Weight Lifting Log Book Instructions

You will find instructions for the official WLC weight lifting log book here in this post.

You can download the free weight lifting log book from Weight Lifting Complete here: weight lifting log book download.

The official WLC log book is amazing and it's free to you at the page above so make sure you get your copy.

Goal Planning Worksheet

Enter the current date, your starting body weight, and your starting body fat percentage. Your lean mass and fat mass will be automatically calculated for you.

You can then enter your final overall goal in terms of body weight and body fat percentage. This is your ultimate goal you're trying to achieve and the body you've always wanted. You can then take half of that and enter for your final midpoint goals. This gives you a midpoint to achieve along your journey.

You will then find “cycle” goals. I refer to cycles as each weight lifting program. So a cycle will last as long as the weight lifting program you are using. If you read through the WLC System, you'll see that a full break is required between cycles.

So a cycle might last 7 weeks or could last 15 weeks. You will typically continue a cycle until your results really begin to slow. You then take a break to let your body fully recover. This usually lasts a full 10 days or so.

You'll also find a place to record your stats at the end of each cycle. This will help you see the amazing progress you've made.

All of the values that are calculated (lean mass and fat mass) are simply based on your body weight and body fat percentage. For example, 10% body fat at a body weight of 200 pounds would mean you have 20 pounds of body fat and 180 pounds of lean mass.

Calorie Levels, Cycling, and More

Once you know your lean mass, you simply enter that number in the calculator along with your activity level. Don't overestimate your activity level. For example, if you haven't been exercising regularly for a while, your metabolism probably won't fit in the “moderately active” level.

The values calculated on this page are just estimates so they aren't going to be even close to perfect for everyone.

It does give you a good starting point if you have no idea where to start, though. You can always adjust up or down based on your results each week.

Once you enter your lean mass and activity factor, you'll see your personal numbers populated throughout the page.

You will now have your personal calorie levels. If you're focusing on fat loss, start with fat loss level 1 during your program. If you're focusing on building muscle, start with muscle building level 1 for your program.

You will only move to the next calorie level when absolutely necessary. Make sure you read and understand the WLC System as you will always opt for more exercise during fat loss cycles versus a decrease in calories and you will always opt for more calories during muscle building cycles.

You will then find the pre and post workout meal calculator as well as the basic calorie cycling calculator. All of this is explained in detail within the WLC System Manual.

Meal Planning Sheet

The meal planning sheet allows you to easily setup your meal plans and gives you all the macronutrient targets based on your target percentages and calorie intake target.

Choosing your personal target percentages is discussed in detail within the WLC System but I do give you acceptable ranges for each:

Protein = 30% to 50% of your total calorie intake
Carbohydrates = 25% to 55% of your total calorie intake
Fat = 15% to 30% of your total calorie intake

A 40P/40C/20F split is a good starting point or a 30P/50C/20F is another good starting point if you use the healthiest food sources.

People who are sensitive to carbohydrates and trying to lose maximum amounts of body fat can try the minimum amount of carbs at 25%. You will see that I NEVER recommend very low carb intake because getting the most from your workouts is the most important and you need fuel to do so.

You should strive to hit your target percentages each day but it's okay if not perfect. If you get it averaged out over the week to about the right percentages, you will do great. If you accidentally mess up, that's okay too as you'll be able to measure your results and see if that combination worked better for you.

Food Database

You will enter all of the foods you normally have as a part of your meal plan and continue adding to your personal food database as you eat new foods.

This worksheet makes counting calories very, very easy. Once you get the hang of this, you'll be able to count calories for each day in just a couple of minutes. You'll not only get calories, but you'll also get you protein, carb, and fat intake.

The quantity column should be changed to whatever serving size you typically eat or serving size you find on the nutrition labels for each food. The eaten column then changes based on the amount you have eaten.

For example, you might enter 100 grams of minced beef in the quantity column. If you eat 275 grams of minced beef for a given meal, you would enter 2.75 in the eaten column as you had 2.75 servings of the minced beef. If you would have eaten 100 grams, you would have entered 1 in the eaten column. If you have eaten 500 grams, you would have entered 5 in the eaten column.

So the eaten column actually means # of servings while the quantity column means serving size.

Cardio Log

You will find many different fields of data to record for your cardio sessions. These fields are based on the use of a heart rate watch.

If you don't have a heart rate watch, just record what you know to help track your progress.

For example, I included a field for average heart rate so you can track how difficult each workout was for your heart. You should always strive to workout your heart progressively. Over time, your average heart rate might decrease based on your fitness levels increasing.

Average heart rate during each workout isn't a requirement to track but it's something fun to track to show you how hard your heart is working during each workout.

Simply strive to stay within your target heart rate zone each workout. If you did that successfully, your average heart rate will be within that target heart rate zone. So it's also good to see that you've hit your target heart rate each cardio workout.

Rep Calculator

The rep calculator can be used to help you estimate the amount of weight you should be lifting on each weight lifting exercise. It's also good for you to see progress you are making.

For example, you might have lifted 200 pounds for 10 reps in a given workout and another time you lifted 250 for 4 reps. Did your overall strength increase? This calculator can give you an estimate of your rep maxes for each of those workouts. Your 1 rep max for the 200-10 workout is 267 pounds while the 250-4 workout is 273 pounds so you did get stronger overall by approximately 6 pounds on your 1 rep max.

This calculator is independent of units so pounds, kilograms, or any other unit of measure can be used. If you enter kilograms, it outputs in kilograms. If you use pounds, it outputs in pounds.

Carb Cycling

The carb cycling chart can be used for both muscle building and fat loss goals BUT you should always try the basic carb cycling with each program before moving on to more advanced carb cycling methods.

The basic carb cycling schedule can be found on the “Calorie Levels, Cycling, More” worksheet.

Give that carb cycling schedule a shot before you go to the more advanced carb cycling tab. Carb cycling can be done using many different methods so please check the WLC System Manual for details.