[LisaS]

your log is for you - so as long as you will remember what you meant it is fine. If you read your log a year from now, will you remember what you meant? If not, be explicit.

Me, I tend to use the individual DB weight for DB exercises. If I use 1 DB for a lunge I'll write 10#, if I use 2 DB I'll usually write 10(e) for e(ach) hand.

With the barbell, the convention is to record the entire weight used, bar+plates.

I've seen some people use a short hand of just the plate weight or even just one side worth of plates (e.g. 35s) but I find it confusing on a public log.

Normally if you see Squats 125/6 it means 125 lbs total, bar+plates.