TRAINING NOTATIONS

The art and science of world-class training

Just like how a great dish is more than the ingredients in it, a great exercise program is more than the exercises selected.

The precise attention to detail - the timing, quantity, and synergy - elicits the perfect harmony from each complementary component.

This guide is dedicated to helping you understand the detailed workouts written for you and equip you with the knowledge to log your training with clarity and precision.

Basic Notations

Reps, Sets and rest

A repetition (rep) refers to one complete movement of an exercise.

Every repetition normally consists of two portions: a “concentric” phase and an “eccentric” phase.

The concentric phase (aka, “positives”) is when the muscle is contracting or shortening. For example, do a pull-up. When you’re pulling towards the bar, you’re in the concentric phase.

The eccentric phase (aka “negatives”)  is the opposite movement, where a muscle is lengthening. When you’re lowering yourself down from that pull-up, you are in the eccentric phase of the exercise.

A set refers to a series of repetitions consecutively, with little to no planned rest between.

Rest refers to the planned duration of the break between the set (or rep).

If no rest is strictly prescribed, it means “rest as needed”

This means that you take as little/much rest as needed to complete the next set within the targeted rep range or tempo with good form.

Example 1:
Squats - 5x15, 3min rest

This means that you will perform 5 sets of 15 reps, and rest 3min between each set.

Contrast this with 15x5 (15 sets of 5 reps)
The stimulus of the workout will be drastically different!

Example 2:
Squats - 5x10-20, 3-5min rest

This means that you will perform 5 sets of 10-20 reps.

You can rest as short as 3min if you feel sufficiently fresh to complete 10-20 reps in your next set, or as long as 5min, if you feel like you need more time to complete the set within the targeted rep range of 10-20.

Recording varying reps

Example 2 (continued):
Squats - 5x10-20, 3-5min rest

The way we suggest that you record the reps will be in the following format:
”A-B-C-D-E Reps”. So in this example, it will be written like “20-15-15-15-10 Reps”

This is essential for the tracking of your progress when you repeat or do a similar workout later in your journey.

For example, next week you might perform “20-18-17-14-10 Reps”.

Because you have logged your previous score with good training notation, you can now compare and know exactly how much you have progressed.

Recording varying weights

Example 3:
Dumbbell Goblet Squat - 5x10, 3min rest

In this example, you will be performing 5 sets of 10 reps while holding a dumbbell in front of you for the squats.

In the first week, say you started with a 20kg weight for your working sets.
After the third set, you feel tired and you decrease the weight slightly to complete the remaining sets with good form. The log for the session would be 20-20-20-15-15kg

Next week you might do 20-20-25-25-20kg because you felt really strong going into the third and fourth sets. Then for the fifth set, you feel muscular fatigue and back off the weights slightly complete the set well (instead of pushing for “egolifting”).

***Important note***

For weighted movements, we only count the working sets.

Working sets refers to sets that are sufficiently challenging to bring you near muscular failure (to make you stronger).

As a general rule of thumb, for strength and muscle growth, you should only be able to perform at most about 2-3 more reps at the end of each working set.

As such, warm-up sets are not counted.

Of course, this rule does not apply for skill acquisition or rehabilitative training.

Recording varying reps and weights

Example 4:
Dumbbell Goblet Squat - 5x8-12, 3min rest

A sample log could look like this:
20kg x 12 Reps
25kg x 10-8 Reps
22.5kg x 12 Reps
20kg x 12 Reps

This means that you started your first tough set at 20kg, then did two heavier sets at 25kg before descending down to 22.5 and 20kg in your last two sets.