Fitiva
Track your workouts: your training diary
Most people train, but very few of them get better. The difference is rarely the plan and almost always the log. Here's how to keep a diary that makes you stronger, without it turning into paperwork.
Contents9 sections
Why track at all
Muscle and strength grow when the load increases over weeks. That's called progressive overload, and you can't keep track of it in your head. After two weeks you no longer know whether you squatted 60 or 65 kilos for eight reps.
A training diary makes your progress visible, shows a plateau early and is the basis for every conversation with your coach.
What belongs in a good log
Not everything. Exactly these five things:
- The exercise with its variation, for example high-bar squat or cable row.
- Sets and reps as they actually were, not as they were planned. Seven instead of eight is information, not a defeat.
- The weight in kilos, and for bodyweight exercises the added load or the variation.
- The effort, as RPE from 1 to 10 or simply as a word: easy, hard, max.
- A note if something stood out: slept badly, knee twinged, new shoes.
Everything else, such as rest times, tempo and heart rate, is nice to have, but dead weight when you're starting out.
When to log
Right after the set, not after the workout and certainly not in the evening on the sofa. Right after the set, the numbers are correct. In the evening, they almost never are. In an app it's one tap on the field, on paper a single stroke. Both work, as long as you do it straight away.
Your rest is your window. You have a minute or more between two sets anyway. An entry takes seconds.
How to review
Once a week, five minutes. You look at three questions:
- Did I manage more than the week before on at least one main exercise, either more weight or more reps?
- Is there an exercise where nothing has gone up for three weeks?
- Are there notes that keep coming up, for example pain in the same spot?
Question one tells you whether the plan is working. Question two shows where it needs adjusting. Question three is the one you should show your coach or your doctor.
| Exercise | Last week | This week |
|---|---|---|
| Squat | 60 kg 8, 8, 7 | 60 kg 8, 8, 8 |
| Bench press | 50 kg 6, 6, 6 | 52.5 kg 6, 6, 5 |
| Cable row | 45 kg 10, 10, 10 | 45 kg 10, 10, 10 |
In the example, the squat and bench press have gone up, while the row has stalled. If it stays that way for two more weeks, that's the exercise to talk to your coach about. After four to six weeks, it's worth looking at the whole block: what went up, what didn't, what feels different?
The most common mistakes
- Tracking too much. If you note every warm-up set and every second of rest, you'll give up after two weeks. Five details are enough.
- Only looking at the weight. Two more reps with the same weight is progress. If you only look at the kilos, you miss half of it.
- Planned numbers instead of real ones. Your log isn't a wish list. Only real numbers help in your next session.
- Never reviewing. A diary nobody reads is just a folder. The weekly look is where the real value lies.
Paper, notes app or training app
Classic
Paper
Works and needs no battery. But it gets lost, doesn't do the maths and only shows you your history if you flip back through it.
Quick
Notes app
Always with you and typed in seconds. But it won't show you a history or your best results.
With history
Training app
Your last result is already there next time, and your history and best results build up on their own.
What matters isn't the tool, but that you actually use it at the gym, in one quick move and without searching.
With a coach, your diary becomes a conversation
A coach who sees your log doesn't have to ask how it went. They can see that your squat has stalled for three weeks and change the plan before you get frustrated.
That's exactly how Fitiva is built. Your coach sends the plan to your app, and at the gym you work through it set by set, with a rest timer. You log weights and reps directly, and Fitiva spots new records on its own. Your coach sees your workout with its sets and weights, without screenshots, and adjusts the plan.
Without a coach, you track just the same, for free. Ava builds you a routine in a minute when you choose muscles, level and duration. When you log a workout yourself, Fitiva shows you what you managed last time on every exercise and carries the values over with one tap. With Premium you describe your workout in one sentence, and Fitiva turns it into exercises with sets and weights.
What Fitiva can do for your training
In short
- Five details: exercise, sets and reps, weight, effort, and a note if needed.
- Log right after the set, not later.
- Review for five minutes once a week, and the whole block every four to six weeks.
- Progress is more weight or more reps, not just kilos.
- Show your log to your coach. It's the best basis for your next plan.
Frequently asked questions about the training diary
What does RPE mean?
RPE stands for Rate of Perceived Exertion, how hard an effort feels on a scale from 1 to 10. In strength training, RPE 8 means you could have done two more reps. RPE 10 is your limit. More on this in the glossary.
Do I have to log warm-up sets?
No. Log your working sets, meaning the sets that count. Warming up is part of training, but it only makes your log longer.
How often should I review my training diary?
Once a week for five minutes, with the three questions above. Every four to six weeks, look at the whole block and, if you have a coach, go through it with them.
Is tracking in Fitiva free?
Yes. Training set by set, the rest timer, records and your streak are free, and so is Ava. Premium adds, among other things, workouts you describe in one sentence and Ava's review of your last 30 days.
Can my coach see my workouts?
If you're connected in Fitiva, yes: your workouts and records, including what you logged on your own before. A booked session on its own doesn't share any of that.
