Coaching in Google Sheets

We make CoachBlocks, which is programming software for coaches. It replaces one part of what your spreadsheet does and none of the rest, so you should read this knowing who wrote it.

Most coaches who read this page should not switch. A spreadsheet you built yourself and know your way around is a genuinely good tool, and swapping it for software you have to learn is usually a bad trade.

There is one argument here and it is narrow. Working out the next block's loads for a roster is the part of the job a spreadsheet makes you repeat by hand. A completed set can prepare the next weights for that lift. The client trains through one link with no account or app, and returns to the first unfinished workout. That is the reason to consider moving.

What a spreadsheet does well

It is free, at any number of clients, forever.
It bends to whatever you want. Any column, any formula, any structure.
You own the file. It sits in your Drive, it opens without us, and if you stop paying somebody it does not go anywhere.
It holds everything: training, nutrition notes, measurements, video links, invoices, in one file you can see at once.
You both already know how to use it.

Where it breaks with a full roster

The arithmetic is manual and you do it again every block, for every weighted exercise on the roster.
Rounding quietly lies. A 15 kg curl at 95, 100 and 105 per cent rounds to 15, 15 and 15: three identical weeks that read as a working block.
The client is scrolling a grid on a phone between sets, where one wrong tap deletes a formula you wrote six months ago.
What comes back is patchy, so next month starts from what you asked for rather than what they did.

What CoachBlocks does not do

No nutrition, no check-in forms, no messaging, no payments or invoicing, no video hosting, no group or team programming, no custom branding.
It suggests loads for weighted lifts and nothing else. Bodyweight reps, a time, a distance and a rep range all reach the client, but the numbers in them are yours to write and yours to change.
Export is a CSV, per client or the whole account. There is no PDF and no print view.
Your client only ever sees their newest block. The history is yours, not theirs.
Each lift climbs in the step you set for it, but there is no plate inventory per gym, so an odd rack is still yours to correct.

The same client, both ways

C3fx=D3*1.05

ABCDEF

1ExerciseSets/repswk1wk 2Wk3wk4 deload

2Back squat4x59510010585 (3 sets)

3incline db press3x8-1224kg242424 - 2 sets

4Pull ups4x6-8BWbwbw3 sets

5plank3x45s50 s5545

6Sled push4x20m3x20

8notes: pause squats

DanielSamPriya+ 8 more

A coaching spreadsheet. Daniel's tab: units typed by hand where they were typed at all, a formula per cell, and nothing saying what he actually did.

Daniel OkaforBlock 3 · Day 1

Sent

Exercise · typeWeek 1Week 2Week 3Wk 4 · lighter

Each week: sets × reps, then load

Back squatBarbell

4 × 595 kg

4 × 5100 kg

4 × 5105 kg

3 × 585 kg

Incline dumbbell pressDumbbells

3 × 8 to 1224 kg

2 × 8 to 1224 kg

Pull-upsBodyweight

4 × 6 to 8BW

3 × 6 to 8BW

PlankTime

3 ×45 s

3 ×50 s

3 ×55 s

3 ×45 s

Sled pushDistance

4 ×20 m

3 ×20 m

Logged: week 1 and week 2, every set as writtenNext block: from what he lifted

The same client in CoachBlocks. Every row labelled with its type, a unit on every load, and what he logged sitting beside what was asked for.

The line, and which side you are on

There is no client count that makes a spreadsheet stop working. The useful line is whether repeated load arithmetic, formatting and collecting completed sets now create more work than a dedicated tool removes.

Stay on Sheets if:

Your roster is small and the repeated work is still easy to manage.
You enjoy building systems and yours works.
You want the software to write the programming. It does the arithmetic on loads and nothing else; every exercise, rep and progression is still yours.
You need one file to hold training, nutrition, check-ins and invoicing.
You want to own the file outright.
You programme groups or teams rather than individuals.

Consider moving if:

You repeat the same load calculations across a roster every block.
Most of what you write is barbell, dumbbell and machine work with loads that climb.
You keep looking up the last block's numbers and recalculating percentages.
Your clients do not reliably fill the sheet in, so what you get back is thin.

If you do move

Adding a client is a name, three dropdowns that arrive already filled in, and then the part that matters: the exercises they are doing now, with the weight, reps and sets from their last session. That last bit is the whole intake, and it is the same information you already have in a column somewhere.

You do not need to bring the history. The next block is built from what they log from here, so the sheet can stay exactly where it is as an archive, and probably should.

For a practical sequence, read how to move strength coaching clients from Google Sheets.

The first 3 clients are free and stay free. Past that it is $39 a month for up to 30 clients. Not a trial.

While we are small we will do the first migration with you on a call, free. Just ask.

If you are choosing between coaching software rather than leaving a spreadsheet, read how CoachBlocks compares with TrueCoach.

Try the arithmetic before you try the product

If the rounding problem above is the bit you recognised, there is a free program builder on this site that does that part and nothing else. Put in a set one of your clients actually did and it gives you four weeks of loads, rounded to the step your equipment makes. No account, no email, nothing to install.

If it does not remove work you repeat, you have a spreadsheet that already works.

Try the free program builder

Keep the spreadsheet for the work CoachBlocks does not cover. Use CoachBlocks for load arithmetic, formatting and delivery.

Start free3 clients free.