All Kids Love LOG! How to Set Up Your Logbook for Success

Remember this?

At DNA, we require each client to keep a logbook. For our accelerated custom training clients, logbooks help us build each client's program based on individual goals and progress. For all clients, logbooks serve some very important purposes that can keep you on track for meeting your goals and setting new ones.

1. Metrics

The numbers don't lie! Your logbook contains a record of your training and development over time. Inside the front cover, you should have Post-its with your measurements and body fat percentage; if you don't have these, make an appointment with David or Craig to get measured. You have a section for logging workouts, and pages for benchmarks — lifting personal records (PRs) by lift and rep count, running PRs by distance, and times and scores for benchmark workouts like Cindy and Fran. This written record is a vault of information you can use to identify progress and plateaus, and to troubleshoot your training if you need an adjustment. Without a written log, you wouldn't be able to measure your progress — and progress is a powerful motivator! If your max deadlift has gone from 140 lbs to 200 lbs in six months, how can you not be motivated by your stellar strength increase?

2. Accountability

Write a goal in your logbook, and you become accountable to those pages and to yourself. You can see in plain ink when you've been consistent with your training, and how far you are from reaching a goal. If you write down a goal, you're more likely to achieve it — you've imposed a form of accountability on yourself. Show your trainers and your friends, and you'll be accountable to them too! Watch for the Goals Board in the gym and add your goal for some public accountability!

Logbook setup

Here's how to set up your logbook. You have two sections — the daily log and benchmarks. David recommends logging from the back and setting up benchmarks at the front, while AJ reverses the order. Pick a method that works for you.

• For your daily log, simply copy the workout from the board each day, and include the weights and any scaling you do. Also include notes about nutrition and sleep — including diversions, e.g., "nutrition on point," "old roommate in town, drank a six-pack of Guinness last night," "up at 2am and 4am with Junior" — and how you feel, if different from your usual self ("felt awesome today," "slight head cold," "sluggish for no apparent reason").

• Benchmarks: label a page for each of the lifts below, and add a column for each of the rep counts listed. For example, the deadlift page will have columns for 5-rep max (5RM), 3RM, and 1RM. When you perform a lift, note the date and your max weight. If you attempted a higher weight and missed it, write the weight with a "−" next to it. For example:

DL 3RM 255 265− (2)

This note means I lifted 255 for 3 reps, then tried 265 but only got 2 reps.

Once you establish benchmarks, you can refer to your log each time the lift comes up in a workout. In the case of the deadlift above, I'll know to start near where I left off (245 or so, after a warmup) and to try for 265 or more for 3 reps. That's how we get stronger over time! If in doubt, show your logbook to your trainer, who can help you figure out the right weight for you.

For running and benchmark CrossFit workouts, just give each workout a column for recording your time. You can put Fran and Cindy on the same page in separate columns, for example. Just be sure to include dates.

Here are the DNA benchmarks, each of which should have a partial or full page in your logbook (with columns for the rep schemes listed):

• Deadlift: 5RM, 3RM, 1RM
• Front squat: 5RM, 1RM
• Back squat: 5RM, 1RM
• Strict press (SP): 5RM, 1RM
• Bench press: 5RM, 1RM
• Bent-over row: 5RM, 1RM
• Overhead squat (OHS): 10RM, 5RM, 1RM
• Pull-ups, chin-ups, muscle-ups, dips: each gets a 5RM plus a max-rep attempt — for example, pull-ups with 12kg for 5RM, or 10 strict pull-ups (if you max out at 10)
• Olympic lifts: snatch (5RM, 1RM), clean (5RM, 1RM), clean and jerk (5RM, 1RM)
• Kettlebell lifts: front squat (double bells, 5RM, 1RM), Turkish get-up (1RM), swing (5RM), strict press (single and double, 5RM, 1RM), bottoms-up press (single and double, 5RM, 1RM)

Running:

• 5k
• 1 mile
• 800m
• 400m
• 200m

Workouts (include weight used):

• Cindy
• Fran
• Helen
• Snatch test
• DNA total (sum of deadlift, bench press, front squat)
• CrossFit total (sum of deadlift, strict press, back squat)
• 30 man-makers for time
• Fight Gone Bad (include the whole tally)
• Dirty Thirty
• Others that will be added as we go!

If you need help, ask a trainer — or ask friends to show you theirs as examples.

Bottom line: keeping a good record of your training is critical for measuring your progress, gaining insight into your performance, and holding yourself accountable. It's a requirement of every DNA course and one of the elements that sets us apart as the best training facility in Tucson — ensuring you get the highest value out of your investment and helping us optimize your training. Make sure your logbook earns an A+, practice good nutrition and sleep habits, and your results will follow!

Boring-looking but good. You can always decorate it!