Opens & Immediately shuts down.
Amazing!
A few minor bugs (heart rate doesn’t show on my Watch and I’m unable to re-set specific weights in lbs such as “15” and only “14.5” or “16” even though I’m on Premium) but I’ve already emailed their support and I’m hopeful they’ll have a prompt fix.
Thanks for an amazing app team!
Awful
Response from developer
Hi. Sorry you have encountered a bug with the elliptical workout. This is a compatibility issue with editing cardio exercise in iOS 12. We are currently working on a fix.
Almost Perfect
This app has replaced the notebook I used to carry with me at the gym. It has not, however, replaced the spreadsheet I use to track long term progress and plan programs in advance.
As the name implies, it offers an easy way to track sets, reps and rest periods during your workout. It allows you to track body measurements, how good / bad you feel after workouts, and it provides simple but motivational analysis of how often you’ve worked out, which body areas you work most often and the likely effects of you rep ranges (strength, hypertrophy, endurance).
Novices will benefit from the diagrams and instructions available for each exercise. More advanced lifters will appreciate the ability to create programs, edit them on the fly, and easily capture your ‘actuals’. The catalogue of exercises in the non-subscription model is extensive AND depending on the equipment at your gym and type of lifting you do, you will have to add some of your own lifts.
There are, however, a host of small design flaws that drive me nuts. For example:
- history for a specific exercise is not displayed in chronological order.
- ‘supersets’ must be programmed in advance. I wish there was a way to pick the exercises for a workout first, and then combine them into supersets.
- the way the app handles cardio is wonky. I’d rather not use the app as my timer... let me record the data off whichever machine I’m using.
- the app assumes exercises are rep or timed based. This makes it tough to track exercises like farmers carries or prowler sled pulls which also involve a distance.
- there are loads of graphs but most of them are not especially useful.
- the graphs only apply to individuals exercises and not overall workouts
- Although you can make notes at the end of the workout, I wish there was a way to record comments with each lift during a workout.
- many weightlifting programs involve ‘rating of perceived exertion’ (RPE). I’d love to see this incorporated.
Works fine - good simple app 2018
Ive seen the low reviews on here however i have not experienced any of these issues.
Used the app for 12months now and happy with it. Just have the basic version and it works fine.
The logging app I’ve been looking for!
I was giving serious thought to building my own when I stumbled across this. It’s almost exactly what I pictured in my head, plus a bunch of features and ‘nice touches’ that I hadn’t considered.
The watch app is icing on the cake. I’m more than happy to pay the small subscription on this one.
Deleted from my watch. Annoying
Not for me.
Addendum;
Further to my review after comments from the developer:
Perhaps “add” is the wrong term. Regardless of the terminology, a “message” shows on the Apple Watch suggesting to purchase the enhanced version of the app. I could not swipe to remove the “message” and only made it stop by removing the app from my watch. Even if there is a way to kill that message, it is not easily accessed. I maintain the basic gist of my original review.
Further to my note above, there was yet again a statement from the developer again stating there are no ads in the app. I stand by the paragraph above and agree there are no “ads” for other products within the app however the free version has very invasive and repetitive “messages” encouraging the user to upgrade to the paid version of the app when using the free version for a short period of time.
Response from developer
Most of our app is free to use, but some features are for premium users only, like editing workouts on the watch app. If you try to use this feature, but don't have a premium subscription, you'll be get a message explaining why you can't use it. But you can simply tap "OK" to dismiss that message, and it only appears on the watch when you try to use a premium feature. Re: Addendum. The iPhone app can be used completely free of charge, and we never randomly interrupt the user with "messaging". There is just one piece of small discreet text on our home screen which says "Get Premium". Plus, in our exercise database, only 20 out of 400 exercises are premium. If you select a premium exercise you will get the upgrade message. That's it.
Premium exercises
Response from developer
Thanks for the feedback. Premium exercises are indicated with a green tab on the left. We want people to see them though, because we're hoping some users will choose to upgrade to premium. But equally, we don't want it to feel spammy. So we're trying to find a good balance.
Perfect for logging / planning. Even better for graphing / history.
About to go premium to try out on my Apple watch but the app on the phone is stellar as a stand alone product.
I am a firm believer in either one more rep or weight increase from the last time I did that exercise and this app allows me to easily track that goal and continually improve.
The history graphs are numerous and provide excellent quick reference (or a deep dive if you need it) to your history for individual exercises.
Perfect balance of being simplistic when logging during weight training and advanced when digging deeper to get a better understanding of my improvement over time.
Hoping the watch app allows me to leave my phone in the locker.
Great gym app (updated review)
U: it seems like the app is kind of forgotten. It’d be nice to get an update for iPhone X and some watch speed up. With the latest iOS & watchOS the app still kind of works but the UI tends to queue up exercises you completed and then all of a sudden finishes them.
For an app with a subscription fee I feel a small update to fix these issues is pretty important.
Original review:
I use this app for every workout and after trying several others this is by far my favourite. It is simple, it lets you focus on lifting, it is well integrated with iOS and gives just the right amount of stats. However, the workouts (stock and downloadable) are a little lacking but once you set up your personal workouts that little hurdle becomes irrelevant.
Well worth the money
Response from developer
Hi. Thanks for the feedback. It's definitely not forgotten. We are working on an update which will add support for iPhone X and improve compatibility for watchOS 4 as well. It turned out we needed to do a major overhaul of rest timer notifications to support watchOS 4 and iOS 11, which is taking us longer than we anticipated. But there is an update coming soon.