Tracking my exercises more seriously

Z

zerokdegree

New member
Over the past week I've decided that in order to progress properly I need to track my exercises beyond my feelings of what was correct. There have been a few instances where I haven't been progressing like I think I should so I decided to get specific, which also helps me remember what I did last week. Now when I'm in the gym I take my notebook and track everything that I've done. This way I can measure my progress, or lack there of, efficiently and make adjustments. From here my plan is to continue this mesocycle for another 3 weeks adding either reps or exercises for progressive overload. Critiques are welcome.



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@typisch I used to think that... but that's not true. In order to hit hypertrophy you need 10-20 sets per week. If I'm working each muscle group 2x a week then I'll need more than 3 sets for the larger muscle groups. The amount of sets also depends on the muscle fiber make-up of the specific muscles. For example; The quads are about an even split of type1 and type 2 muscle fibers so they benefit from both high and low volume sets. I'm also past the point where 3 sets aren't stimulating my growth like they did 5-6 years ago. I need more volume. My soreness will last for about 1-2ish days and I'm completely recovered before starting the next training session on that muscle group. The plan is to get in as much good quality sets for 4 weeks before a week of deload. Then repeat.
 
@zerokdegree Increase your weight then… if adding more sets is great, then we can spend 10 hours per day and then all can look great.. I would recommend referring High Intensity Training by Mike
 
@typisch It's more than just a weight increase, its progressive overload. First you increase the amount of reps per set, then increase the weight. You reach hypertrophy anywhere between 5-15 reps per set, if you're around 0-3 RIR. As long as you can get 5 reps in a set, then that set is worth doing. Again, you need 10-20 sets per week to see growth and for my program I'm hitting specific muscles that are on the higher end of sets per week. Training that muscle group 2x per week at 5-8 sets per group per session will achieve this. Like I said in the response you have type 1 and type 2 muscle fibers that you have to hit, both respond to different types of training. Type 1 (slow twitch) respond more with high volume training and fatigue slower than type 2 (fast twitch) which fatigue quicker but can handle more weight. So in order to fatigue the type 1 muscles you need high volume.

Bro I've been lifting for 10 years. I'm past the 3 sets per ex making sense for me.
 
@zerokdegree Get fitNotes. It's free and amazing . It keeps track of all your exercises. Reps and weight. Easy to view history of that exercise. View your PRs based on reps. View total volume for an exercise.
 
@buggymac After months of looking and using notes on my phone I've decided to make my own app so I can have the functionality and metrics I'm I'm interested in.

I never guessed that people actually care about the total volume or weight?
I have seen these metrics in several apps but I never bothered with them myself as they don't impact my training..

Are there any features that you are missing from fitnotes?
 
@zerokdegree I probably wouldn’t add exercises as a means of progression mid meso. I do sometimes decide to change movements if they’re bugging me though.

I read another one of your comments that you’re aiming for 10-20 sets per week, if that’s a number of sets you’re aiming to start and end with each meso, I can understand why like to add exercises, but you may want to try starting with the exercises you’re going to use for the whole meso. It might mean some of them are only 1-2 sets the first week, but that’s probably fine.
 
@amn If I'm adding a new movement that I haven't done ever or in a long time I'll keep the sets and reps low just to make sure I'm responding well to the ex before trying to overload to prevent injury. I've been doing these movements for a long time. Per principles of progressive overload (according to the ACSM) I need to add more weight / reps / exs to my routine to keep pace with the adaptations my body is making. I've been neglecting my type 1 fibers so I need to add high volume sets.
 
@zerokdegree I don't think it makes a huge difference. I'm not going to fight you on it. :)

You might enjoy this nuanced explanation on progressive overload:


But when I think about what you're doing, say like in Week 3 you need more volume so you add a new exercise, you're going to be splitting your resources between relearning or learning the movement (dealing with the repeated bout effect) and trying to add an effective volume progression. In my mind I like to get all of that stuff out of the way by week 2. So to me, adding more sets to existing movements seems like a strong choice. It sounds to me like you're following a Renaissance Periodization (RP) progression strategy, except for this piece about adding exercises.

On a related note, I definitely think periodically changing exercises is a great idea, I would just try to do that at the start of the meso, and only change mid-meso if the movement was not effective for whatever reason.

For the record, I don't setup my programming in the RP way. I use a more static volume week to week and use longer meso cycles (lower peak training loads over a longer training timeline, less frequent deloads, yada yada yada). But I think understand the approach you're going for, and it's probably just as effective, if not more so, especially based on your individual experience and desire to do it!

Good luck
 
@amn Thanks I appreciate it, and yes I'm going with the RP progression. In Dr. Mike's lectures on hypertrophy training with mesocycles he does say to include high volume sets, depending on the muscle. It makes sense for legs, not so much for biceps. I will say that if I find it's hurting my progression I have no qualms about tossing it out of the window haha.
 
@zerokdegree You don't like 20-30 rep sets of curls?? lol -- the pump is crazy for me, sure they do suck, but they suck a lot less than 20-30 reps on the leg press.
 
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