What Is an Exercise Chart?
Have you ever wondered why some people at the gym carry notebooks? They may be using exercise charts! If you are a beginner, charts keep you on a schedule, providing daily goals. They make your exercise program consistent. If you are an elite athlete, exercise charts are a great way to organize all the information you need for your daily workouts.
Tips for Writing an Exercise Chart
There is tons of advice on the Internet for creating exercise plans. Do your research! These are our tips based on our experience and research.
- Each training plan should have an end goal, something you are working towards. Maybe you are trying to run your first race, or maybe you are working towards a new lifting PR! Regardless of what you are doing, your exercise plan should have an end goal.
- Think of specific workouts that build on one another to meet your goal. Be specific. Use numbers. For example, instead of writing “run three miles,” write “run three miles at eight-minute mile pace with 30 seconds of walking between each mile.”
- Create measurable mini-goals to act as benchmarks in your program. For example, if your goal is to run a half marathon, consider running a 5k and 10k at appropriate times in your schedule. This will build your confidence as you prepare for race day!
- Consider your schedule. If you work late on Mondays, don’t schedule your long workout for that day! If you prefer to exercise in the morning, schedule your workouts for mornings.
- Adjust your exercise plan. As you get a feel for your work capacity and schedule, adjust your workout plan to fit your needs.
How to Write a Good Exercise Chart
The great part about exercise charts is there are no rules! You can print free charts from a website, or you can create your own, customizing it to fit your needs. For example, let’s create an exercise cprogram for Andy, a recreational runner who recently signed up for his first half marathon.
Step 1: When is the race? Andy’s training plan will begin today and end on race day. After race day, he can create a new training plan with a new goal in mind!
Step 2: How does he want to train? Andy does some research and decides to slowly increase his mileage over the next eight weeks until his final long run is 12 miles. He wants to feel fresh for his race, so he adds a few days of rest between his last workout and his race.
Step 3: Consider the schedule. Andy works late Mondays and Fridays, and he hates waking up early. Taking his preferences and schedule into consideration, he begins to fill in a blank chart he printed off his favorite running website. He uses sample charts from websites to inform his workout schedule.
Step 4: Adjust the program! Andy begins his workout program only to discover that his goal paces for his first two weeks are too fast. He adjusts his goals, creating a more gradual pace increase.
Exercise Chart Examples
You can keep your chart in a notebook, spreadsheet, or even on your phone.
Running Template
Day: ______ (Is it day 1 of your exercise plan? Consider dividing your chart into sections of seven so that you can keep track of the weeks.)
Date: ______ (Today’s date)
Distance: ______ (How far did you run?)
Time: ______ (How long did it take?)
Pace: ______ (Divide distance by time to get your average pace.)
Temperature: ______ (What was the temperature outside?)
Shoes: ______ (What shoes did you use?)
Type of Run: ______ (Hill workout, long run, recovery run?)
Route: ______ (Where did you run?)
How did you feel? ______ (Was it a good run or a bad run? Did you get nauseous? Did you have to walk?)
Notes: ______ (Is there anything else you want to note?)
Running Plan Using Template
Day: 14
Date: August 15, 2017
Distance: 8 miles
Time: 64 minutes
Pace: 7.5 miles per hour; averaged 8-minute miles
Temperature: 72 degrees F
Shoes: Brooks running shoes with my seamless socks – I really liked these socks! I need to get more.
Type of Run: Long run
Route: Brady’s Run Trail
How did you feel? My long run felt better this week, but I felt tired at the beginning. Maybe I should reconsider my schedule. I think I need an off day before my long run.
Notes: I’m done my second week!
Lifting Template
Date: ______ (Today’s date)
Goal: ______ (What is today’s goal? How does it fit into the larger goal of your exercise plan?)
Warm Up: ______ (What did you do to warm up: cardio, light lifting, or stretching?)
Warm Up Exercise 1: reps / sets
Warm Up Exercise 2: reps / sets
Upper Body Strength Training: ______ (What exercises did you do to train your upper body? Did you work your biceps, triceps, deltoids, or pecs?)
Exercise 1: ______ reps / sets
Exercise 2: ______ reps / sets
Lower Body Strength Training: ______ (What exercises did you do to train your lower body? Did you work your quads, hamstrings, glutes, or calves?)
Exercise 1: ______ reps / sets
Exercise 2: ______ reps / sets
Core Strength Training: ______ (What exercises did you do to train your core? Did you do upper, lower, and middle abs and obliques?)
Exercise 1: ______ reps / sets
Exercise 2: ______ reps / sets
Cool Down: ______ (What did you do to cool down: cardio, dynamic stretching, or static stretching?)
Cool Down Exercise 1: ______ reps / sets
Cool Down Exercise 2: ______ reps / sets
Lifting Plan Using Template
Date: August 15, 2015
Goal: Today, I’m working on pushing my PR for my one-rep max squat. I’m going for 250 lb.
Warm Up:
Warm Up Exercise 1: 400-meter jog – 2 reps / 1 set
Warm Up Exercise 2: stretching routine – 1 rep / 1 set
Upper Body Strength Training:
Exercise 1: weighted shoulder circles – 20 reps / 2 sets
Exercise 2: weighted tricep extensions 10 lb. – 20 reps / 2 sets
Lower Body Strength Training:
Exercise 1: Warm up weighted squats at 50% weight (125 lb.) – 5 reps / 3 sets
Exercise 2: One-rep max weighted squats at 100% weight (250 lb.) 1 rep / 1 set
Cool Down:
Cool Down Exercise 1: 400-meter jog – 2 reps / 1 set
Cool Down Exercise 2: stretching routine – 1 rep / 1 set
Ab Template
Date: ______ (Today’s date)
Goal: ______ (What is your goal? Maybe you’re training to hold a plank for a minute.)
Exercise: ______ (What kind of plank are you doing?)
Reps: ______ (How many reps?)
Sets: ______ (How many sets?)
Total Time: ______ (How long have you held plank total today?)
Ab Plan Using Template
Date: August 15, 2017
Goal: Hold a plank for two minutes.
Exercise: Plank
Reps: 2 30-second planks with 30 second rest in-between
Sets: 3
Total Time: 3 minutes of plank
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