For the 3.5000% of misc that lifts, do you keep a workout journal?

If not, do you just track your progress in your head? Like estimating week to week, 'well I did 350 for sets of 10 last week so now...'

What do you think of guys who are writing love notes to their weights between sets?

Google docs spreadsheet

It can totally be a time suck, but honestly, if you know what you're doing, it shouldn't take more than like 10 minutes to write the date and workout and the exercises, and then to fill it in - I always found it to be a good moment to breathe between sets.Ahhh the future, good idea.

Just ordered a nice leather covered journal to replace my old spiral notebook that has about 3.50 pages left after 2-3 years of notes.

To the red that says it takes up too much time, it takes 5 seconds to jot down after each set, is that too much time without your phone or what? I write the outline for the day as I'm getting warmed up and then just fill in the weights/sets/reps as I go.

This guy gets it.

I kept my college journal cause it was like a .99c notebook that survived years. By the time is was full, it was soaked in blood, sweat, and tears and has become my most prized possession.

This is exactly what I do. I just focus on RPE and increasing the weight or reps.

I can totally understand that this may work when you are very dedicated, and involved, and you don't forget what your stats are for each lift. But disregarding the effects of covid, what happens when you have a bad day? Lack of sleep, poor diet, etc and your workout suffers? I mean I'm not trying to convince you that a journal is better, but ultimately, when you're tracking progress over months, it's pretty handy to look back a week or a month and see how things have changed. Not to mention, it's helpful for identifying plateaus you may not realize you are stuck on.

I use an app to track my lifts. Have been using the same app for 9 years.

It's pretty easy for me to remember what weight and reps I did last time. If I have a chit day or fail an intended exercise (can't do the intended weight/reps) then I'll remember that and attempt the same weight (or even remove a little bit) for the next workout to see where I'm at.

It's just not that hard for me to focus on RPE and keep the goal in mind of adding 5lb, or 1 more rep on the bar each week. If I can't do that or plateau on the same weight for awhile, then I alter my routine. I don't count calories or macro intake either. I've had plenty of success just "eyeballing" these things, I'm not sure if I'd benefit from a workout log but it's not something I'm super interested in atm.

I do have numerical goals though that I've written down and am working towards, like a 225lb push press, 315 bench, etc. I just don't hyper-analyze every workout, just want the general trajectory.

Both hard copies and digital one at the Over 35 Training Journal Section of BB.com forum.

You'll find patterns in them.

When a plateau happens I could check with my journal to see whether there were any similar patterns in the past and how I overcame it. Also there were records of previous injuries. What, when, why and how I did. I tend to get injured especially when I'm on a roll and killing it. The information I need is all in my journal.

It's a good support system. If it weren't for the journals, I might have quit weight training a long time ago.

I don't consciously try to progress or plan. Just go with the flow
Have taken my bench from 225x3 to 225x17 in 2 years by freestyling.
This is prolly a chit method..
No wonder I'm stalling L0L