Two paths in.
Logbook accepts your program in whatever form you already have it. Unstructured text goes through an interpreter; Logbook Notation is parsed deterministically.
Plain prose.
Paste a PDF, paste an email from your coach, dictate it. The importer structures the text and shows you the result before saving.
Logbook Notation.
A compact, workout-first syntax. Detected automatically by a small frontmatter block. No AI in the loop.
Frontmatter.
A YAML block at the top tells the importer this is Logbook Notation. Without it the source is treated as prose.
format: logbook- The detection key. Required · if absent the file falls back to prose interpretation.
version: 1- Pins the notation schema. Always write
1.
name: …- The program name shown in the Programs list and on Today.
weeks: N- Number of Program Weeks the program rotates through. Program Weeks advance with training progression, not calendar time.
Workouts and exercises.
Each ## heading is a workout in the rotation. Lines below it are its exercises. Identity on the left, prescription on the right, separated by /.
Squat (belt on) / 4x5 @8 · name, optional cue note in parentheses, then sets×reps and intensity. The shorthand stays the shorthand lifters already write on paper; Logbook stores it as a structured Weekly Exercise Prescription under the hood.
Intensity modifiers.
All four are first-class. Mix and match per exercise; the importer keeps the shorthand intact and surfaces it back in the session view.
@8@8.5- RPE, 1–10 scale. Decimals supported.
RIR2- Reps in reserve. For programs written that way instead of in RPE.
80%- Percent of estimated 1RM. The lifter resolves the load; Logbook never auto-prescribes weights.
4x3-5- Four sets of three to five reps. Rep ranges are first-class.
Cue and variation notes.
A short note in parentheses immediately after the exercise name attaches to that exercise. It stays visible in Today, Active Session, and the History detail. Use it for cues ((belt on)), variations ((pause), (close grip)), or anything you'd write in the margin of a paper notebook.
Per-week prescriptions.
Different prescriptions across the block, same workout skeleton.
Indent prescription lines under the exercise and prefix each with a Program Week selector. A single number, a range, or omit the prefix to apply the prescription to every week.
Two deliberate rules: an exercise is either all-weeks inline or week-scoped, never both. And omitted weeks mean the exercise is absent in those weeks. Logbook never silently extends a prescription across weeks you didn't write.
Absence is meaningful. If you didn't write Week 3, Bench Press isn't in Week 3.
What it won't do.
The notation is sharp because it's narrow. Two limits worth stating up front.
Workout-first only.
The notation optimises for the case where the same workout skeleton repeats across Program Weeks with different prescriptions. If your block has materially different workouts in different weeks, model them as separate active programs instead of one complex program.
The skeleton repeats. Only the prescriptions change.
The lifter resolves the load.
Logbook never auto-prescribes weights from RPE or percent. The numbers are the lifter's call. The notation records intent, not predictions.
RPE and percent are intent, not weight. You still pick the bar.
Write your next block in fifteen lines.
Open Logbook, tap New Program, paste the example on the right.