Question

I’m building some application, the involves training programs.
my issue is like this,

A workout could be simple as this:

3 sets of 45 push ups.

so I would just create 2 fields,
sets / count

BUT
a workout could be also:

45 minutes run, 3 sets of 45 pushups, 2 minutes of rope jumping, 150 meter swimming.

so i need to build one table, that would know to store the data as it changes it structure, and later I could still translate it to real data on the gui.

how can i make it efficiently and wisely ?

edit:

To make it a bit clear,
i want to specify to each workout what Ive done in it.
so one workout could be :
3 sets,
first: 45 push ups
second: 32 push ups
third: 30 push ups

and another workout could be:
3 sets of pushups:
first: 45 push ups
second:32 push ups
third: 30 push ups
and also
2 minutes of jumping rope
150 meter swimming

the data isn’t consistence, one set could be a number of push ups, the next could be a time length etc..

Answer 1

I’d say this calls for a 1:n relationship, where there is a master “workouts” table, and one unified “components” table that contains all the activities of a workout.

You’d have your main table workouts:

id   int
participant varchar(255)
date        datetime
...... any other workout related data

Then the child table workout_components:

workout_id  int          // Which workout this belongs to
tabindex    int          // Which sorting order this component has in the list
repeat      int          // Number of repetitions (e.g. 3 sets)
quantity    int          // e.g. 45 push-ups or 150 meters of cycling
quentity_unit varchar    // e.g. minutes or laps
activity    varchar      // push-ups, cycling .....

an example value would look like this:

workout table:

id          participant      date
1           Harry Miller     2010-08-21

workout_components table:

workout_id  tabindex     repeat      quantity     quantity_unit  activity
1           1            3           45           pcs            pushups
1           2            1           2            minutes        rope-jumping

Advantages:

• Not limited to specific activities

• Easy to query – every question related to how to get something from this kind of data structure has already been answered on SO

• Activities can be freely added to each workout