Progressive Overload Spreadsheet (Free Template)

Download

Progressive overload tracker (.xlsx)

It opens in Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice, and Numbers. Nothing to sign up for, and no macros.

This template calculates targets from the reps you enter. Enter six settings once, log the reps you actually complete, and the target weight and target reps for every following session update themselves.

How to use it

1. Open the file and set the six values at the top: exercise name, starting weight, the lowest rep count across your previous working sets at that weight, the bottom and top of your rep range, and the smallest weight increase you can load.
2. Train. Put the reps you completed in the Reps completed column.
3. Read the next row for your next target.

Use one copy per exercise. A squat and a lateral raise need different rep ranges and different increments, and a single sheet trying to serve both ends up serving neither.

Leave Reps completed blank and the sheet assumes you hit the target, which is what makes the untouched download show a full example plan.

The rule it runs

The sheet applies double progression: hold the weight and add a rep per session until you reach the top of your rep range, then add the smallest increase you can load and drop back to the bottom of the range.

Two formulas do the work. For each session, the target weight is:

=IF(IF(D11="",C11,D11)>=$B$8, B11+$B$9, B11)

and the target reps are:

=IF(IF(D11="",C11,D11)>=$B$8, $B$7, MIN(IF(D11="",C11,D11)+1,$B$8))

Reading the inner part first: IF(D11="",C11,D11) is "the reps you logged, or the target if you left it blank". Everything else follows from that number. If it reached the top of your range ($B$8), the weight goes up by your increment ($B$9) and the reps reset to the bottom of the range ($B$7). Otherwise the weight stays and the target goes up by one rep.

To adapt the progression rule, edit the weight and rep formulas and copy the changes through the remaining session rows.

What happens when you miss

This is the part a static template cannot do. If your target was 10 and you managed 8, put 8 in the column. The next target becomes 9 at the same weight, not 11, and the weight increase moves back until you actually earn it.

A sheet that keeps prescribing targets you already missed is a sheet you stop opening by week three.

Two missed targets are a reason to review the load, effort, and recovery, not proof that you have a plateau. Why your lifts stopped progressing works through the usual causes in the order worth checking them.

Limits worth knowing

• It plans 24 sessions for one exercise. Copy the sheet per lift.
• It records one rep result per session, not each set separately. If you use an all-sets progression rule at a shared weight and rep range, enter the lowest rep count across your working sets, not just the best or last set.
• It cannot tell whether your rep range or increment is sensible, only that the top of the range is not below the bottom.
• It knows nothing about deloads, missed weeks, illness, or a calorie deficit. Progressive overload without adding weight covers what to do when load progression is not available.
• Targets are a schedule, not a forecast. Whether you hit them depends on sleep, food, stress, and technique. If something hurts, or an injury or medical condition could change the answer, speak to a qualified professional rather than following a row in a spreadsheet.

If you would rather not keep a spreadsheet

The arithmetic is easy. Remembering to open the file, finding the right row mid-session, and keeping one sheet per exercise in sync is the part that fails.

If you only want to see the plan without downloading anything, the progressive overload calculator runs the same rule in your browser.

If the problem is the upkeep rather than the maths, that is what a workout app is for. Lift stores the rep range and progression rule on each exercise, shows last session's sets on the set you are about to log, and calculates targets from your previous sets and chosen settings. Automatic progression is part of Lift Premium, which includes a 2-week free trial. See how the Lift app handles progressive overload.

A notebook, this spreadsheet, and an app can all support double progression, with different levels of detail and automation. Pick whichever one you will still be using in six weeks.