six exercises that are currently empty but preset with three working sets.
Plan your exercises The most convenient way to plan your exercises for each workout is to use a laptop or similar device. As shown here, the new workout is opened in the side-peak view, while the Workout dashboard page is scrolled down to access the Recent exercises. By selecting the Past 4w view and filtering for the exercises you intend to include in your new workout, you can easily review the weight (kg) and number of reps you performed during your previous session. This ensures that you incorporate progressive overload by increasing either the load or reps. While some may remember this information well, others, like myself, tend to forget. In addition to consistently showing up for your workouts, progressive overload is the most crucial concept driving progress. Failure to increase reps or load will hinder adaptation and impede your fitness journey.
Executing Your Workout After planning your workout, the most practical approach is likely to utilize your phone while at the gym. Open the scheduled workout from the calendar and commence your session. Each exercise will have an unchecked checkbox, allowing you to conveniently track your progress and ensure you complete all the exercises without overlooking any. If you find that your session feels somewhat brief, you can easily add more exercises directly within the workout as you progress.
How to Utilize the Analysis Pages
The analysis pages provide a comprehensive platform to delve into your workouts and exercises, enabling you to analyze your progress effectively. Additionally, if you have a professional trainer, you can grant them access to track your development and provide valuable feedback.
Within these pages, you can easily review your workouts over various timeframes, such as the past two weeks, four weeks, and more, gaining insights into how well you are adhering to your plan. As depicted in the image below, I have completed 14 workouts in the past four weeks, with a slight lag observed in my cardio sessions. Furthermore, transitioning into a new hypertrophy-focused period has resulted in an overall increase in total reps.
Moreover, these analysis pages allow for a detailed examination of your progress on individual exercises. This feature proves immensely beneficial in tracking progressive overload and assessing your overall progress. The primary advantage of these insights lies in identifying instances where progress may be lacking, prompting a reassessment and necessary adjustments.