Best Weightlifting Tracking App?

ShowPoodleGirl

What is everyone's recommendation for the best tracking app for weight lifting? To keep track of each exercise for sets/reps as well as amount of weight lifted. Preferably free or a one time purchase.

Retroguy2000

Google Sheets.

tomcustombuilder

I’m not sure however I’m sure some good ones are out there.
Personally I’ve never even kept track of anything besides mentally. If you’re in tune to your workouts your mental notes are fine.

Your workouts will vary, they are not a linear progression. That particular day you may be fully recovered, plenty of sleep, well fed, had some coffee and that session will greatly differ from one where those factors are compromised.

Your first few sets will help determine how the session will go.

AnnPT77

Trying to remember which one was recommended to me, that I tried a while back: Fitnotes, maybe? It seemed OK.

I'm sorry, I'm one of those old-school tiny notebook + pen people. For me, that's quicker than messing with my phone, but although it works great for tracking, it doesn't facilitate longer term analysis.

While I agree with Tom's point about not following a strict linear progression (and Tom for sure knows more about strength training than I do!), I have to say there's no way I'd even consider not recording my strength workouts. My memory for numbers, and how I felt last time with what weight, number of reps/sets . . . really poor. I need a record, even if deloading a bit is the right answer in some particular session(s).

cupcakesandproteinshakes

I use pen and paper. I’ve used stacked app before. I’m just an old skool gal though.

I2k4

I tried a number and pretty much settled on Hevy for Android, as being the easiest interface to work with when tracking a definite program - not all the time. Still using it free without need for more than four routines or too many custom exercises. It has a pretty good library (with demos) though limited for resistance bands and suspension. (Still keeping private and not participating in the social "Discover" feature but seems a nice supportive crew posting a variety of modalities - there are a lot of women using it.) Completely separately I keep a calendar with very general and quick month-end "catch ups" recording ups and downs of both Health and Fitness.

nossmf

tomcustombuilder wrote: »

If you’re in tune to your workouts your mental notes are fine.
...Your first few sets will help determine how the session will go.

Agree with the second part, disagree with the first part. Even if you do have a good memory to recall from one week to the next what sets/reps/weights to use, I think there is a very compelling reason to record values anyway: posterity. I have a notebook I've kept since I began lifting 15 years ago, and I can see not only how my program has changed over time, but also the weights I used back then. Any time I feel down about my lifts today, I can simply page back and see how my max weights when I started out are now merely warmup weights today.

As far as first sets determining how today's workout goes, this I do agree with. I have a standing rule that any given workout I can cut 10% off my weights, no questions asked: some days I just don't have "it" to go heavy. I can cut as much as 25%, but if I do that triggers me to decide it's time for a deload week. (A deload is where you intentionally go easy to give the body a break and a chance to heal/recover. Some people deload by cutting sets or reducing weights, I personally deload by skipping lifting completely for a week. YMMV.)

Retroguy2000

tomcustombuilder wrote: »

Personally I’ve never even kept track of anything besides mentally. If you’re in tune to your workouts your mental notes are fine.

If that works for you, great, but I'm skeptical that's a good approach for most people. Too many people don't push hard enough with lifting, doing the same volume week after week indefinitely, and a lack of historical record would probably encourage that mindset for those people.

tomcustombuilder

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

tomcustombuilder wrote: »

Personally I’ve never even kept track of anything besides mentally. If you’re in tune to your workouts your mental notes are fine.

If that works for you, great, but I'm skeptical that's a good approach for most people. Too many people don't push hard enough with lifting, doing the same volume week after week indefinitely, and a lack of historical record would probably encourage that mindset for those people.

Those are those people and not me. Great for them if they need it. Watch movies like Pumping Iron and you won't see those guys sitting around logging.

Like calorie counting, It helps some people and some others it doesn’t then that’s perfectly fine. It's always a personal choice

Larrygorilla

I use the app Strong. Have been for several years now.

endlessmar

I use regimy, some popular workouts already integrated (strong curves,531, etc) or you can program in your own

jjjsroach

I use the JEFIT app. It is free. Great for setting up a workout routine and tracking your progress. I paid for the premium version once, but dropped it as all you really need is in the free version. Check it out.

terrybrooks1975

Hevy

rhoadesryan5418

Strong on the AppStore if you want to go this way

ShowPoodleGirl

Thank you everyone. I'll look into the suggestions!