GoodNotes Workout Template: Build One for Your iPad

Quick answer: GoodNotes has no built-in workout template, but you can import any PDF as reusable notebook paper in about two minutes: Settings, Manage Notebook Templates, Import. Build one page with columns for exercise, weight, reps and notes, save it as a template, and every workout gets a fresh copy.

Search "goodnotes workout template" and the results are almost entirely paid planners: Etsy listings, template shops, twenty-dollar fitness dashboards.

You do not need any of them. A workout log is one table, and GoodNotes will happily turn your own one-page PDF into infinite notebook paper for free.

Does GoodNotes have a workout template built in?

No. The stock template library covers ruled, grid and planner-style paper, and the official GoodNotes Marketplace sells third-party fitness planners, but there is no dedicated workout log in the built-in set.

That is less of a problem than it sounds, because GoodNotes lets you import your own template. Any single-page PDF can become notebook paper that regenerates with every new page.

One warning before you buy a fancy planner instead: a 40-page planner PDF works as a document, but if you import it as a template, only the first page is kept. Simple one-page layouts fit the template system best.

What should a GoodNotes workout template include?

Five columns and nothing else. The planner shops sell pages with mood trackers, water intake and motivational quotes. The parts you will still be filling in six months from now are:

• Date and session name at the top: Mon 12 Aug, Push A.
• Exercise column.
• Weight column.
• Reps column, wide enough for 10, 9, 8 per set.
• Notes column for the things numbers miss: "left shoulder clicked", "belt on top set".

There is evidence behind keeping the log this boring. A meta-analysis of 138 studies by Harkin and colleagues, covering 19,951 people, found that prompting people to monitor progress toward a goal reliably improved attainment, and the effect was larger when progress was physically recorded. The recording is the active ingredient. The decoration is not.

How do you import a workout template into GoodNotes?

1. Make a one-page PDF. Draw the table in Pages, Word or Canva, sized to the paper you use in GoodNotes (A4 or A5 works well). Export as PDF.
2. Open GoodNotes Settings from the Documents view, then choose Manage Notebook Templates.
3. Scroll to the end of a category and tap Import, then pick your PDF from Files. GoodNotes recommends importing a PDF rather than an image so it stays sharp at any zoom.
4. Create a group called Training so the template is easy to find, and set it as the paper for your workout notebook.
5. Add a page per session. Every new page arrives with your blank table on it.

For recurring blocks like your warm-up or a favourite superset, the Elements tool lets you save any lassoed handwriting as a reusable sticker and drop it onto future pages.

Can you search handwritten workout notes in GoodNotes?

Yes, and this is the genuine advantage over paper. GoodNotes indexes your handwriting, so searching your notes for "bench press" can surface every session that mentions it, across notebooks, in 30+ supported languages.

Two caveats matter for a training log.

Imported files are only searchable if they already contain a text layer. GoodNotes does not run OCR on imported PDFs or images, so photographing your old paper logbook and importing it produces pages that search cannot see.

Search finds pages, not numbers. It can show you every page containing "squat". It cannot tell you what your best squat was, or whether the weight has moved in eight weeks. You still do the reading and comparing yourself.

How much does GoodNotes cost for workout logging?

The official pricing breaks down like this:

• Free: 3 files and 100MB of storage. One workout notebook fits comfortably inside that limit, so a training log alone can stay free indefinitely.
• Essential, $11.99 a year: unlimited files and 5GB.
• Pro, $35.99 a year: adds cross-platform sync and collaboration.
• Special Edition: a one-time purchase on Apple devices, without cloud sync.

GoodNotes runs on iPad, iPhone, Mac, Android, Windows and the web, though it is at its best with an Apple Pencil. If you would rather type than write, the same table logic works in our Apple Notes workout template, and spreadsheet fans should look at the Apple Numbers version.

Where does a handwritten GoodNotes log fall short?

At the exact moment the log is supposed to pay off. Writing by hand mid-session is pleasant and fast. Answering "what did I lift three Tuesdays ago, and is it going up?" is where handwriting stops helping.

GoodNotes stores pages and computes nothing from them. It will not total your volume, estimate a max, draw a chart or notice a personal record. Every trend has to be reconstructed by flipping pages, the same as a paper notebook, just with better search.

A simple starting plan

1. Build the five-column PDF today. Fifteen minutes in Pages or Canva, exported once, used forever.
2. Import it as a notebook template and start a notebook called Training.
3. Log every set the same way: exercise, weight, reps per set, one honest note.
4. Turn on handwriting indexing in Settings so old sessions stay findable.
5. Once a month, review the last four pages of each main lift. If the weights have not moved, change something. Our guide to tracking gym progress covers what to look for.

If you want the tracking without giving up the writing

A GoodNotes log gets the important part right. Logging stays fast and entirely in your own words, with no menus between you and the page.

Gym Note Plus keeps that plain-text freedom and adds the part handwriting cannot do.

• Type bench 80kg 10,9,8 the way you would write it, and it becomes structured, charted sets.
• Progress on every exercise appears as a trend, with no page flipping.
• Personal records surface automatically instead of hiding on page 47.
• Your old notes import, so history counts from day one.

Curious what your handwriting habits look like as data? Type one session into the free notes to workout translator and see.

The template is not the hard part of a workout log. The hard part is seeing the trend, and that is the one thing a beautiful page cannot show you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does GoodNotes have a workout template?

GoodNotes does not include a workout template in its built-in library. The GoodNotes Marketplace sells third-party fitness planners, and any one-page PDF can be imported as a reusable notebook template through Settings, Manage Notebook Templates, Import. A self-made five-column table covers everything a training log needs.

Is there a free GoodNotes workout template?

Yes, the one you make yourself. Draw a table with date, exercise, weight, reps and notes columns in any document app, export a one-page PDF, and import it into the GoodNotes template library for free. GoodNotes' free plan allows 3 files and 100MB, which is enough for a dedicated workout notebook.

Can you search handwritten notes in GoodNotes?

Yes. GoodNotes indexes handwriting written in the app, so a library-wide search for an exercise name finds the sessions that mention it. Imported PDFs and images are only searchable if they already contain a text layer, because GoodNotes does not perform OCR on imported files.

How do you track workouts in GoodNotes?

Create a notebook using a custom workout template page, then log one page per session: date at the top, one line per exercise with weight and reps per set, and a short note. Use the Elements tool to stamp recurring blocks like warm-ups, and keep exercise names consistent so search stays useful.

Does GoodNotes work for gym logging on iPhone or Android?

GoodNotes runs on iPad, iPhone, Mac, Windows, Android and the web, so a log started on iPad is readable at the gym on a phone. Handwriting entry works best with an Apple Pencil on iPad; on a phone, typing is usually faster between sets.

Final Takeaways

• GoodNotes ships no workout template, and does not need one. A one-page PDF imported as notebook paper does the job for free.
• Five columns beat forty stickers. Date, exercise, weight, reps, notes. The recording is what works, per a 138-study meta-analysis.
• Import PDFs, not images, and keep templates to one page. Multi-page PDFs lose everything after page one.
• Handwriting search is the killer feature, with limits. In-app writing is indexed; imported scans are not.
• Know what the app cannot do. GoodNotes stores your training history beautifully and computes none of it. The trend is still your job.