How to Log Workouts and Sets

Stronglifts makes it super simple and quick to log your workouts and sets.

Starting Your Stronglifts Workout

1. Open Stronglifts
2. On the home screen, tap "Start Workout"
3. Tap a set circle to log your set
4. The workout has started

Logging Completed Sets

A completed set is when you performed the goal reps. For example: the goal is five reps and you completed five reps. Here's how to log this:

1. Open Stronglifts
2. On the home screen, tap "Start Workout"
3. Tap a set circle to log your set.

Most of the time you will be completing your sets without failing reps. Therefore, most of the time it will only take one tap on a set circle to log your set.

Logging Failed Sets

A failed set is when you performed fewer reps than planned. Example: the goal is 5 reps but you only completed three reps. You can log this by tapping the set circle several times in a row.

1. Open Stronglifts
2. On the home screen, tap "Start Workout"
3. Tap the set circle several times in a row to decrease the reps

For example: if the goal is 5 reps, but you only did three reps, then tap the set circle three times. The first tap logs 5 reps, the second tap decreases the reps from 5 to 4, and the third tap decreases the reps from 4 to 3 reps.

Logging AMRAP Sets

An AMRAP set is when you do as many reps as possible when a given weight. Example: the goal is 5 reps but you decide to do as many reps as you can until hitting close to failure.

1. Start workout
2. Open Stronglifts
3. On the home screen, tap "Start Workout"
4. Tap/hold on a set circle
5. Select "Log Reps"
6. Enter the amount of reps that you did.

Say you're doing 5x5 but enter 10 reps for the first set. The next workout will show 5x5 again. The weight will increase as usual because you completed 5 reps or more on all sets.

Logging Sets From The Notifications

You can log your sets quickly from the notifications without unlocking your phone. You can see the rest timer on the notification as well so you know when to do your next set.

iOS

1. Open Stronglifts
2. Tap Start Workout
3. Log a set, the timer runs
4. Lock your phone
5. When your rest time is up, you'll receive a notification on your home screen
6. Tap/hold the notification. You'll get a menu to enter the exact amount of reps you did.

Android

1. Open Stronglifts
2. Tap Start Workout
3. Log a set, the timer runs
4. Open your notifications (slide down on the screen)
5. The Stronglifts notification shows with the rest timer
6. Tap the button "Done: or "Failed" to log your set

The "Done" button logs a successful set. If the goal is 5 reps and you tap Done, it will log 5 reps. Most of the time you should be completing sets. So most of the time you will be tapping the Done button.

The "Failed" button logs one rep less than planned. If the goal is 5 reps and you tap Failed, it will log 4 reps. The weight will not increase next time in this case. If you logged fewer than 4 reps, tap the notification to enter the actual amount of reps that you did.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to do a different workout than the one Stronglifts gives next?

Three options:

• Tap the workout you want to do on the home screen
• Tap Start Workout on the home screen. Then tap the title at the top to change the workout
• Go to Stronglifts > programs > workouts > reorder the workout by putting the first one you want to do at the top > Go back to the home screen and tap Start Workout.

How to change the date of a workout?

The date is automatically updated when you log the workout. So there is no need to update it manually. If you want to change the date anyway you can do so like this:

1. From the home screen, tap on the workout
2. Go to edit > Change Date
3. Change the date

How do I log a skipped workout?

Don't log it. If you don't log a planned workout, then Stronglifts will automatically move it to the next available date that fits your schedule. This makes it easy to resume where you left off.

How do I pause a workout?

Workouts logged with your phone are automatically paused when you do nothing for 10min. This means that the workout duration will pause and resume once you start logging again.

On the Apple Watch, you can pause workouts like this:

1. When you're logging your set, tap the exercise name in the top left corner
2. From the workout view, tap the pause button (middle one)
3. When you're ready to resume your workout, tap the resume button

When should I log 0 reps?

Rarely. If you try to lift a weight but can't do it for even one rep, then log this as 0 reps.

Example: today is Deadlift 5x300lb. You set up for Deadlifts, grab the bar, and try to lift it. But the bar doesn't want to leave the floor. It's too heavy. You can't even lift it for one rep. Since you tried to lift the weight you log this as 0 reps. Here's how to log this...

1. Open Stronglifts
2. On the home screen, tap "Start Workout"
3. Tap the set circle several times in a row to decrease the reps all the way to 0

How do I log a skipped set?

Don't log it. Just leave the set circle blank. Stronglifts will understand that you didn't do the set and repeat the weight next workout.

How to resume a workout that was finished by mistake?

Stronglifts prevents finishing an ongoing workout by mistake by asking for a confirmation. If you didn't log every set of every exercise but tap "finish" in the workout screen, you will get a popup asking if you are really done. This prevents finishing ongoing workouts by mistake.

However, this prompt does not show if you have logged every set of every exercise. If you do this and leave the workout screen, then it will automatically be marked done - even if you didn't tap the finish button. We do this because many people forget to finish their workouts and end up with long workout durations that result in misleading statistics.

If you were planning to do one more exercise after logging the final set, please add the exercise before leaving the workout screen. If you finished your workout by mistake, you can resume like this:

1. Open Stronglifts
2. Go to History > List
3. Open the workout

Please note that several features don't work when opening workouts from the history - this includes the rest timer, customizing exercises, etc. If you need to make big changes to the workout, best is to delete it and then log it again.

How do I log a one-time workout?

If you want to do a workout that is not part of your current program, you can log it like this...

1. Open Stronglifts
2. Go to Programs > Workouts
3. Tap Add Workout
4. Create the workout with your exercises, sets, reps, etc
5. Go back to the home screen
6. Tap the workout you just created

The workout will permanently show as part of your current program. You can delete it if you want by going back to Stronglifts > Programs > Workouts > Swipe left on the workout. It won't show again on the home screen after that. Or you can keep it so that you can do it again in the coming weeks.

Please note that if you're traveling and don't have access to your usual gym, we have a dumbbell-only hotel gym program available - Quarantine. The program is available when you go to Stronglifts > Programs > Select Quarantine. Simply switch to that when traveling. When you're back home, switch back to your previous program. Stronglifts will resume where you left off.

For dumbbell exercises, does 12 reps mean per side or 24 total?

If Stronglifts tells you to do 5x12, it means 12 reps per side. So you're doing 24 reps in total for each set.

How do I log supersets with Stronglifts?

Supersets are doing two exercises in a row without resting in between. You can log supersets like this on your phone:

1. Open Stronglifts > Start workout
2. Let's say you superset biceps curls with hyperextensions
3. Do one set of curls, then one set of hyperextensions, without resting in between
4. Once done, log both sets - enter a set of curls, enter a set of hyperextensions
5. The timer runs. Wait for it to be done, then do your next superset

On the Apple Watch, you can log supersets like this:

1. Open Stronglifts > Start Workout
2. Do one set of curls, then one set of hyperextensions, without resting in between
3. Once done, log your set of curls, then swipe right to go to hyperextensions
4. Tap the timer to dismiss it, log your set, the timer runs
5. Swipe left to go back to curls, wait for the timer to be done, then log your next superset.

Please note that we do not recommend supersetting compound exercises like Squats with Bench and Barbell Rows. Example: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24942175/ - the first group did Squats with 3min rest. The second group also did Squats every 3min, but they did Bench and Rows in between (so they only had ~50sec rest between exercises). The first group that did Squats only with proper rest between sets did more volume than the group that did supersets of Squats with bench and row. The extra fatigue from the supersets prevented the legs from recovering. This resulted in a loss of force production. You can't go as heavy and hard when supersetting Squats. Your form will usually also deteriorate due to the extra fatigue from not resting between sets.

Many people think supersets save time but they won't if they lower your training quality like in this study. You'll need to do more sets to make up for the lower volume. Supersets work best for isolation exercises that work non-overlapping muscles - like the curls and hyperextensions in the example above. Fatigue on curls won't interfere with the lower back. These exercises are therefore fine to superset.

If your workouts are taking too long and you need to save time, a better way to do that is to reduce the volume of your workouts (see the "Low Volume" setting) and/or do fewer exercises per workout. For example: Stronglifts 5x5 Ultra is only 2 exercises per week but 4x/week.