How To Make a Workout Plan in Excel [With Template]

Making your own workout plan in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet can be a great way to keep track of your workouts and progress. With the help of an Excel workout template, you can easily customize the spreadsheet to fit your needs – adding exercises, sets, reps, and rest periods. You can also use it to analyze your progress by tracking how much weight you lift, the total volume per exercise, and more.

In this article, I will show you how to make a workout plan using the provided template in Excel. We’ll walk through how to customize it and how to use each feature of the workout plan template.

Let’s get started!

If you prefer to watch a video, follow along with the below video. Otherwise, keep reading for step-by-step instructions.

After clicking on the verification link you will be redirected to the page with all of the free Excel templates.

2. Choose Your Workout Template

Once you landed on the templates download page, it’s time to choose the one that fits your needs.

Pick one from the selection of templates and click on the download button.

Templates will primarily differ in terms of the following:

• The number of total exercises you can track per workout. E.g. you can choose between versions that allow you to track 8 or 12 exercises.
• The ability to either track the weight used and the total reps for all sets for a given exercise. Or the weight and reps per individual set of an exercise. In other words, the latter allows you to see how much weight you lifted for your first, second, third set, etc. While the former allows you to see how much weight you lifted and how many reps you’ve done in total for a given exercise. For instance, for all three sets combined.

3. Download and Save the Template

Once you’ve chosen the template, downloading the spreadsheet is next.

As mentioned previously, you would need to click on the “Download” button to get the template.

Make sure to save it in a safe and easily accessible place on your device.

You can also change the file name if you like.

4. Make the Workout Plan

Now that you have the workout template, it’s time to start making your workout plan.

Once you open the template and you will notice that it already has a database of exercises, options for sets, reps, rest times, etc.

You will first need to go to the “Workout Setup” tab.

In this tab, you can customize how the workout plan will be structured. E.g. how many exercises will be done in each workout and how often workouts should be done throughout the week, etc.

Start making your workout plan by filling out the following information for every exercise in your workout routine:

• Muscle Group: the primary muscle group you use when performing any given exercise.
• Exercise: exercise you do for the particular muscle group.
• Sets: the number of sets of any given exercise you want to perform.
• Reps: repetitions or reps for short (number of repetitions you would do during a single set).
• Rest (Seconds): the time spent resting between sets.
• Weight: the weight you want to use when doing the exercise. It can be either in kilograms (kg) or pounds (lb), depending on which you prefer to use.
• Note: here you can write any kind of notes for yourself. For example, “superset XX exercise with XX exercise”, “use W-shaped bar”, “remember to keep core tight”, etc.

Make sure to fill in this information for each of the workout routines you plan to include in your weekly workout schedule.

5. Delete the Unused Exercise Rows, Columns, and Tabs

Once you have filled in the necessary information for your workout plan, delete the rows, columns, and tabs that are not being used.

For example, if you are creating a plan with 6 exercises, delete the remaining 2 rows that will not be used in this particular workout routine. Given that you chose to download the template that allows you to add up to 8 exercises.

For example, you can also delete the tabs representing weeks 7 and 8 if you chose to plan for 6 weeks.

Of course, this step is optional but can be helpful if you want to keep the template tidy and organized.

How To Track an Excercise Progress in Excel

Once you have made the workout plan, it is time to start tracking your workouts.

This is how you can do that:

1. Open Workout Plan in Excel Spreadsheets
2. Go to the Workout Week Tab
3. Fill In the Data As You Go
4. Analyze Exercise Progress Week-to-Week

1. Open Workout Plan in Excel Spreadsheets

First, open the workout plan you created in Excel.

You can open it either on your computer or on a Microsoft Excel mobile app. I recommend using the mobile app as it allows you to easily track your progress while you are working out in the gym.

2. Go to the Workout Week Tab

Once you open the spreadsheet, go to the tab representing the current workout week.

You can decide how you choose to name these tabs. For example, “Week 1”, “Week 2”, etc. to represent workout weeks or represent the calendar week that you are currently in.

3. Fill In the Data As You Go

Now that you are in the corresponding tab for the current workout week, it is time to start tracking each of the exercises.

I recommended recording results as you perform each exercise:

1. First, enter the weight used.
2. Then enter the number of reps you were able to do for that set.
3. Continue recording the number of reps done until you have finished all sets for a given exercise.
4. Then continue with the next exercise, and so on.

As you continue following your workout plan, continue recording the data in the corresponding tabs.

Note that for all consecutive weeks, the data will be pulled from the previous week to show how your previous week’s results – try to beat them to ensure that you are making progress.

So, for example, if you want to record a new set of results – just delete the formula in the cell that copies last week’s results and enter new data.

NOTE

More basic templates allow tracking the weight used and reps performed for total sets of a given exercise. An advanced template allows tracking the weight used and reps performed for each set, which can be more helpful if you are following a certain rep scheme, or want to track your workouts in more detail.

All templates also automatically calculate the total volume for each exercise (total weight lifted in all sets).

4. Analyze Exercise Progress Week-to-Week

After you have been tracking your workouts for several weeks, you can start analyzing your weekly progress per exercise.

To do this, simply go to the “Performance Tracker” tab and look “Volume Tracker” table.

In the table, each exercise is listed on its own row.

Columns represent each week and the volume for that exercise.

You can easily compare the total volume for each exercise, as well as the percentage change from week-to-week.

In addition, this table includes some conditional formatting so you can see how you are progressing:

• Green color – means an increase in progress
• Red color – means a decrease in progress
• Yellow color – means no change in progress

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Add New Exercises to the Excel Workout Template Database?

Follow these steps to add a new exercise to the database:

1. Go to the “DATA” tab.
2. Find the appropriate muscle group to which you want to add the new exercise.
3. Click on the empty cell right under the last exercise that represents exercises associated with that muscle group.
4. Type in the name of the exercise, and press “Enter”.

How to Change Default Options for Sets, Reps, and Rest in Excel Workout Template?

Follow these steps:

1. Go to the “DATA” tab.
2. Find the column with a header name that represents what you want to edit.
3. Click on the empty cell right under the last option.
4. Type in the new selection option you want to add.

Note, you can also change the current option(s) by double-clicking on it and changing the value.

From now on, when creating a new workout in the “Workout Setup” tab, you’ll be able to select the newly added/changed option.

Why Does Excel Workout Template Allow to Follow a Program For Up To 12 Weeks?

On purpose, I set the limit to 12 weeks.

I believe that it is the most prolonged period of time that you can follow one workout plan without switching it up in any of the variables such as sets, reps, exercises, rest periods, etc.

So, after 12 weeks (or even less) I suggest changing your workout routine in some way.

This will allow your body to continue being challenged and will help prevent plateaus.

After the 12-week period, you can just create a new copy of the exercise planner template and create a new workout program.

How to Change Workout Plan in Excel After Creating It?

You have a few options on how to change your workout plan after creating it:

• If you are within the first week of your training program, simply go to the “Workout Setup” tab and edit the exercises, sets, or reps.
• If you have been following the plan for a few weeks, then you can go to the current week’s tab and type in the new exercises, sets, and reps. This data will also get copied to the consecutive weeks so it will be applied to the rest of your workout plan. However, the new data will not be correctly recorded in the “Performance Tracker” tab.
• The last option is to just create a copy of the blank workout template and make a new workout plan from the beginning. This way, all the data from the “Performance Tracker” tab will be correctly recorded.

How to Access Microsoft Excel Workout Templates

Here is how you can access Excel workout templates:

1. Fill in your email address in the form below.
2. Confirm your email address by clicking on the confirmation link in the email you will receive.
3. You will then be redirected to the workout template download page.
4. Click the download button(s) to get the template(s) you want.

Something went wrong. Please try again.

You are almost there. But first, go to your email inbox and click the confirmation button.

I hope this article has been helpful in understanding how to make a workout plan in Excel. If you have any questions or suggestions on how to make the template better, please contact me.

Germans is a writer, fitness enthusiast and the guy behind GFitness Online. He continuously educates himself and writes about various fitness topics. He is educated in sales and marketing management and has experience in digital marketing and content creation.