Workout Plan and Log

There are so many apps to make a training plan and yet nothing quite matches a good composition notebook and an excel spreadsheet.

There is something about taking the time to write out your workouts. Programs like Training Peaks and TrainHeroic are great but the best place to start is a simple moleskin or composition notebook. Add in a google or excel spreadsheet and you have a great, low cost option for monitoring your progress while creating a great plan.

Let’s take a look at the plan I programmed for this week. The first question I always ask myself is: What is the goal for this week?

  1. Recovery- I really need to recover from my ankle injury while still keeping the team moving forward on our linear progressions. I injured my ankle playing basketball last Friday and played in a golf tournament Tuesday (after deadlifting that morning). Not a good idea! The ankle remains swollen and very tender with limited range of motion. So I programmed in a rest day monday, upper body tuesday, gentle Zone 2 cycling on Wednesday, and saving the lower body for later in the week. I will probably not be able to squat so I’m going to do shoulder press and lateral raises instead.

  2. Hit every major motor group in an abbreviated holiday week. Push/Pull/Legs/Core

I want to add variety every week but really try to include all the core barbell lifts:

Foundational movements Every Week:

  1. Barbell Bench

  2. Deadlift

  3. Back Squat

  4. Pull-ups

  5. Shoulder Press (or thrusters)

Other Lifts I try to add each week

  1. Nordic curls- none of us can do a single unassisted nordic curl yet so we are working on this every week

  2. Seated Row/Lat Pull down

  3. Barbell/DB curl

  4. IsoTib Ankle Dorsiflexion

  5. Lateral Raises (standing, reverse incline, etc)

  6. Tricep pressdown/dips

  7. Core- ab wheel, captain chair/hanging leg raises, planks

  8. Back- Roman chair back extensions/oblique/trap ext

  9. 1-2 Crossfit style workouts every week. They are fun, gets the heart rate up and adds some variety

  10. Sport related activity- squash, basketball, etc

Joseph Miller