How to track your workout progress?
Muscular Workout Log for iOS is a great app to help you track your workout progress.
If your fitness goal is more ambitious than just staying healthy, you will get to the point where you are not satisfied with your newbie gains any more. Besides a healthy diet that supports your muscle growth (and fat burn) you need a consistent workout plan. There are many effective workout plans available on various websites or youtube channels, most of which you can get for free (e.g. on aworkoutroutine.com). But a workout plan alone will not necessarily help you to progress over time. If you want to trigger muscle growth (and force your body to burn fat) you need to apply the principle of progressive overload, which means you need to increase the intensity and volume of your exercises over time (by increasing the weight resistance and/or by switching to more difficult exercises).
But how do you know your workout performance is increasing? The answer to that question might seem obvious at first, that is, especially if you are a beginner and already have added some newbie gains. But once you start getting the hang of those dumbbells and barbells, you need to somehow start keeping track of how many sets you actually do for each exercise and how many times you actually throw that heavy iron per set (and how heavy that iron actually is). Sometimes it can be hard to remember what your last barbell weight for those heavy squats actually was and how many sets and reps you did last time… Yes, you could actually stick to that old paper notebook but it turns out that your smartphone can be a much better and more convenient workout log. There are many great fitness apps out there some of which are for beginners who don’t know what exercises to do (and how to do them). If you are like me however, and already know what works for you and what doesn’t (and your gym might have some equipment limitations, too), bear with me. I personally use an iOS app called Muscular Workout Log (that I happen to have created myself) and I would like to take the opportunity to introduce some of its very useful features.
The best feature up front: the app is not subscription based (yet) — which is a rare feature of a fitness app nowadays!
Keep track of your exercise metrics while working out
You don’t need to sign up right away — just tap “try out as guest” after you open Muscular for the first time. In case you decide to sign up later, you won’t lose your data — it will all be transferred to your account. Signing up is easy, besides the good old account with email and password, Muscular also allows sign in with Apple and with Facebook.
Just tap “Start Empty Workout” and the workout view will pop up. Tap “Add Exercise” on the toolbar. Suppose you want to do a Back & Biceps workout — add for example Seated Rows (Machine) and Pull-ups at first (you can add more exercises any time). If you do an exercise for the first time, you will notice that logically there won’t be any last time info as shown in image 1. Just enter the weight and reps, for example 140 lbs x 10 reps as shown in image 1. Notice that the metrics bar shows the total volume of completed sets and the provisional total volume. In our example the last set values were inputted already, so the total volume is higher than the total volume of all completed sets (3080 / 4340 lbs).
So far so good. Suppose you complete that workout (by tapping finish) and a week later you want to do the same exercise. As shown in image 2 the last time weight and reps are shown in the “last time column”. The last time values are actually buttons that you can tap. This is convenient because the last time values will then be copied to the weight and reps fields.
You might also have noticed in image 2 that the metrics bar has an additional value on the right side. This is your current personal record (since you did this exercise for the first time a week earlier, there was no prior total volume which was higher, so this is your new personal record). This is a useful feature because you can make sure that during the current workout, you won’t drop below your personal record.
Suppose you want to increase the resistance of the seated row to feel that extra pump in your lats and traps but the 12 reps of your first set are already near the maximum of what you can do. 12 reps are rather at the upper limit of a typical body building exercise set. So when you increase the resistance to 150 lbs, it turns out you can only do 10 reps for example. As show in image 4, this will decrease the (provisional) overall volume of the exercise, given that you do the other two sets with the same weight and reps. This tendency is shown with the red arrow pointing downwards.
To compensate this drop in volume, try to add two more reps in the last set. As shown in image 5, the overall volume will be slightly above your personal record in that case.
If you can’t do two more reps but your goal is not only to transition to a heavier weight but also maintain your volume, you might want to add an additional set (as shown in image 6). Notice that you can tap the set button and mark this set as a drop set (since the weight is much lower than in the previous sets).
Of course, workout volume isn’t everything. You might as well stick to a lower volume for a while, just to transition to a higher intensity (per repetition) and then ultimately increase the exercise volume again.
Notice that if you tap on the metrics bar, another metrics type will appear: total repetitions. And if you tap again, the heaviest weight metrics info will appear (images 7 and 8).
As shown in the screenshots above, the metrics bar also shows your personal record for each metrics type. If you are in a performance slump (e.g. after a sickness or maybe a lockdown situation), it can be demotivating to be constantly reminded of your former glorious days though. To fix this you can switch the so called metrics reference value from personal record to the last time value easily (just tap the button with the three dots and a list of options will appear). This means instead of focussing on your personal record, the metrics bar will show the metrics value of the last time you did the exercise.
Routines and Routine Placeholders
If you go back to image 2 above, you will notice that the set completion buttons only show grey circles instead of green circles. They are disabled because there are no values in the weight and reps fields. However, notice the grey numbers in the set value fields in images 7 and 8. These are routine placeholders. The sets can be completed although the user didn’t fill any values, simply because in this case the user is doing the workout based on a routine. A routine is a kind of workout template with pre-set exercises, sets and set values. So tapping the completion button will confirm the placeholder values and copy the placeholder values into the reps and weight fields.
There are three ways to create a routine: completing an actual workout, saving a workout you completed in the past as routine or creating a routine directly (without an active workout).
After completing the workout, which is not based on a routine already, you will be asked if you would like to save the workout as routine. You can also go to the workout history view (the second tab in the tab bar) and tap the options button of the workout you would like to save as routine. Lastly, you can also tap the “plus”-button in the Workout-tab to create a routine without doing a workout right away.
Above I mentioned that you can’t complete a set if no values are filled in. More precisely, in case of a traditional body building exercise using a machine or free weights, neither the weight amount nor the number of repetitions can be empty or 0, otherwise the set can’t be completed. However, there is a different exercise type for which the weight value can actually be 0 — bodyweight exercises.
Weighted and Assisted Bodyweight Exercises
There is a common misconception among some bodybuilders that you can’t build up muscle mass and strength with bodyweight exercises. That is simply not true. Many bodyweight exercises are actually very challenging: for example, you lift approximately 95% of your bodyweight when you do a pull-up or chin-up. For beginners, some bodyweight exercises are actually too challenging, so that it can make sense, for example, to build up some basic strength by doing an easier replacement exercise like lat pull-downs before attempting a pull-up. But there is another way to transition to real pull-ups: assisted pull-ups. Some gyms have a pull-up/chin up station with a foot rest that is attached to a weight stack. The more weight you add, the easier the pull-up becomes because the foot or knee pad basically pushes your bodyweight upwards. In a way, the weight of the weight stack is subtracted from your bodyweight, so that you only pull up up a part of your bodyweight upwards.
That is why some bodyweight exercises in Muscular support so called assisted sets, for example assisted pull-ups as shown in image 9. You will notice that some of the sets in that exercise have a negative weight amount in the weight field. This is because the user tapped the set label button and set the weighted/assisted property to assisted.
In the second set of this example, the user added 10 kg to his/her bodyweight (e.g. by holding a dumbbell between the feet). More precisely, the weight that the user is pulling up in the second set is bodyweight x 0.95 + 10 kg. The value in brackets on the metrics bar by the way means “adjusted bodyweight” — which is 95% of the user’s actual bodyweight (about 84 kg) in the case of a pull-up. The volume per set is calculated like so: ABW +- weight x reps. This is where the volume amounts on the metrics bar come from. In this example, the user does sets 3 and 4 in assisted mode, so the weights entered here are subtracted from the user’s bodyweight.
As a side note, the first working set (marked with the F-label for “failure”, meaning you could not possibly do another repetition) is actually the set in the second set row. This is because the user marked the set of the first row as a warm-up set. Be careful with warm-up sets: They do not count in the metrics and workouts statistics!
So in conclusion, Muscular allows mixing weighted and assisted sets but of course, you can just do good old pull-ups with your bodyweight as shown in set no. 2 (just fill in 0 in the weight field).
Duration Exercises
The examples above cover traditional free weight and machine exercises as well as bodyweight exercises. So for these exercise types, Muscular basically logs weight amounts and repetitions. However, what if you want to mix in a couple of duration based exercises? Indeed, there are some exercises for which it does not make sense to log weight resistance — for example isometric exercises like wall sits and planks.
So instead of logging the weight resistance, we should log the duration. Image 10 shows an example of a duration exercise — the wall sit. Swipe a set row to the right and a menu will be revealed on the left. It allows you to mark a set as failure set (no more rep possible), drop set, warm-up set or normal working set. For duration exercises, it also includes a button that allows you to start a timer for the current set. The same options can be selected by just tapping on the set label.
Once you start the duration exercise timer, a five seconds long count-down will start, allowing you to get into the starting position of the duration exercise. After that, the timer will count upwards as shown in image 11. If you tap “done” the logged time will appear in the time field — adjust it if needed or tap the checkmark button to complete the set. That’s it.
But wait a minute… what if I want to do an exercise with repetitions and log the duration? An exercise which also does not fit into the weight times reps logic? Muscular has got you covered. It turns out that there are two duration based exercise types: with and without reps. An example is shown in image 12.
Suppose you want to give that gym floor a decent beating with that hard-and-heavy battle rope. Besides the duration, you should also log repetitions — e.g. each time your right hand is in the top position, you count it as one rep, so one rep represents one “full cycle” in the movement. You can still use the timer as in the wall sit example but you need to enter the reps manually (or just confirm them if your reps are the same as last time or the same as the routine placeholder).
The metrics bar of a duration exercise with reps by the way has three different modes: total duration (as shown in image 12), total repetitions (just like weight based exercises) and repetitions per minute. Static exercises like wall sits only have one metrics type — the total duration.
Rest Time
Set based workouts have the benefit that you can condition your muscles to grow by adding up more repetitions per workout and thus increase the total time under tension of each muscle group. However, this workout system only works if you let your muscles recover for a brief time period after each set before starting another set. The exact rest time you need will depend on the type of exercise (multi-joint or isolation exercise), your age (the older you are the longer your recovery time needs to be), your training system and goals (body building vs. power lifting). Muscular has a built-in rest timer which will help you to time your rest periods accordingly (image 13).
By default, a rest timer will start once you complete a set, but you can switch the rest timer off for each exercise individually. If you do an exercise for the first time, the default rest time will be the same as in your user account settings (default is 90 seconds). Another default setting is that rest timers are auto-updating. That means if you change the rest time with the +10 -10s buttons you see in image 13, the exercise will remember the rest time next time you complete a set. So if you reduce the rest time to 1:20 min, the exercise will have a rest time of 1:20 min henceforth. This feature can be switched off though, so that the exercise has a fixed rest time (images 14 and 15). You can still change the rest time during the rest time count-down of course (see the +-10s buttons) but the next time you complete a set of that particular exercise, the rest time will be the fixed rest time you set beforehand.
Notice that you can set an additional rest time that is added to the rest time of the last set you complete. This feature is useful not only to allow for a longer recovery time helping you to do more repetitions in the next exercise but also because some exercises might require some “clean-up time” after completion, e.g. removing the weight plates from a barbell.
There are basically two reasons why a rest timer does not start after set completion although the rest timer is switched on: The exercise is part of a superset but not the last exercise in the superset. Or, you switched on double set mode and you just completed a set but the number of completed sets is uneven. This means that the rest timer will only start after every second set. Double set mode by the way is a good choice if you want to do drop sets (for example lateral raises with dumbbells with every second set being a drop set) or, even more common, you do an exercise during which you switch sides every set, for example unilateral seated rows. You can switch double set mode on by tapping on the “more options”-button with the three dots that is shown for example in image 12.
So how do you know the rest time is up and you need to get back to work? If you don’t leave Muscular and leave your iPhone’s screen on, an alert banner will pop up and a bell sound will notify you to start the next set. If you switch to another app during the rest time or switch the screen off, you will still get a notification on condition that you allow notifications for Muscular (iOS settings / notifications). On first start-up of Muscular, iOS will ask you if you want to allow notifications (you should approve it, otherwise you won’t get rest timer notifications). In case you use an Apple Watch and Muscular is in the background, the notification will be pushed to your Apple Watch. Receiving a notification on the Apple Watch is very convenient in a noisy workout environment because your Apple Watch can alert you by vibrating.
Dashboard and Charts
So how can you actually find out if you are making progress? After completing a couple of workouts, you might want to take a look at the dashboard which consists of two sections: Workout metrics and exercise metrics. The exercise metrics section is empty by default but you can pin up to three exercises whose metrics you would like to take a closer look at.
You will find the same metrics described in the first section of this article and a couple of additional metrics (images 16 and 17).
The workout metrics are always aggregated into weeks with the dashboard showing the last week for which data is available (which is usually the current week if you train consistently).The first day of the week is set to Monday by default but you can change that in the settings (go to the Dashboard tab for that purpose and tap the settings button).
If you tap on one of the tiles, a chart will appear that shows how the related metrics value changed over time — a bar chart for the workout metrics (every bar represents one week) and a line chart for exercises (each data point is a particular workout in which you did the exercise). Check out images 18 and 19 for examples.
Notice that you can tap each bar in the bar chart and the current value (shown in the top left corner) will change to the value of the bar you tapped. In the exercise metrics line chart you can drag over the screen horizontally and an indicator will be shown — once you lift your finger, the indicator point (that you can see in image 19 on the 11/11 data point) will settle at the nearest data point, updating the current value in the top left corner.
Other Features
Just to name a few:
- You can chain exercises together as supersets (which can mean more than two exercises!), even to the point that you can create a round based workout where all exercises are part of one superset.
- Sharing: You can export a completed workout as image file and as spreadsheet.
- You can create your own exercises (over 100 exercises are included.. but let’s face it: there are just too many variations…).
- Siri support: You can create a Siri voice shortcut for each of your routines, so you can for instance tell Siri: “Start a back & biceps workout”.
- Widgets: If you long-press on the background of your iPhone home screen and tap the plus-button in the top right corner, the widget search view will appear — type Muscular and choose from three cool widgets!
- iPad support: Muscular works on iPad as well — those charts look way more impressive on a iPad.
- Light & Dark Mode: Muscular follows your iPhone/iPad system setting, so if your system is set to dark mode, Muscular will also be in dark mode.
Muscular is available as free download on the iOS/iPadOS app store. An overview of all features, including more screenshots is available here. I hope you liked this introduction of Muscular — let me know if you use Muscular and what features you would like me to add in the future!
