Lifting log for iPhone and Apple Watch

Overload

Same weight, one more rep. Then more weight.

Overload keeps your last session beside today's and fills in a target for every set. The targets follow double progression, a form of progressive overload: add reps inside a range, and add weight once every set reaches the top.

Runs on
iPhone, iOS 18 or later
Apple Watch, watchOS 11 or later
Availability
In App Store review
Privacy policy hello@zentsu.app
Bench Press logging page. The last session, on October 2, reads 135 lb for 12, 12 and 11 reps. A rest countdown at 1:58 sits above today's session weight of 135 lb. Two sets of 12 are checked off and the third is still open.
Last session above, then the rest countdown and today's sets.

Double progression

The targets are arithmetic you can check

Each exercise has a rep range, 8 to 12 by default, and a number of sets. Overload reads the most recent session with a finished set and works out the next one from it.

  1. A finished set gets a target of one more rep, up to the top of the range.
  2. When you finish at least your planned number of sets and every finished set reaches the top, the weight goes up by your increment and the targets drop to the bottom of the range.
Bench press, 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps, 5 lb increment
Session Logged Next target
1 135 lb 10 9 9 135 × 11 · 10 · 10
2 135 lb 11 10 10 135 × 12 · 11 · 11
3 135 lb 12 12 11 135 × 12 · 12 · 12
4 135 lb 12 12 12 140 × 8 · 8 · 8
5 140 lb 9 8 7 140 × 10 · 9 · 8

Session 4 fills the range, so the weight goes up. In session 5 the third set stopped at 7, below the range, and its next target is 8.

Leg Press logging page with the session weight at 270 lb. The third set is logged at 230 lb for 12 reps. All three sets are checked off, a rest countdown reads 1:58, and the Save button is at the bottom.
A lighter last set, logged at its own weight.

Logging

Change one set, keep the rest

The logging page opens with today's targets filled in. Set one weight for the session and every set follows it. When the last set is lighter, change that set alone.

Check off each set as you finish it. Save appears once every set is checked.

Each check starts that exercise's rest countdown, 2:00 by default. Tap the countdown for a full-screen timer. Outside the app, the countdown stays on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, and a notification tells you when rest is over.

Past sessions stay editable. Change a session's date or sets, or delete it. Rename or delete an exercise too. Deleting an exercise asks first, because its history goes with it.

Exercises

Name the lift, or show it

Exercises are whatever you call them. As you type, Overload suggests names from a built-in list of about 100 common gym lifts, such as Lat Pulldown and Romanian Deadlift. A name that is not on the list is added as you typed it.

Give an exercise an emoji, or photograph the machine so you can find it on the gym floor. The list puts the lifts you trained most recently first, with the last result on each row and the new weight when it is time to go up.

Exercise list with Leg Press, Lat Pulldown, Bench Press, Romanian Deadlift and Overhead Press. Each row shows the date and result of the last session. Lat Pulldown, at 120 lb for three sets of 12, also shows its next weight, 125 lb.
Most recent first, with the last result on each row.

Per exercise

Your range, your increment

Each exercise has its own unit, increment, rep range and set count. A new exercise starts at 3 sets of 8 to 12, with a 5 lb or 2.5 kg increment depending on the unit you pick.

Use pounds for the barbell and kilograms for a machine if that is how your gym is labeled. Switch an exercise between lb and kg later and its history converts with it.

Apple Watch

Log sets on your Apple Watch

The Apple Watch app comes with Overload. Each set opens with its weight and reps filled in. Turn the Digital Crown to change either one, then tap Done to log the set and start the rest timer. Before you save, the watch shows the target for next time.

Your iPhone and watch send set edits, saved sessions and rest timers to each other directly. Once the watch has your exercises, it logs without the iPhone nearby and sends the changes when the two reconnect.

If you allow it, the watch saves a strength training workout to Apple Health when you tap End Workout.

Tradeoffs

What Overload leaves to you

The log lives on your iPhone

Overload runs on iPhone with iOS 18 or later, and the Apple Watch app needs watchOS 11 or later. There is no iPad version.

Your exercises, sessions and machine photos are stored on that iPhone, and the paired watch keeps a local copy of your exercises and recent sessions. Overload works without an account, and the log does not sync through iCloud or to another iPhone. It is part of your normal iPhone backup, so restoring that backup brings it back.

You choose the lifts

Overload does not pick exercises or plan your weeks. It records what you lift and works out the next targets from it. When to deload or take a rest day stays your call.