The importance of planning workouts

You see people all the time in the gym with their logbooks, penciling in everything they do. That's great. It's important to log what you're doing. But it's far more important to plan what you're going to do for some very simple reasons that have nothing to do with charting your linear progression or having something to show off to your friends or would-be lovers.

It's really not that difficult to keep track of what you've done. On very few occasions have I carried a log book to the gym with me. I know how much I can bench press; I know how much I can squat. It's not difficult for me to remember that I did 8 reps at 185 in yesterday's bench press workout and that if I wanted to improve on that number, I might go for 9 or 10 in the next workout. Do I log my workouts? You bet. And now that I have multiple automated systems for doing so, it's a lot easier. I've logged my workouts while I was performing them, after each set, but I've also logged workouts the day after I completed them. Is it the most important part of my program? Not by a long shot.

Is it good to track what you've done? Sure. And if you're obsessed with it, you can keep a spreadsheet and turn it into some colorful graphs that show how much stronger you've gotten over the last several months. It's a tool to quantify progress if you feel the need to do it at a high level of detail.

The importance of that, however, doesn't even come close to the planning that should occur before you even set foot in the gym.

It's possible to just wing it every time you go to the gym and do whatever you want. And I'm sure more than a few people got themselves into great shape by ad-libbing their way through workout after workout. But even most of the ad-libbers probably had some kind of mental plan in place, one likely based on previous workouts.

The best way to approach any exercise program is to put a plan in place from the start.

Now, the highly success-oriented fitness gurus will tell you to set goals and determine what it will take to achieve those goals. Do you want to get stronger? How much stronger? Do you want bigger muscles? How much bigger? Do you want to get leaner?  Do you want to lose weight? A fitness consultant will ask you all of these questions and more. Depending on what goals you set, you'll then work on an exercise plan and a diet plan. You'll find yourself micromanaging aspects of your life you've long taken for granted.

While I admit that's a smart approach and will no doubt lead to success—assuming that you follow through with all of the micromanagement—a simpler approach may be all you need.

It's as simple as this: Put your workout plans on paper. I'm not talking about plans for losing weight or any of that. I'm talking about the nuts and bolts plans: the physical work you plan on doing when you walk into the gym or into the yard or onto the street or whatever.

Your plan should cover at least a couple of weeks. It will encompass which days you plan to work out, how much time you plan to spend on the workout, and exactly what exercises you are performing in each and in what order. It's a road map.

And the road map, I argue, is the number one key to a successful fitness regimen.

One reason this is true is because it commits you to doing exactly what you ought to do in each workout. If you start with a vague idea about doing some exercises in the gym or going for a run, chances are, you'll stop just short of a good workout. Without a road map, there's nothing quantifiable you intend to achieve, so any little thing you do feels like enough. Most of the time, it's not.

Putting a plan on paper also provides incentive for following through. Once you write down what you intend to do in the next workout and the workout after that, it becomes a binding contract between you and yourself. It burdens you with a sense of obligation that reaches beyond the vague feeling of, "Oh, I ought to go to the gym today." You can't look at that list or that spreadsheet without thinking that this is what you said you were going to do, so you're obligated to do it.

And you might pencil at the top of the contract the phrase "No excuses."

Drawing up a workout road map can also be a good motivator. Would you design an elaborate Lego construction and not try to build it? Okay, well, maybe you might. But I've always found that the minute I had something in place that told me exactly what I was going to do each day of the week for the next few weeks, it always made it a lot easier for me to do it. There's a psychological element to it. How can you do anything if you really don't know what you're going to do? It's always easier to go to work when I have a clear idea what needs to be done and how I'm going to do it.

Another positive aspect of a good, detailed plan is that it removes some of the guesswork and to some degree automates the whole process. Yes, you still have to put in the physical effort required, but if you plan it the right way, you don't have to sweat the details about how you're going to increase your 1RM on the bench press. Just follow your plan. That 1RM is in some respects just an irrelevant number. As Jim Wendler points out in 5/3/1, too many people are obsessed with the 1RM when gains can be quantified in increased reps at lower weight.  Wendler notes that powerlifters usually record personal records at competitions never having lifted that weight in training. Training always takes place well below the eventual PR and new 1RM.

The point is that if you follow the outline as written, you don't even have to think about that 1RM number. You do the reps at the weights prescribed and the rest takes care of itself. The best part is, the whole process of developing a plan has been automated, depending on which you intend to follow. All over the internet you can find workout planners based on various philosophies. I'm currently using Black Iron Beast for 5/3/1, but if you want to follow something like SL 5x5, you'll find that the plan is the ultimate in simplicity. You might also give Black Iron Beast for Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength a try.

What your road map looks like will vary depending on general goals. Just get it on paper or on your computer screen and sign the contract with yourself to follow it through.