Need some easy help regarding graphs

[jpiva]

When I say "easy", I mean it for you experts! .. I just can't wrap my head around it this morning..

I'm trying to input the data and create a graph to chart my weightlifting progress. I'd like to make a graph for each workout, and eventually compare the first workout to the last workout. Some sample information:

Exercise Set 1 Set 2 Set 3
Military Press 135x8 145x8 145x7
Low Row 120x8 120x8 120x8
... ... ... ....

So basically I've listed 2 exercises, and I would like to chart this with a line graph, showing the weight on one axis and the number of reps on another axis. Each exercise will have a seperate line color associated with it.

I just can't figure it out and I'm getting frustrated now :x Can anyone help me?

Thanks very much!

 

[Jon Peltier]

You going to try plotting each set, or do some kind of average? Each set will become so cluttered.

What I used to do when I plotted this kind of thing (now I look back over the past two weeks and that's a long enough look), was lay out the charts for the dozen or so exercises into an array of charts like three columns by four rows. Each chart had the same format, so it was easy to tell at a glance how I was doing on all of them. This is what visual display expert Edward Tufte calls "small multiples", though I didn't know it had such a fancy name at the time.

Each chart was essentially a line chart with dates along the bottom, weight on the primary (left) Y axis, and reps on the secondary Y axis. I could readily track weight and reps, and when reps got to a certain point I knew to up the weight. I only did two sets of each (unless you're in the Olympics, most exercise physiologists don't think the third set helps very much), and I charted only the second set.

To get the data into plotting format, I listed the dates in column A, the weight and reps for Exercise 1 in columns B and C, Exercise 2 in D and E, etc. Each chart used column A for its dates, and its other two columns for Y values. With the data in this format, you could also make an XY (not Line) chart using just the two value series (weight and reps), but I found this harder to really grasp what was going on.