Workouts Tab vs. Exercises Tab

Okay, you've set up your exercises and workouts and are ready to go to the gym and complete your sets. There are two ways to enter sets: either in the Workouts area or in the Exercises area.

What is the difference? Not much, actually. Sets entered in the Workouts area are assigned to the exercise and the current workout, while sets entered in the Exercises area are assigned to the exercise only. That's essentially the only difference.

In the Workouts section, you will find an ordered list of selected exercises with workout parameters. In the Exercises section, however, you can quickly and easily access all exercises.

So, suppose you're in the gym, and your usual machine is occupied, and you decide to do an alternate exercise. Do you have to add this new exercise to the workout? No. Just go to the Exercises menu, select the exercise, and enter your set. Then go back to the Workouts menu area and continue with the workout.

In GymACE, sets are subdivided into Sessions depending on when they were recorded, not where. All sets within a period of 4 hours form a session.

This allows you to flexibly adapt your workout if need be. Be it due to occupied machines, injuries or pain, or just to try something new.

The Training Screen

The training screen consists of three sections. The top section contains all exercise notes and three countdown timers, and you enter your data there. If it is a strength exercise, your personal record One Rep Maximum will be displayed for this exercise.

The middle section contains a list of all previous sets of the exercise, grouped by session. The topmost session is the current session. By selecting a set in the list you can edit the set.

The lower section contains buttons for displaying exercise descriptions or exercise progress graphs. When in Workout mode, there are arrows that allow you to move back and forth from exercise to exercise.

Entering a Set

After you have completed a set, you have to enter the result. GymACE prefills the input fields with default values based on the following information:

• If you have never done the exercise, the default values are all 0.
• Otherwise, for the first set of an exercise in a session, the values from the first set of the previous session are taken over. For the second set, the values are taken from the second set of the previous session, and so on. It will also look at former sessions until a matching record number was found.

If the default values are correct, all you have to do is tap the input button (the big circle with the check mark). Otherwise just touch a field and enter the value with the keyboard.

In addition, you can enter a note. Here's the perfect place to type in comments on the set, such as the weight was too heavy or a spotter helped. The annotation is then displayed throughout the history along with the set.

If a field is to be 0, you must select it and actually enter 0 (if the default value is not 0), otherwise the default value will be used. For example, if only the number of repetitions should be recorded in a body weight exercise, enter 0 in the weight field.

After tapping on the input button, the set will be stamped with the current time and will now appear in the sets list. If you have made a mistake, simply select the set to correct it. A set can be edited at any point where it appears by selecting it. You can change the date and time, the values and the note. Do not forget to tap 'Save' after editing.

What about units?

You may have noticed so far that the weight field contains no unit, eg. lbs or kg. The reason is simple: it is not needed.

In the weight field, you can count whatever affects the weight. It can be 10 kg, 10 lbs or 10 plates in a weight stack. You can add the weight of the barbell or not. You can count the weight of a single dumbbell or both. You can calculate the effective weight of the leg press with 45° sled or not. Do it the way it is most comfortable for you. It just has to be consistent. Count the same thing every time. And most of all, use GymACE regularly to get complete data about your workout history.