Bodyweight strength training programs on Google Sheets - 2023 update user guide

New training sheets can be found here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1krrVzNqZznP8m_92qt9dBi9ZDpJTX4R8?usp=share_link

Right click the file you want and select "make a copy" to your own drive to enable editing. Don't click "Request share" it does not work since you are not supposed to edit the original source file.   

New features on 2023 update:

• Rep max chart for all exercises. Ranging from 1RM up to 20RM.

• Mobile optimized sheets for the planning page and the tracking charts. No need for larger screens when planning workouts or tracking progress.

• Basic barbell, dumbbell and band exercises added to the library. You can basically do any weightlifting routine now with the standard library. Not just limited to bodyweight training.

• Automatically calculate the estimated time for each workout in the planning page

• Workaround for high frequency training. You can split the existing training days with a spacer.

What else it includes:

• Pre made bodyweight strength training programs from the guide

• Customizable workout template with up to 4 workout days a week. And up to 8 workouts when a single day is splitted.

• One finger logging with mobile phone

• Guides included to each progression

• Video links included to each exercise

• You can add custom exercises to the list

• Training block length 5-12 weeks

• Tracking sheet that counts total number of reps done in a workout and highlights the rep count with green if you made progress. If you perform less reps than last time the rep number will turn red.

• Planning sheet calculates the training volume for each muscle group for you

• All features implemented with basic sheet functions. No scripts used so it is safe to use and requires no special permissions.

• Go up or down in the progressions and select the exercises according to your strength level.

• Total workout time tracking included

• Track individual exercises as a chart

Main page view 

Mobile view of the planner sheet

Desktop view

Select exercises from drop down menus and select how long the training block is. Number of sets per bodypart is calculated for each muscle group. This helps to plan a balanced or prioritized program. Estimated workout duration estimates how long the planned workout takes. By default it uses 3 minutes for each set. 1 minute of work followed by 2 minutes of rest.

Rep max tracking sheet (New feature)

With the tracking chart you can view your exercise progress in one chart based on your workout logs. For exercises that utilize a percentage of your bodyweight (for example pullups) you need to enter bodyweight and select a bodyweight multiplier to calculate total load and workload. For weights only you select BW multiplier 0. 

The rep max calculator uses weight from the workout logs and the first set as the top set. So if you did 10,9,9 with 5kg the rep max is calculated from 5kg and 10 reps. If you did 9,12,8 as your working sets the rep max value is still calculated from the first set (9 reps in this case). So make sure you log your top set as the first set. Usually this happens automatically since your first set is commonly the top set unless you train far from failure on your first set and really push it on the following sets.

First you need to select the exercise you want to track. Select it from the dropdown menu. On the bottom of the same sheet there is a list which “Exercise” corresponds to which actual exercise in your current program. This is a limitation of the Google Sheets and the exercise names cannot be updated to the dropdown list.

Exercise list on the bottom of the page. We need to select Exercise04 in the current program to track weighted chinup/pullup

Then select the rep max you want to track. Here I selected 5RM. Which means the maximum weight you can use to reach 5 repetitions.

Enter bodyweight in kg or lbs and select the BW (bodyweight) multiplier you want to use. The sheet can suggest a value based on the exercise. For Chinups that is 0.9. If the exercise utilizes zero bodyweight then the multiplier has to be 0. For example for bench press or bicep curls the BW multiplier has to be set to 0. Note that not all exercises have suggested values. But I included suggested multipliers for most of the main exercises.

The 5RM chart now looks like this. The upper value is the total load (bodyweight + additional weight). The lower value is additional load only (multiplier x bodyweight subtracted from total load) For example in week 4 you could have probably gotten 5 reps with 5kg weight added and on week 10 5 reps with 10kg added.

Remember that when you increase load your total rep count will drop. That's why total rep count works well for exercises where the load stays the same and rep max calculator for the exercises where load is increased once you reach the top of the selected rep range.

Tracking sheet

Here you can track your progress. It is best viewed with a tablet or laptop screen due to the large amount of data. When you make progress the total rep count turns green. If you did the same number of reps as last time the cell color remains white. If you do less reps than last time the cell color will turn red. If you increase load during a training block the total number of reps will drop. So keep that in mind that total rep tracking only works if the workload is kept constant.

Exercise list, guides and videos

This includes all exercise progressions, guides and video links. Custom exercises can be added and existing ones can be deleted.

Workout logs from Week 1 to Week 12

This is where you log your workouts. Week 1 has a 50% lower training volume for deload and ramp-up purposes.

When you finish a training block make a copy of the old one and clear logs or start from an empty log. It's up to you. Personally I make a new copy of the existing one and remove all the old logs with backspace so that I have my current program ready for editing. Usually I make some minor adjustments to the exercise selection between training blocks. For the 1-year programs, I already made the six training blocks ready for you so you don't have to do anything. Just copy all the files to your Google Drive and start working out.

How to use the session timer

When you are in a workout log sheet and about to begin your workout select start time from the drop down menu. Session time will be updated every time you log a new set. When you are finished select save from the drop down menu. Your total session time will be saved.

Select start time from drop down menu

Session time will be updated every time you log a set

When you are done select time from the Save dropdown menu

Your workout time has been saved

How to add custom exercises

Go to "Exercise List, Guides and videos" Sheet. Enter the name of your own exercise to cells that reads "-". Now your custom exercise can be selected in the "Workout Planner" sheet. You can also completely overwrite the existing exercises and create your own progressions and exercise list.

Enter custom exercise to the list

You can now select your custom exercise from the list

Workaround for high frequency training

Go to the planning page and in the None group I added spacers to split the workout tab into smaller sections. This enables you to run a higher number of training days instead of the maximum four days.

Go to None section and select a suitable spacer

You can edit the text according to your needs. Here I wrote Workout A and Workout B

You now have successfully split the existing workout day into two different sections. Tracking works normally. If you want to use the session timer twice you need to reset the saved value with backspace. 

Training programs

When you click the Download link you need to click the "Make a copy" to get the file. It will be downloaded to the root of your Google Drive.

1 workout day a week

1-day Full body routine - Download

2 workout days a week

2-day Full body routine - Download

2-day Upper/lower split - Download

3 workout days a week

3-day Full body routine - Download

3-day Split - Download

3-day Upper/lower split - Download

4 workout days a week

4-day Upper/lower split - Download

4-day Split - Download

5 workout days a week

5-day Fullbody routine - Download

Do your own workout plan

Customizable empty template - Download

Browse all training programs on Google Drive

All Programs in Google Drive folder for browsing

Free training guide

Amazon

Google Play

Kobo

Enjoy your workouts and gains!