Did you train hard enough and with enough work for the most progression? While still recovering on time? We optimize for “yes” to both. Ultimately though, we bias starting slower, because just like in cooking, you can always add more, but you can’t take it back.
Your progression and recovery go hand to hand. Recover fast and you get more work. Recover slowly and you’ll get peeled back. We use session-to-session set and intensity adjustments based on your physiological feedback (stimulus, fatigue, soreness, perceived workload, joint pain) to tune to your recovery.
Strength and conditioning science also indicates you may accumulate fatigue across a program, warranting deloads, or an “easy week.” To decide when you should take these, we pay attention to your performance trends and screen for overtraining symptoms.
Overall, looking at recovery between sessions and across programs allows you to progress and peak in performance.
We look at recovery between sessions and across programs.
Tell us your soreness, stimulus, joint pain, and perceived fatigue. The amount of sets you get and load will get adjusted based on those factors, your objective performance, and general progressive overload principles.
It is expected that you will accumulate fatigue throughout a program that truly challenges you. We keep an eye on this fatigue to let you know when to push forward or back off.
Your sets are adjusted per muscle group across sessions. We evaluate whether your muscle group could use more sets based on your responses to our brief questions in the app. Your performance is considered as well.
Pick one answer per question. Each is worth a value, and the five average into your set change.
How each answer moves your set count.
Your five answers are added together and divided by five.
Averages to 0.2, rounded to 0 sets.
*Responses are weighted differently depending on your experience level.
**Sets tend to increase or decrease more aggressively the more experienced you are.
The values you see here do not completely reflect the product. We use proprietary weightings to more accurately adjust for the individual.
The protocol for progressive overload differs depending on your experience level. Weight/rep increases are more conservative for those that are experienced, as progression is slower. See the table below for a worked example on how we determine your next reps and weight.
We only increase reps or weight if you meet your target. Say the app put 190 lb × 8 in front of you.
You met the target, so we increase it again.
The weight was too challenging, so we hold. Once you hit 190 × 7 again, we go back to 190 × 8.
The choice between increasing reps or weight depends. In general…
Ultimately, the choice between increasing reps or weight does not matter too much, as long as you’re progressing. You are also given a rep range based on your goals. We try to keep you within that range. So, if your reps go above the range, usually a weight increase is in order.
If you decide to change your weight manually, we will also recalculate the appropriate amount of reps for that weight.
The one time we actively decrease your weight is when you experience repeated joint pain. After each exercise, we ask:
Slight discomfort is often normal, though still something to keep an eye on.
If you answer moderate or severe across consecutive weeks, we act in this order.
Each exercise serves a purpose, so switching to a different exercise is our last line of defense. We’ll first see if the absolute weight is just too high, as that can cause joint discomfort regardless of good technique. If pain persists, you’re recommended to double-check technique, try different cues, or change the range of motion. Finally, when all else fails, it’s time for a new exercise.
Following programming principles, the beginning of your program is designed to be a little lower intensity, at around “moderate-hard” or 6/10 difficulty, or leaving about 4 reps in reserve (RIR) for most sets (this prescription varies depending on your experience level).
Leaving some juice in the tank at the beginning of the program ensures that your fatigue stays low and that you can focus more on technique. You will have plenty of room to progress later.
We expect fatigue to begin rising especially if you have been training frequently, consistently, and following the prescribed RIR. See the next section for how we keep an eye on your fatigue.
A deload is a period during training where you purposefully cut back on total work and intensity to prioritize recovery. Deloads are especially important when performance starts degrading or you are experiencing symptoms of overtraining.
Deloads are more likely to be needed if…
Therefore, we program a deload for you when your performance starts degrading or you are experiencing symptoms of overtraining! The decision is based on objective (performance) feedback and subjective (your symptoms) feedback.
*Note that deloads are not required at the end of every program. They are only recommended as needed.
Indicates the number of times you progressed, leveled or went down in weight for every lift in the past two weeks.
Seven questions to see how you’re recovering. Asked as you approach the end of your program.
Deload recommended next week
Subjective Symptoms 26 · Objective Performance 3
The ideal length of your program is dependent on you. Generally speaking, those with more experience strength training would benefit from shorter programs and those with less experience would benefit from longer programs (intuitively, this might make no sense, our CTO Gavin got this wrong too).
Those that are more experienced tend to accumulate fatigue much quicker at matched relative intensities, so a shorter program makes sense to get a deload in sooner.
On the other hand, beginners not only take longer to accumulate fatigue, but must also get over the learning curves of exercises. A longer program allows for more learning.
If this is noise to you, don’t worry. In the app, we recommend your first program’s length depending on your experience level. After your first program, your program length is recommended based on when you actually needed to deload.
Questions, concerns, or suggestions? Contact us, we’re happy to chat.
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