How do you track your workouts?

[CBDB]

So how do you track your workouts? Send us your screenshots or photos!

People who know me on these forums know I can get a bit carried away with the tech. And during my life as a runner, there wasn’t an IOS app that I read about and didn’t try, as long as there was a free version available.

Runkeeper was my tracker for every run, even running it simultaneously with NRC or Zombies,Run or whatever other running-app experience I was trying out.

So when I added Strength and Flex workouts to my program, it was easy enough to track it by engaging in these HU forums, like a daily fitness journal micro-blog of a kind. So these didn’t go into any digital tracker.

But then I started to add to my workout routines! After the 5 weeks Strength & Flex, I added daily Yoga to my practice.

So then I was running three times a week, doing daily Yoga, and once in a while I added S&F week 5 to the mix. In the summer I often added an additional Pilates series, often another 30 daily workouts. For a while I tried out dutifully putting everything into Strava, wether manually like the Yoga sessions, or with an automated connection between Runkeeper and Strava.

But some things never connected, like my 10min post-run stretches, using an audio guided app but not connecting to anything! 😳

Once on the injury couch with some metatarsal niggles, I started indoor rowing. And the Concept2 indoor rowing world has its own online logbook, which, yes, you could hook up to Strava but not easily to Runkeeper. Zwift workouts were added, as well, again being able to connect to Strava but not much else!

So digitally speaking, it really got hard to track everything in one place!

I started looking for a digital solution, and played around with Apple Health. I also tested

- Final Surge

- Zones

- And Training Peaks.

They all did certain things brilliantly and then there was just one or the other big function or connectivity missing.

So I asked on these forums, and the answer inspired me to try the solution that @roseabi put forward.

The simple, elegant, beautiful and ultra-flexible solution of using a paper diary!!! 📝📑 (Who would have thought!? Doh! 🤦🏻‍♀️)

A simple photo she posted convinced me to go all un-digital, I bought a diary 📔 which is now dedicated to all things health and fitness and have been journaling away for a week or so.

And I love it!

So what do you use to keep track of your workouts? Send us your solutions. What tracking keeps you motivated and what features or functions are essential for your tracking?

[beth_f]

Hello CBDB

I've been tracking all my workouts with my Apple Watch. I recently upgraded the watch and got 3 months free Apple Fitness + which I am really enjoying.

I'm semi-injured at the moment and only able to run once a week on a flat terrain so have been mixing up my recovery with a selection of physio exercises plus the ones on the Apple Fitness - so lots of strengthening work, core, pilates and yoga. I'm already noticing an improved change (as a slave to the desk job doing some work on glutes and hips has been great).

So all my workouts end up on my phone but when I am back to running properly it will be Nike, Zones & Apple to track it all. I did try a paper journal but I'm useless at remembering where I even left it 😂 let alone filling it in!

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to beth_f]

🤣🤣 Sounds like you got it sorted! Yeah, I only discovered Zones recently and it’s pretty good. I think the difficulty with my stuff is that I don’t want to use a Apple Watch or Garmin, and so far I don’t use heart rate monitors. Great to read though! I’ll see in a year if I’ve managed to keep track of my diary! 🤣🤣

[UnfitNoMore]

I log everything with the Garmin… the rep counting is frustrating to say the least, so my thumbs get a workout correcting them afterwards! Garmin send data all over the place, strava gets most, NRC picks up the runs, NTC fails to pick up on other workouts though, which is annoying. I manually move files into other places and I keep a backup on iCloud of them all!

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to UnfitNoMore]

Ahh interesting. I don’t have a HRM but I did have a thought that a fitness watch makes tracking everything so much easier. But pretty happy with my iPhone. But it sounds like you know what your doing and also that it’s not quite as straightforward as I thought it was with a watch. Thanks, really interesting.

[UnfitNoMore in reply to CBDB]

Yeah… the reps detector is good, but then just to be awkward you count 10 and it gives you 4 🤣

Nike are strange and only sync runs with Garmin, despite now having walks in NRC… and their training app picks up from the same feed, so also only sees runs.

I do find the watch more convenient than my iPhone, partly as it is always on my wrist, so I don’t feel imbalanced… maybe if I had my phone on my arm all the time the same would be true, but friends would think I’d gone crazy. Actually, they know I’m crazy… so maybe it would be the straw that broke the camels back and they’d ring for the guys with those special jackets 🤣

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to UnfitNoMore]

🤣🤣🤣 I actually normally wear the free train vest, so I don’t hold my iphone in my hand. See healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (it’s a game changer)

[UnfitNoMore in reply to CBDB]

Oh, I could never hold it… I had one of those upper arm straps. Now, on the rare occasion that my phone comes with me on a run, it’s in the zip pocket at the back of my running trousers, so it sits dead centre.. I don’t notice it there to the extent that I have forgotten about it, searched the house for it later and been rather embarrassed when I give in and ask Siri where she is 🤣

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to UnfitNoMore]

🤣🤣 😂

[dijep 30D Graduate]

I am amazed by how much tech you've tried😂It sounds very much like the quest for the perfect rucksack or handbag - you can never find one that has all the features you want.

For running I've used the forums to write run reports and have found them immensely helpful. Plus getting a Garmin watch meant I stopped writing up notes in a book.

For S &F stuff I'm very low tech 😂

I have a 4 week sheet stuck up in my kitchen that I note stuff about the runs, I started when I was getting niggles to try to track them (having used something similar for my dogs arthritis !) Now I have a column for whatever strength work I'm doing and just add a tick when I do it .... As I say very low tech 🤣

Chart to track exercises

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to dijep]

That looks great! And yes 🤣🤣 I think my search for the perfect tech was like some would search for the perfect rucksack, or handbag or running shoes! 🤣🤣

I like your paper version! It’s got everything one needs! Nice!

[Blackberrypie]

I sort of use them all and rely on syncing to get the benefits of the different functions they offer. I log everything on my watch because it's easy to do. But I find the garmin interface online annoying so I sync to Strava where I like to record notes and photos I've taken, as well as using the route planning function (though I'm currently trialling OS Maps which seems very handy). My training plan is on Final Surge so I like to keep track there, and I use map my run because it's handy for stats, particularly on challenges I'm doing in miles.

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to Blackberrypie]

Fabulous. Another Final Surge user. I trialed it, found it great but finally decided to not stick with it. (My rowing does not connect with it 😞)

I trialed OS maps, but then discovered the Footpath App on IOS which also has OS maps, and the marking of routes i find much better. Also cheaper than OS maps, strangely. So it might be worth exploring that.

Miles: increasingly I’m annoyed that I always have to choose between miles and km. I think I’d love all apps to display both miles and km simultaneously, as I so often need both. For instance End2End needs miles, but I have a better feeling for speed in km. But none of them do both at the same time! 🙁

[Blackberrypie in reply to CBDB]

Yes, I'd particularly like it if I could get my watch to display both!

[roseabi]

Your handwriting's much nicer than mine 😂

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to roseabi]

🤣🤣🤣 I knew I was going to take picture! 🤣🤣 I don’t write by hand so much anymore, so this feels great to focus on a reasonable nice handwriting again! (= finger yoga!)

[roseabi in reply to CBDB]

Aha!!! 🤣 I hate writing by hand, heavens knows why I want to keep a paper diary! Just kidding, it is rather good even if I can't read my handwriting 😁

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold]

Oh noooo!! 🙈 🙉 That means no permanent record of your achievements! 😳😱🤣🤣

I think I’m too needy for that. 😆 I need to look at my past achievements to get more motivation for pushing forward.

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold]

Brilliant!! 👏👏👏 Sounds good.