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Show HN: Workout.lol – a web app to easily create a workout routine
Hey everyone,
I here is a small open-source project I've been working on lately.
I'd love to hear your thoughts and improvement ideas :)
GitHub: [github.com/Vincenius/workout-lol](https://github.com/Vincenius/workout-lol https://github.com/Vincenius/workout-lol)
- ahmadhamza19 3y agothis is perfect!
- lukevdp 3y agoLooks great, but I just tried on my mobile and after selecting equipment, there's no way to get to the next step
- stefanvdw1 3y agoIt seems you have to click on the next step in the stepper above. But I agree that a “next” button would make more sense
- Vincenius 3y agoThere was a small bug with the button on some browsers - should be fixed now :)
- aiibe 3y agoVery cool web app!
- LelouBil 3y agoI was looking for something exactly like this just yesterday !
- sander1095 3y agoI think this misses an initial step: Your goal. I'm not very experienced with all the different types of gym equipment and what you use them for. I'd love to see recommendations if my goal would be to build up some muscle and lose weight, and why this would be recommended. Then this would be very useful for me
- hashmush 3y agoYes! I agree, it'd also be nice if the "select equipment you want to use" instead was "select what you have available". I'm a noob. I have some stuff. Show me what I can do with it!
- katzskat 3y agoThis is great!
- k2xl 3y agoVery cool but it shows me workouts requiring a pull up bar when I said I don't have it (only selected body weight and dumbbell then chose biceps and back)
- Vincenius 3y agoThanks for the report - I fixed it in the database :)
- pacifika 3y agoLove the site, and the workflow. As a non native speaker I understand you’re trying to keep the instructions brief but I have to read them multiple times to understand what to do. You could add some physiotherapy exercises with a stick as well.
- bgoldste 3y agoAlso love the site. > As a non native speaker I understand you’re trying to keep the instructions brief but I have to read them multiple times to understand what to do. I’m a native speaker and I frequently experience this reading workout instructions. Something about exercise language in general feels very clunky.
- Tildey 3y agoI found it’s a form of jargon, and once you know more about the field, it becomes much clearer. Before I started working out at all, I found it really hard to follow any workout instructions (even videos). I couldn’t tell if what I was doing felt right or if my form was off in some important way. After a few sessions with a personal trainer/physical therapist, and just getting comfortable with the sensations and movements, I found it much easier to figure out what I’m supposed to be doing from an instruction. I had more of the building blocks that I knew were correct already. Text is still inherently a difficult way to instruct movements though.
- BoorishBears 3y agoI was still worried about where the LLM fit into all this, but I think we've found an opening!
- h1fra 3y agoVery nice, I was looking to build something similar. Definitely needs a fullscreen mode with timer and video. Plus a way to configure step reps/timer :D
- Vincenius 3y agoAdding a timer is next on my bucket list :)
- brigandish 3y agoI second steps/reps. I'd also add the reps done in the workout history in the profile.
- beaker52 3y agoThis is awesome. Exactly what I want. Equipment, muscle group selection, simply ui, autoplay straight to the point videos - nothing between me and working out. It’s pretty much the perfect UX for me because anything that’s not aimed doing the work turns me off. Thank you!
- have_faith 3y agoIs there an open database for muscles / muscle groups with relationships to exercises?
- tonyone 3y agowww.musclewiki.com Edit: I just saw that this is the source for workout.lol
- dodos 3y agoI'm not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for, but there have been a couple discussions here about musclewiki in the past. https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=musclewiki.com https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=musclewiki.com
- have_faith 3y agoI noticed that workout.lol was scraping data from there. The website itself says that it's fine to re-use the data but I was imagining more a SQL database with an explicit license etc.
- RamblingCTO 3y agoWhy can't I train arms and neck? :(
- aniforprez 3y agoWhy can't I train my calves? I also hope the prompt to select "what do you want to use" is changed to "what equipment do you have".
- Vincenius 3y agoUpdated the prompt :)
- Vincenius 3y agoProbably there are no exercises for your selected equipment / difficulty settings in my database
- jasfi 3y agoNeck? Increased sleep apnea risk.
- RamblingCTO 3y agosource? I do muay thai and it's essential for clinching and is part of my training anyway.
- jasfi 3y agoSearch on sleep apnea and neck size. Your neck can be strong, actually, it's just that past a certain size your risk increases. That may not be a problem for you.
- RamblingCTO 3y agoOK thanks haha, yeah I don't have that big of a neck
- stoicfungi 3y agovery cool.
- jasfi 3y agoSomething like this is definitely needed. I like how you start by selecting what you have access to. It would be great if a yoga mat were another option. Then you could link to videos of yoga moves, just as you do with other exercises.
- Vincenius 3y agoGood idea! Actually, I already have data for yoga in my database - I just didn't add it because I wasn't sure if it's possible to generate random yoga workouts or if they need to follow an order to make sense I'll think of a way to add it :)
- jasfi 3y agoI don't think they need to follow any order, but some people might like doing them in various orders.
- AmericanChopper 3y agoI'm sure a lot of yoga instructors would cringe at this comment. Yoga routines generally start out with same few basic warm up moves, they generally focus on a particular area of the body, working up to more difficult poses as the routine goes on, and end with some lighter stretching to cool off, most typically finishing with savasana (aka lying down on your back). You could probably algorithmically generate routines like this, but I wouldn't suggest a randomly generated one for best results (or safety). There's a few really good instructors on YouTube, and I'd personally recommend looking there if you're after a thoughtfully composed routine to follow.
- jasfi 3y agoThe site is missing warmups in general, and would be a good addition. Perhaps there some warmups would only be for specific exercise types. E.g. yoga warmups for yoga moves.
- deleted 3y ago
- tiku 3y agoI don't need a workout routine. I need someone that checks if I arrive at the gym. There is no service for that. Once I am at the gym I work out.
- bhaskara2 3y agoWill you be able to elaborate on this? How would a service check if you arrive at the gym, and even if it does how will that motivate you to go to the gym.
- Tildey 3y agoA personal trainer is the service you’re looking for. Or a gym friend group
- wiseowise 3y agoMaaS (Motivation as a service). You send some a sum of money and if you don’t arrive at gym service keeps it.
- BoorishBears 3y agoThis was a thing and raised millions: https://breakingmuscle.com/tech-review-gympact-the-benefits-and-pitfalls-of-getting-paid-to-workout-2/ https://breakingmuscle.com/tech-review-gympact-the-benefits-...
- peepee1982 3y agoI think software (or a service) won't be the solution to your problem. I know some people are trying to solve this with gamification or accountability apps, but in my experience those only work short-term because they don't address the core issues responsible for the lack of motivation, although I'm sure they help establish good habits in some cases. Lack of motivation usually stems from a lack of energy, which can stem from both physiological as well as psychological issues, which can stem from spiritual issues (the sense of self and how it relates to your environment). If I'm well rested and in harmony with my authentic self, I usually don't have a problem finding the motivation to do things that are good for me.
- 3y ago
- trewqasdf 3y agoThe UX is efficient to get started. I would also like to have something similar for office ergonomics, like stretching your back or neck when taking a break from the 'puter.
- Vincenius 3y agoThanks! Maybe this is something for you: https://stretch15.com/ https://stretch15.com/ This was actually the website that inspired me for workout.lol :D
- rzmmm 3y agoSeems to work nicely. I like how it saves the workout even without registering.
- seagullriffic 3y agoVery well done. It would be good if the video pop-overs were a bit larger by default (even double the size) as on my resolution screen they're pretty small. One of the videos was face-on (mountain climber) so I couldn't see really what was going on with the legs.
- Vincenius 3y agoThanks! Improving the video sizes is on my list and will hopefully come soon :)
- jrnkntl 3y agoNice work and pleasant to use. One improvement idea I have after getting to the exercise list is to add a warmup routine for the chosen muscle groups. Before beginning the exercices.
- shadowfax92 3y agoThis is incredible! Love how simple and intuitive it is.
- tom___n 3y agoVery nice, thank you for creating this! I love how it looks on mobile device, definitely will start using it.
- shubhamjain 3y agoWhat an awesome execution. This app goes to show how you can build an excellent product even in a crowded market like Fitness. There must be gazillion workout builders out there, but OP's is the first one that I have seen which shows every exercise with example videos, and allows you to build exact workout you need without multiple google searches.
- ano88888 3y agoit is very well made.It gives me confidence that every vertical is up for grabs if you really pay attention to details and attack from your own unqiue angle. No softwre or solution is feature complete or done.
- Vincenius 3y agoThanks a lot!!
- hamasho 3y agoThis is truly fantastic, thank you! The overall experiences are so great. And I have strong respect for apps like this where I can enjoy a lot of features without being required to create an account. I understand it's difficult in corporations where KPIs like registration rate matters. But even when given a choice, it must be challenging to design seamless UX/UI and write code which works well with both locally stored data (without an account) and remotely stored data (with an account). I hope more apps adopt this approach. There are very few examples. Excalidraw is the one that comes to mind. Anyway I really love your app, thank you! I'll use this in the next gym session (if I finally hit the gym...)
- edpichler 3y agoAwesome execution. I totally agree.
- felixguendling 3y agoVery nice! What can be added is to group exercises in beginner, medium and advanced and add warmup and stretching routines.
- Vincenius 3y agoThanks! The beginner / intermediate / advanced selection is available on the screen where you select the muscles. Adding warm-ups and stretching rountines is on my list :)
- andyjohnson0 3y agoThis is great. I love the simple, effective UX.
- willhackett 3y agoThis is fantastic! I'll be using this in the AM.
- skellyclock 3y agoPretty cool. Would love a site like this except for flexibility. Bookmarked.
- bjornasm 3y agoWhat a great webapp, so simple and good. Love that it is straight to the point, choose what you have to work with, what you want to work on and boom there is the exercises with an added film - go work out. Toying with the idea of putting up a screen with this in my home gym so friends and family easily can get a program for when they come to workout.
- herculity275 3y agoI do feel like most beginner/intermediate lifters with gym access would be better served just picking a standard full-body workout routine (e.g. GZCLP) and sticking to it. Figuring out which muscle groups you'd like to be targeting with specialized exercises is not something you should be doing as a novice.
- capableweb 3y agoThis strikes me as a general comment about workouts, not about this application specifically, correct? I see nothing to indicate this application is targeting novices in particular.
- hk__2 3y agoI don’t see anything either that indicate it’s targetting people experienced with the matter; it just targets everyone.
- suddenclarity 3y agoThat's kinda the issue. Who does it target? You pick an equipment and a muscle, and it builds a workout with six exercises to target that one specific muscle. Your performance will suffer and it will take countless of gym sessions to go through the full body. Who would benefit from this workout? It's one thing to use such a tool to find new exercises to target a specific body part but then you should probably use the source the tool is importing videos from, not build a full workout just to see.
- rob74 3y agoTBF, you can also select several muscle groups. But yes, consulting a specialist is definitely better...
- siva7 3y agoCould you explain why this is considered bad to just pick the muscle groups you want to train as a novice?
- blfr 3y agoGreat app from the UX/UI perspective. The progression from saving in the browser and only requiring an account later is very nice as well. Perhaps the only thing missing is a start over button. As for exercise selection, it returns a lot of niche moves and exotic variants. Which makes it interesting but probably not a good fit for someone who would be most likely to use this app, ie. isn't an intermediate+ body builder already. Occasionally the recommendations are just bad (crunches). Certainly a welcome addition for someone looking for variety though.
- wkillerud 3y agoYou might do well to clarify that you use MuscleWiki content with permission. The way you phrase things on the site, I was left with the impression that you were in fact stealing the content while at the same time asking for donations, which is morally questionable at best. I had to dig around in their copyright section before I found this: > Some content may be used free of charge without prior consent. The .gif files, text, videos which can be found on youtube.com and muscle information can be used with the MuscleWiki branding and with links back to musclewiki.com.
- Vincenius 3y agoThanks for the feedback! I will think of a better wording. I was even in contact with the people from MuscleWiki (super cool people) and they said it's fine for me to use their data if I keep my product free and don't generate profit
- defanor 3y agoA few issues spotted: - It is not obvious how to get back to equipment selection: the history does not change, and it was not apparent that those step numbers are buttons. - With JS off, there is an empty page in the beginning. - The website does not allow to select forearms after choosing just "bodyweigh[t]" and "pull-up bar" as equipment, even though musclewiki.com shows chin-ups as an exercise for forearms.
- Vincenius 3y agoThanks for the feedback! I'll think of ways to improve that
- andy_ppp 3y agoGreat app! Consider in a copy and paste sharing feature ala Wordle and make sure to add in the streaks count too.
- buss_jan 3y agoThis is great. Chapeau. It's a little strange to select the muscle group one wants to target, what about a few primary and secondary dimensions such as explosiveness, endurance, strength, fat loss or aesthetics. Some way to more broadly describe what one is trying to accomplish.
- hk__2 3y agoVery cool! Is it a choice or a limitation of MuscleWiki that videos exclusively show men?
- Vincenius 3y agoThanks! I just found later that MuscleWiki also has videos of women (not sure if they have it of all exercises though). I want to add an option to choose the video format in the future :)
- hiisukun 3y agoJust a casual +1 on this request, and thanks for the great website. I would also request a "I am not sure" option for the which muscles to train at the start.
- TA_34545677 3y agoJust came here to say this, as someone who is visiting gyms for nearly 2 decades now and who has failed several times in launching whatever-fancy-app-product: WOW! WOW!! WOW!!! not only did you create something (thats step 1), you created something that works (you released a working version, clap clap), you created something with a real usecase (not the next get-rich-crypto-bro-app), AND: from your current version, i see gazillion ways of extending/expanding the product. Keep going - dont listen to the others :) (if you think about monetization: Just watch a couple of these fitfluencer channels, and you will get tons of inspiration - also out of sport-channels, you will find lot of marketing ideas)
- Vincenius 3y agoThanks a lot!! Yeah, there is still a lot of room for extending this. I don't plan to monetize it at the moment but maybe in the future :) So far it's just a fun side project which I enjoy working on
- TA_34545677 3y agoHaha, read all the feedback you got now x hours later: - so many improvements to pick up, in all directions - now you have an endless list of todos :) regards
- keyle 3y agoThis is a great approach you took on something that's been done a gezillion times. My thanks!
- p0w3n3d 3y agoThank you, this is very helpful, as I need often to do stabilisation excercises. Also your domain choice is excellent, sir!
- phillipsmg 3y agoThis is really neat. Barrier to entry is super low. Congrats! I'd love the same but for meal plans, if you fancy building something else
- Vincenius 3y agoThanks! Yeah, that would be cool - I'd be interested in that as well. I guess I'm still busy for a while with this project, but I'll keep it in the back of my mind :)
- stanislavb 3y agoI love that it’s a web app
- xwdv 3y agoThe fitness industry runs on the idea that you need a hundred variation of exercises to get fit. The truth is, you don’t need really more than a dozen. There are the five or six boring core lifts that everyone knows, and then maybe a handful of accessory exercises to hit some specific areas, and that’s it. By doing the same exercises over and over, you build adaption (muscle growth) which forces you to increase weight or reps to raise difficulty over time. Eventually you get very strong muscles and are moving a good amount of mass. By doing too many variants, you just waste time and never truly “adapt” to movements.
- yaccz 3y agoI'm satisfied by https://www.strengthlog.com/ https://www.strengthlog.com/
- Physkal 3y agoLove the low barrier of entry! Would love if you added stretching. Great job.
- krisroadruck 3y agoWeight lifting done properly IS stretching. Full range of motion is a big deal for hypertrophy. Static stretching is essentially worthless, and can actually be detrimental to performance: https://journals.lww.com/acsm-csmr/Fulltext/2014/05000/The_Effects_of_Stretching_on_Performance.12.aspx#:~:text=Although%20evidence%20is,and%20power%20performance https://journals.lww.com/acsm-csmr/Fulltext/2014/05000/The_E.... The thing to do for weight lifting is do some light warm up cardio (5-10 minutes on your favorite hamster wheel variant - elliptical, treadmill, bike) to get your core temp up, then do a few warm up sets before big compound movements to improve blood flow to the target muscles and lubricate the joints. Before doing your working sets on bench/squat/deadlift, do a few sets at a much lower weight. Like this: Warm-up set 1: Start with the empty bar and warm up for a few reps there. Warm-Up Set 2: 40-50% of your first set x 5 reps (if the empty bar falls into this percentage- skip this step). Warm-Up Set 3: 60-65% of your first set x 3-5 reps Warm-Up Set 4: 70-80% of your first set x 3 reps Warm-up set 5: 85-90% of your first set x 1-3 reps Warm-Up Set 6: 90-95% of your first set x 1-3 reps Now do your working sets. If you aren't lifting that much weight (bench press for example) you can skip a few of these and start at say 60-65% of your working weight.
- uni_baconcat 3y agoExcellent idea!
- riialist 3y agoThis is very cool! I've been looking for an to keep track of my routine for getting my back in order after a broken vertebra. Many of exercises I'm doing can be found in this app already, and using this app is so straight-forward that I take this to test right-away. Nevertheless, I would like to know if it will be possible to add own exercises also?
- Vincenius 3y agoThanks! So far, I didn't plan to add custom exercises. It would be possible to self-host it and add your own exercises to the database. Maybe I'll add this feature in the future, but it's not the priority right now :)
- theonlybutlet 3y agoGreat tool and the little video, even better.
- RaCaS123 3y agoExcellent - is it possible to add advice re reps/sets?
- Vincenius 3y agoThanks! Yeah, that's a point on my bucket list :)
- siva7 3y agoStraight to the point without marketing bullshit. Excellent execution.
- shubhamjain0594 3y agohttps://www.trxstar.co.uk/ https://www.trxstar.co.uk/ This was created by the students I had supervised this fall. It is very similar catering to more TRX crowd, though Workout.lol has a very beautiful UI :)
- rmshin 3y agoFirst off, this is an amazing app as others here have already mentioned–congratulations for launching! In terms of improvement ideas (not that you're short of additional suggestions), I've recently started going to the gym again to train for a specific sport (100m/200m sprints). I need do a lot of plyo & power work and this involves more advanced/specific movements such as cleans, snatches, box jumps, etc. Would really be amazing to expand the workouts to involve different kinds of training (e.g. strength vs power vs speed vs stability ...). Will look into the project later and see if I can contribute somehow, and happy to discuss further if you're interested :)
- Vincenius 3y agoThanks! Sounds like a good idea. Feel free to check out the repository and let me know if you have any questions :)
- jimparkins 3y agoas you have asked for feedback - I think there is a fundamental issue with the flow. The first step should be to choose the fundamental benefit the person is looking to achieve Upper / Back / Lower / Cardio or similar high level categories that even novices can understand. I hesitate to say push pull or as this is industry specific Upper - I want a bigger chest or more defined shoulders Back - I want a wider back or a more defined back Lower - I want bigger glutes, defined abs, clearer separation between butt and legs, bigger legs Cardio - I want better overall stamina Next how much time I have Next equipment that I have Next a visual representation on the skeleton of what this looks like in terms of targeting Next excersizes
- gajnadsgjoas 3y agoAny ideas why when I click on a video icon small window pops up but nothing happens?
- Vincenius 3y agoIt should show a preview video. Does it happen for all videos? Maybe it's a broken one on some exercise
- criley2 3y agoThis looks cool but I find it kind of hard to use. My thoughts while using: - Hmm, I want to get a full body workout, maybe spread across multiple sessions per week. - Click on muscles? But... I'm not trying to do some advanced accessory lift. I need a whole body workout. Big compound lifts building a foundation of fitness and form for life. I guess I'll click on all the muscles...? Why am I even clicking on muscles? I'm not a professional who is targeting something. I just want to be healthy. - Wow, it recommended 15 exercises for a single workout? That's.... insanity. I'm guessing this is only intended to be a single-use workout tool for someone who is already doing a set routine with a bigger philosophy around it. "Oh it's an upper body pull day, I need this tool to figure out an example of 2 things I could fit into my existing routine" and not "Here's a weekly routine targeting multiple muscle groups with rest days and here's how to follow it". Perhaps the author of the tool thinks "routine" and "workout" are the same thing, but this is a workout tool, not a routine tool (a routine combines multiple workouts under a philosophy of achieving progress, and this tool just doesn't do that). Looks nice but I don't need help customizing the fine details of my routine, I need something that actually understands routines at a higher level, and understands rest vs work across multiple work days to maximize results.
- mandeepj 3y agoCongrats on the launch! I don’t think just showing arm for ‘bodyweight’ is accurate. How about full body instead?
- masteruvpuppetz 3y agoThis is so good
- aembleton 3y agoCan you make the videos larger?
- anitakirkovska 3y agoOK the person who built this should win something. Thank you for creating this <3
- jerrygoyal 3y agoI find exercise set to be quite limited. no exercise for biceps and only 1 for triceps when choosing bodyweight.
- hamasho 3y agoIf you don't mind, can I ask why you use plain JavaScript rather than TypeScript? The product is truly remarkable, so what technologies used under the hood doesn't matter, but I think TypeScript is natural choice, especially if you 1) start a project from scratch in 2023, 2) have complex local states like choosing equipment and body parts, and proceeding exercises step by step until completed in a single page, and 3) have complex data structure (like exercises, histories, and seamless connection between locally stored data and remotely stored data used only after registering). edit: typo
- kaesve 3y agoNot the OP, but I still start most of my projects without TypeScript, especially if I'm working on it by myself. I do appreciate TypeScript, and I will happily use it in any bigger project or when I have collaborators. But there's just something that I really enjoy about being able to start a project without any build steps or installing stuff. I love to be able to just jam out some code and open a file in a browser to run it, or rsync it to my server and share it with my friends.
- Vincenius 3y agoSure. To be honest, it's mostly because of laziness. I'm more used to plain JS than to TypeScript, so I'm faster this way. I also always thought TS is a bit too much for small apps like this, but I get that it would make sense to use it if others want to contribute as well.
- hamasho 3y agoThanks! It's reasonable. But I'm pretty sure yours is more complex than many typical SaaS or CRUD-based websites.
- lukko 3y agoReally great! The way of filtering by equipment available, and then body part is nice and intuitive. I found this article interesting [0]. It's about a fitness site from 1999 (https://exrx.net https://exrx.net), that is still an incredibly dense and useful resource for fitness and nutrition. Makes me miss the 90's internet, but also I think shows we often hugely overcomplicate UI/UX. [0] https://www.newyorker.com/culture/rabbit-holes/the-internets-richest-fitness-resource-is-a-site-from-1999 https://www.newyorker.com/culture/rabbit-holes/the-internets...
- petemir 3y agoGreat execution! Thanks for sharing. I wonder if you'd thought about integrating with wger [0], i.e. exporting the workouts from your app and creating it there. [0] https://github.com/wger-project/wger/ https://github.com/wger-project/wger/
- atchoo 3y agoEveryone is very complementary so can I be allowed to be the debbie downer? As a web app, it's neat! Functionally, not a fan as yet. I've lifted for a couple of decades. I put in the muscles for a pull workout I will be doing today and the results are... dumb. "Dumbbell superman" nah not going to do that. Two types of hammer curl? Nah that's a waste of time. "Bayesian hammer curl" wtf, my eye is twitching. Two types of dead-lift only differentiated with different shaped weights? Nope that's dumb too. It's also suggesting exercises at the wrong level e.g. bands or dead-lifting a kettlebell. I'd need to put all my gym's kettlebells onto a bar for a useful dead-lift :) It also had no vertical pull like a chinup/lat-pull for a back workout which is kinda criminal. For a beginner, they won't know it's dumb, so this is kind of harmful. They need to use a more carefully designed complete split / full-body-workout, because it matters how multiple days combine, not just a single day. For an intermediate/advanced lifter, clearer goals are more useful e.g. PL or BB, and then planning intensity/loading/waves/deloads etc. for constant progression. What I find most useful is deep dive discussion by an expert for most effective exercises and how to get the most of out of them with subtleties about grips and cues to increase mind-muscle-connection etc. Suggestions for how to swap out exercises to work around injuries or focus on weak points is very useful. The lifter can then iterate and swap exercises in and out of their routine to keep it fresh and useful.
- davidguetta 3y agoYeah, the idea is great ("what can you do with the equipment you have") but that also kinda promote a bit of fuckarounditis (https://leangains.com/fuckarounditis/ https://leangains.com/fuckarounditis/) by asking the user "what muscle do you really wanna target", instead of emphasizing a better approach of lifting overall which is strong "functional" compound movements such as the big 6 (bench press / squat / deadlift / pull ups / rows / overhead press)
- jeffhuys 3y agoThat link does a lot of talking without really explaining what you DO have to do.
- 3y ago
- hnuser9001 3y agoThis is reminiscent of the Fitbod app on App Store/Google Play. If you're looking for inspiration, check it out.
- somethingreen 3y agoGood job! Couple suggestions: - Put heavy compound movements before isolation - tiring themselves before compounds is what I see a lot of beginners do. - Consider encoding exercise selection in URL so it can be bookmarked/shared. - Dip bars?
- imtemplain 3y ago[dead]
- hospitalJail 3y agoGood job making it open source. Btw, this might be useful for physical therapists (Not personal trainers, but the doctors who rehab you).
- mrleinad 3y agoI love it! There are a few bugs though. If I select a set of equipment and proceed until I get the exercises, but then go back and change the equipment, it doesn't seem to update itself.
- brodouevencode 3y agoThe suggested exercises seem rather targeted to gen-pop or general fitness. Feature request: have workouts that target based on goals - i.e. power, strength, aesthetics, endurance, etc. and attribute them accordingly.
- throwawaaarrgh 3y agoHey author! Please don't be discouraged by negative feedback here. This is legitimately a great app and it'll only get better as you fine tune it over time. Thanks for your efforts and keep going!!
- 4booru 3y ago[dead]
- NoImmatureAdHom 3y agoI'd like to echo the sentiments about this app not providing enough guidance, and also ask the HN community a question: is there an app out there that does provide lots of guidance? I've been doing 3 days / week GZCL with this for a year: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.braindead.gzcl https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.braindead.g... It's a 2/5. It works, kinda. I suffer from moderate ADHD and need an app that requires little decision-making. Big buttons, pre-programmed workouts, etc. It does that pretty well. co.braindead.gzcl doesn't do several things I want: --Tell me what to do with no ambiguity (GZCL often has "accessory exercises" that are a free-for-all. No, I need the app to tell me exactly what to do. Which exercise, how many reps, what weight, what rest interval). --Explain what's going on. What is "TM"? Why is it always zero? --Facilitate deloading weeks + make reasonable calculations and / or expose the calculations --be FOSS --allow data export --offline-first Is there anything out there that does this, or a significant subset?
- bbstats 3y agoI can't work out my core with my body weight?
- extragood 3y agoPlanks are the best
- datavirtue 3y agoVery nice to be able to look up body weight exercises and get a short video instantly. Very nice. I wouldn't target weight lifting at all. These people already know everything. Most of them can't hold a horse stance for more than 30 seconds but they can squat with 200 lbs on their back. I used to be one of those people. All bulked up and weak as fuck. Don't encourage people to lift weights until they can lift their own weight.
- abound 3y agoAs other folks have noted, this is a nice web app, but not well-suited for coming up with a real training plan that meets an individual's health goals. For my own personal goals, I've enjoyed/had success with doing variations of Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 workout for roughly a decade, and recently made a simple (and much, much uglier) web app [1] to record my lifts, suggest one-rep max targets, calculate weight for each set, etc. It's not nearly as flexible as the tool in this post (built mostly for 5/3/1 + power lifts) and doesn't have any options except self-hosting (for now), but one can specify their full routine in a JSON-formatted config, and then do their routine. [1] https://github.com/bcspragu/stronk https://github.com/bcspragu/stronk
- weakfish 3y agoI'm a huge 5/3/1 fan and have been thinking of building my own version of this! Would you be open to contributions, instead? I'd love to at least add some design to the front-end
- abound 3y agoDefinitely open to contributions, but I'll note that the barebones nature is mostly by design. I'm happy to take any usability improvements (of which I can imagine many!), but I don't want to introduce dependencies on design/component frameworks or even CSS libraries. Generally, all the content for a day's lifts should fit on a single small mobile phone screen to make it dead simple to record a lift and then get to the next one. Feel free to email me (address is on website in profile) or open an issue on the repo with ideas/requests, happy to chat more.
- weakfish 3y agoFor sure, I agree - not a fan of bloated N-million JavaScript library front-ends. I was just thinking bare CSS that does some little visual niceties. Will follow up on GH. Thanks!
- bitsinthesky 3y agoThis is awesome!
- fabk 3y agoI wrote an R script to help me generate my own workouts. What it actually does is schedule (distribute) the desired muscle groups across days according to your specification of: - volume: # sets to do on each workout day of that muscle group - frequency: # days between workout days of that muscle group The goal is to avoid having some days at the gym be huge (many exercises) while others are small (fewer exercises). The script uses simulated annealing to try to even out the schedule as much as possible. I am afraid I do not have a website or write-up but the code is here: https://github.com/fabkury/caltre https://github.com/fabkury/caltre. I have been actually using this script for years and it has made my gym scheduling effortless. I can just focus on the "meta parameters", e.g.: INPUT: muscle group,`X sets per training day`,`train every X days` back,9,4 chest,9,4 quads,8,4 biceps,7,3 shoulder,6,4 abdominal,4,2 calf,4,5 anterior forearm,5,6 posterior forearm,5,6 OUTPUT: It tells you what to do on each training day, as many days you want (it is an "infinite roll"). Here are 9 days to exemplify: day 1: chest 9 biceps 7 day 2: quads 8 abdominal 4 day 3: back 9 calf 4 anterior forearm 5 day 4: biceps 7 shoulder 6 abdominal 4 day 5: chest 9 posterior forearm 5 day 6: quads 8 abdominal 4 day 7: back 9 biceps 7 day 8: shoulder 6 abdominal 4 calf 4 day 9: chest 9 anterior forearm 5 day X: ... Kind regards.
- deskandastool 3y agoAny reason why the head is disabled as a selectable muscle? I have been told by multiple people that this is an area of improvement for me
- Liam2010 3y ago[dead]
- badrequest 3y agoIMHO "body weight" should be preselected in the "equipment I have available" input. Not sure of a situation where I would be capable of working out, but not have access to my own body weight.
- adr1an 3y agoAgreed. I'd love to see some calisthenics/ functional training repertoires here. For now, I stick to darebee.com database (I like their PDFs) or free plans from fitnessblender (I like their videos)
- kortex 3y agoWheelchair bound would be capable of some workouts, but not all body weight. Actually what would be more useful than pre-selecting body weight, would be a setting to mark certain groups/muscles/appendages as injured, missing, disabled, or weakened.
- badrequest 3y agoI quite like this, and hadn't considered the accessibility angle due to my privilege, thank you for sharing. :)
- heap_perms 3y agoThis is great. I like the no-nonsense design, I especially like the inline-approach in the video, where it kind of just pops up. I was afraid it would be a link, but turned out to be very smoothly integrated video, only slightly interrupting flow.
- efields 3y agoThe UI overall here is incredibly welcoming. It presents everything it's going to do with straightforward controls and smart UI labeling. Kudos.
- Navarr 3y agoAs someone completely inexperienced with exercise, the biggest drawback about this app is asking what muscles I want to focus on. _I don't know_. I want to lose weight and be in just a better physical condition. Maybe then I'm not a target user, which is totally fine! But wanted to add that feedback in case I was.
- kortex 3y agoProbably all of them on average then, but especially big groups, core, and erector muscles. Most humans who have to hit the gym in order to stay fit spend too much time sedentary. They need back and core strength to prevent back issues later in life, glute, hamstring, quad and calf to keep legs strong and mitigate knees doing weird things. Most of aforementioned humans also likely need to move heavy objects from time to time without throwing out their back. I read once that deadlifts are the single best exercise you can do for desk bod. If I only have 10 minutes to work out, I do deadlifts. Next I try to get abs, obliques, back stabilizers, etc., then some squats and leg work. I do chin/pull/push ups between the core and leg stuff.
- fknorangesite 3y agoNo joke the /r/fitness wiki/FAQ is one of the best straightforward guides for new-to-fitness people out there. Mainly, I think, because it's not trying to sell you anything. https://thefitness.wiki/ https://thefitness.wiki/
- sigmonsays 3y agohow can you take this TLD seriously? .lol? am I laughing at my workouts now?
- stevofolife 3y agoI just want to say I personally like the UX. Good job!
- ropable 3y agoGreat execution! A nice-looking, functional app. I got myself a suggested workout plan with very little effort. Criticisms: On the first page, I can barely tell if something is "selected" or not. Also, the exercises suggested are kind of...random. I've been lifting for a couple of decades, and I've never heard of a "Dumbbell Laying Silverback Shrug". Overall, I think that this is a neat way for a near-beginner with analysis paralysis to get a list of suggestions for a WoD, and become introduced to movements that they haven't tried before. I think that it would be better reducing the specificity of movements to muscle groups, reducing the overall number of movements in the database, and focusing more on "movement patterns" (e.g. squat, hip hinge, push, pull, etc.)
- kausambi 3y agoIs someone building out a noob-friendly interface to this too?
- hmr 3y agoamazing app, nice UI/UX, thank you. One minor thing, I didn't understand the behaviour of Pick button: https://webm.red/view/mUVG.webm https://webm.red/view/mUVG.webm
- edpichler 3y agoMan, your website is awesome.
- threadsdl 3y ago[dead]