How to program workouts in advance and log against the plan
Programming in advance means deciding the work before the day arrives so the gym is execution, not decision-making. This guide covers what to write down, how far ahead to plan, and how Method keeps the plan and the log connected.
ExplainerUpdated 5 min readMarkdown version
Why plan before the day
A session that starts with "what should I do today" loses time and drifts toward what feels good. A session that starts with a plan is execution. You walk in knowing the lifts, the sets, the reps, the effort, and the rest. The only decisions left are the loads, and even those can be seeded from your last session.
Planning ahead also makes the log worth reading. When every completed session has a prescription beside it, you can see which weeks went as written and which did not, and the numbers in your history are comparable week to week.
What to write down for each session
A useful prescription answers five questions for every exercise.
| Question | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| What | The exercise | Back squat |
| How many sets | Set count and type | 4 working sets, 2 warm-ups |
| How many reps | Exact, a range, or as many as possible | 6, or 6 to 8, or AMRAP |
| How hard | Reps in reserve or RPE, halves allowed | 2 RIR, or RPE 8 |
| How long between | Rest in seconds | 180 |
Optional extras that earn their place are tempo, a note for the set or the exercise, a superset tag to pair exercises, and a load instruction relative to another set, such as "90% of the top set".
Method's editor holds all of these. Set types are warm-up, working, backoff, drop, failure, and custom. Reps can be exact, a range, or AMRAP. Intensity is RIR or RPE with decimals. Rest, tempo, and notes sit on each set. Supersets are a tag on the exercise.
How far ahead
Plan in blocks you can review. Four to six weeks is long enough to see a pattern in your numbers and short enough that the plan still matches your life. Write the first week carefully, duplicate it, then adjust the copies.
Method's free tier holds 6 weeks of total programming across all your programs, with warnings at 3 and 5 weeks. Pro removes that limit; a single program can run to 52 weeks, with up to 20 sessions per week.
How Method holds the plan
A program has blocks, weeks, and sessions. A session holds strength exercises and cardio activities. Each exercise has its sets with the prescription above. Cardio activities carry a target of their own, a distance or a duration, and can include intervals.
Sessions are scheduled to dates. The iPhone calendar shows the week with each session in place, and the Library holds saved sessions you can start on any day. Programs, saved sessions, and custom exercises are built on the web, where there is room to work, and the iPhone app shows the same structure for smaller edits.
Tools for editing a plan as a whole
Writing a block once is the easy part. Revising it is where most tools fall down. Method's editor treats the program as a structure.
- Duplicate a week and choose how many copies to make.
- Reorder days within a week and apply that order to other weeks.
- Bulk edit any prescription field across a scope, from the current session, selected sessions, the current week, selected weeks, a range of weeks, or every week. Filter by which sets or exercises to touch, for example the last set of each exercise or every second set.
- Swap an exercise across the whole program, keeping the prescription when the modality matches, including strength for cardio.
- Save a session to the Library and import it into any program later.
A single substitution in the current session is free. The wider scopes are part of Method Pro.
Logging against the plan
On the day, start the scheduled session on iPhone. Each set shows its prescription. If suggested loads are on, Method proposes a weight from your most recent eligible set for that exercise, with the calculation shown. Tick the set, and the rest timer starts for the rest written on that set, visible on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. Change anything you need to in the moment. The log records what happened.
Every completed workout stores the prescription it was started from as a snapshot. That is why history shows a session as partial when an exercise fell short, and why editing the program later never changes a record of the past.
When the plan and the week disagree
Moving a session to another day, skipping one, or adding an ad hoc workout are all normal. Method keeps planned and completed as separate facts. A skipped session is marked skipped. A session trained on a different day shows as moved. An ad hoc workout is recorded without pretending it was planned. Program counts show planned to date, completed, skipped, and upcoming, and Method deliberately leaves out an adherence percentage, because one number flattens a skipped deload and a missed heavy day into the same score.
Common questions
- How far ahead should I program?
- Far enough that each week can be judged against the one before it. Four to six weeks is a common block. Method's free tier holds 6 weeks of programming in total; Pro is unlimited, up to 52 weeks per program.
- Can I change a program after it starts?
- Yes. Edit any future session, duplicate or reorder weeks, bulk edit a field across a range of weeks, or swap an exercise across the whole program. Completed sessions keep the prescription they were started from, so history does not change when the plan does.
- Does Method write the program for me?
- No. You write it. Method holds it, schedules it, guides each session, and shows you what happened. It suggests loads from your own log when you turn that on, and that is the extent of it.
- What if I train on a different day than planned?
- Start the session from the calendar or library on the day you train it. Method keeps planned and completed separate, so a session moved in the week is visible as moved and the log still records what you did and when.
Try Method
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Related reading
Strength training program tracker: what to look for, and how Method does it
A logger records sets. A program tracker holds the plan, schedules it, logs against it, and keeps the two connected. This page lists the capabilities that matter and states exactly what Method does and does not do for each.
How Method suggests a load: the calculation, the inputs, and when it stays quiet
A suggested load is a calculation from your own log, not a recommendation engine. This guide shows the two-step formula, which set Method reads, how it rounds, and every reason a set might show no suggestion.
Method vs Hevy: a workout tracker comparison for people who plan their training
Hevy is a social gym logger built around routines. Method is a program-first planner and logger. This page lays out exactly where they differ so you can pick the one that fits how you train.
Where Method runs: iPhone, Apple Watch, and web
A plain list of the devices Method runs on, the minimum versions, what each surface is for, and what Method does not support, so nobody installs it and finds out the hard way.
Method writes and maintains this page. Every statement about Method is checked against the shipped product. If something here is out of date, email contact@methodapp.net. For general references, link to the Method homepage.