Workout Journal

Obsidian Workout Journal Plugin

This plugin aims to provide a comprehensive workout tracking solution within Obsidian. The focus is on providing a user experience reminiscent of dedicated fitness apps, while allowing enough customization and flexibility to fit various Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) and personal workflows.

The project originally started as a fork of the very nice Obsidian Workout Tracker plugin. But the new feature set has grown to such an extent that I want to share it as a separate plugin.

So far the plugin is mostly self-tested and was specifically designed to be used in my own vault. But I hope it can be useful to others as well, and I welcome any feedback, bug reports, or contributions.

Features

• 💪 Exercise Logging: Track sets, reps, weights, duration, and distances
• 🧩 Workout Templates/Routines: Create reusable routines that you repeatedly train and keep notes on your sessions
• 🗓️ Workout Plans: Create structured Workout Plans build from routines
• 📚 Exercise Library: Build your own exercise library with muscle group targeting
• 📝 Simple Note Creation: Simple and intuitive UI in settings to manage templates, plans, and library
• 🏋️ Active Workout Sessions: Start an interactive workout session in a dedicated window, quickly log exercise values, add new sets, exercises, and notes on the fly (closely mirror the experience of a dedicated fitness app)
• ⏱️ Rest Timer: Built-in rest timer to keep track of rest periods between sets
• 📆 Date Management: Automatic date formatting and file organization
• ⚙️ Customizable: Configurable folders, add to the templates to improve compatibility with your current vault
• 📊 Statistics & Analytics: View comprehensive workout statistics and progress tracking
• 🗂️ Frontmatter Storage: Workout data stored in YAML frontmatter for easy parsing and editing
• ✍️ Edit Workouts: Edit existing workouts with full frontmatter synchronization
• 📱 Mobile Support: Designed to work well on mobile devices for logging workouts in the Gym
• 🕒 Workout History: Each completed workout is saved as a separate markdown file with structured data and human-readable content. All data is furthermore stored in a csv file for easy analysis and migration to other tools if desired.
• 🔄 Import from Strong App: Easily import workout data (workout.csv) from the Strong App to quickly migrate your existing workout history into Obsidian, with an option to create an exercise note for each unique exercise encountered during import

Installation

With BRAT (Recommended for Beta Testing)1. Install the BRAT plugin in Obsidian

2. Open BRAT settings and click "Add Beta plugin"
3. Enter this repo URL: https://github.com/I-am-Rudi/obsidian-workout-journal.git
4. Choose version (e.g., latest or a specific release tag)
5. Click Add Plugin
6. Enable Workout Journal in Settings → Community Plugins

Manual Installation (Development)

1. Clone or download this repository
2. Copy the plugin folder to your vault's .obsidian/plugins/ directory
3. Install dependencies: npm install
4. Build the plugin: npm run build
5. Enable the plugin in Obsidian settings

From Obsidian Community Plugins (Coming Soon)

I will submit the plugin to the official Obsidian Community Plugins directory. Once approved, you can install it directly from the Obsidian app.

Usage (with some screenshots from the iOS version)

Interfaces Overview

• Ribbon Icon: Quick access to start a new workout or open the statistics view, includes a Quick Log option for creating a workout on the fly without a template

• Command Palette: Access all plugin commands for creating, editing, and viewing exercises, workouts, plans, and statistics

• Settings: Manage workout templates, exercise library, and plugin configuration, including date formatting and default folders as well as import options for Strong App data

Creating a New Workout

• Create a new workout while you perform it with "Quick Log"

• Use the command palette: "Workout Journal: Create New Workout"

• Use settings to create workout templates for your common routines (e.g., "Full Body Workout", "Leg Day", etc.)

• Create a routine from an already completed workout to reuse it in the future with the "Create Routine from Current Workout" command

• You can also directly create a workout file in the right folder with the right frontmatter and content structure, and the plugin will recognize it as a workout file. This is in general not recommended, use the Add .... Note command instead.

Active Workout Session

You can start an active workout session for any workout file created by the plugin. This opens a dedicated interface where you can quickly log exercise values, add new sets, exercises, and notes on the fly. The session is designed to closely mirror the experience of a dedicated fitness app, allowing you to focus on your workout while keeping your data organized.

This is possible from the ribbon menu, or by opening an existing routine and run Start Workout Session from Current Note command, or via the command palette.

Manage Exercises, Routines, and Workout Plans

• Use the settings interface to create and manage your exercise library, workout templates, and workout plans

• Create an exercise

• Create a routine/workout template

+

• Create a workout plan

• Do not forget to migrate to notes in the general settings after creating

Viewing Statistics

Use "Workout Journal: View Workout Statistics" to see comprehensive analytics about your workout progress.

Import History from Strong App

Strong App allows users to export their workout history as a CSV file. In the settings of the plugin, you can find an option to import this CSV file. The plugin will parse the CSV data and create individual workout files for each entry, preserving all relevant details such as exercises, sets, reps, weights, and notes. Additionally, there is an option to create exercise notes for each unique exercise encountered during the import process, allowing you to build your exercise library seamlessly from your Strong App data.

[!tip] Using the Create Routine from Current Workout command on a workout imported from Strong App is a great way to quickly migrate your existing workout routines into reusable templates within Obsidian.

[!warning] The definition of the exercises imported this way is incomplete, so it is recommended to edit the created exercise notes after import to add muscle group targeting and other relevant information.

Editing Existing Workouts

1. Open any workout file created by the plugin
2. Use "Workout Journal: Edit Current Workout" command
3. Modify exercises, sets, or notes
4. Save to update the frontmatter automatically

Exercise Templates

Insert exercise templates directly into your notes using "Workout Journal: Insert Exercise Template" command.

Workout File Format

The plugin creates structured markdown files with YAML frontmatter for data storage and human-readable content below:

---
wj-id: "1672531200000"
wj-date: "2025-06-26"
name: "Morning Run"
wj-duration: 30
wj-exercises:
  - name: "Running"
    sets:
      - duration: 30
        distance: 3
wj-notes: "Beautiful morning for a run"
wj-type: workout
---

# Morning Run

**Date:** 2025-06-26
**Duration:** 30 minutes

## Exercises

### Running

| Set | Reps | Weight | Duration | Distance | Rest |
| --- | ---- | ------ | -------- | -------- | ---- |
| 1   | -    | -      | 30       | 3        | -    |


## Notes

Beautiful morning for a run

Statistics & Analytics

Access comprehensive workout statistics including:

• Total workouts, exercises, and sets
• Total volume (weight lifted)
• Exercise frequency analysis
• Personal records tracking
• Workout streaks
• Recent activity summaries

Configuration

Access plugin settings through Settings → Community Plugins → Workout Journal:

• Default Workout Folder: Where workout files are saved
• Exercise Templates: Pre-configured exercises with defaults
• Workout Templates: Complete workout routines
• Date Format: Customize how dates appear in files

Development

Setup

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Development build with watch mode
npm run dev

# Production build
npm run build

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details