The hypertrophy app that runs on your wrist

What a hypertrophy program needs from a Watch app

• Reps in reserve on every set

  A hard set is one close to failure. Rate how many reps you had left after each set on the Watch, so the app knows which sets were hard and how hard.

• The next set adjusted on your wrist

  More left than planned and the next set goes up. Short of the range and it comes down. Got the reps but went closer to failure? It holds.

• Sets per muscle, counted for you

  The iPhone's weekly muscle map counts every muscle's sets this week, so you can see where volume is short before the week is over.

  

• Drop sets, rest-pause and supersets

  Log a drop set's top set and drops, run rest-pause mini-sets, or alternate a superset, all on the Watch with the rest timed between.

  

• Stalls caught per lift

  When one lift goes a few sessions without a new rep, the recap suggests about 10% lighter for that lift alone. Accept it and the Watch marks it Lighter week.

Hypertrophy sessions run from the Watch

Upper volume day, phone in the locker

Week 3 of a four-day upper/lower block, 8–12 reps with 1 or 2 left on most sets.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Incline Dumbbell Press	60 lb, 12 / 12 / 12 reps, 1 left (range 8–12)	65 lb × 8	Top of the range on every set at the planned effort. One dumbbell step, reps back to 8.
Chest-Supported Row	Set 1: 100 lb × 10, 5 left (target 10, 2 left)	Set 2: 110 lb × 10	Three more left than planned: 100 × 44 ÷ 41 ≈ 107, and the next pin up is 110.
Cable Fly	40 lb, 15 / 15 / 13 reps, 1 left (target 14, range 12–15)	40 lb × 14	The weakest set missed 14, so weight and target hold.

One lift up between sessions, one up mid-session, one held, all decided on the wrist.

Lower day: every squat rack is taken

Same block. You replace the squat with the leg press from the Watch and keep going.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Leg Press	Replaced the squat: 270 lb × 12 / 12 / 11, 2 left (target 10, range 10–15)	270 lb × 12	Its first weight came from your squat, adjusted for the machine. The weakest set made 11, past today's 10, so the target moves to 12.
Romanian Deadlift	185 lb, 10 / 10 / 10 reps, 2 left (range 6–10)	190 lb × 6	Top of the range on every set: one 5 lb step, reps back to 6.
Seated Leg Curl	100 lb, 12 / 11 / 10 reps, 1 left (target 10, range 10–15)	100 lb × 11	The weakest set hit today's target. Same weight, one more rep.

The substitute got a sensible first weight, and the rest of the day progressed as usual.

Week 7: one lift stops moving

Fatigue builds late in the block. The recap flags the lift that hasn't gained a rep in three sessions.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Lat Pulldown	100 lb × 11 / 10 / 10, third session with no new rep	90 lb × 10, if you choose Deload	About 10% lighter, reps back to the bottom of 10–15. The Watch shows Lighter week on it.
Dumbbell Lateral Raise	20 lb, 15 / 15 / 15 reps, 0 left (range 12–15)	25 lb × 12	Taken to failure as planned, every set at the top. One step up.
Incline Dumbbell Curl	25 lb, 12 / 12 / 11 reps, 1 left (target 11, range 8–12)	25 lb × 12	The weakest set made 11. A stall on one lift doesn't hold back the others.

The deload is per lift and your call; the rest of the session keeps moving.

Hypertrophy plans that open in RIRLift

• The best workout routine for the days you can train

  4 days a week: upper/lower

  The block in the examples: four days, each muscle twice a week.

  4× a week · 68 sets a week · ~40 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

• The best workout plan for muscle gain, for where you are now

  Past a year of lifting, gains have stalled

  For lifters whose gains have slowed and who need the stall logic.

  4× a week · 76 sets a week · ~50 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

• The best workout plan for muscle gain, for where you are now

  Legs are ahead, upper body lags

  Extra weekly sets for a lagging upper body.

  4× a week · 70 sets a week · ~45 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

Make it fit you

• Set RIR targets per exercise

  Keep compounds at 1–3 reps in reserve and take isolation to 0–1. Each exercise in the routine has its own target.

• Add your bodyweight

  Enter it in iPhone Settings so pull-ups and dips count it as load, and their sets get an estimated 1RM.

• Stretch rests on big lifts

  Add 15 seconds at a time from the Watch's rest screen when a heavy compound needs longer.

• Log intensity techniques as they happen

  Run drop sets and rest-pause sets on the Watch, so the extra reps are recorded set by set instead of guessed later.

Questions

Read next

• Training volume for hypertrophy

  How many hard sets per muscle a week.

• RIR vs going to failure

  How close to failure hypertrophy sets need to be.

• Training frequency for hypertrophy

  Why the plans hit each muscle twice a week.

• Junk volume

  When more sets stop helping.

• The best workout plan for muscle gain, for where you are now

  The muscle-gain plans in full.

More ways lifters use RIRLift

• The hypertrophy app that sets your load from reps in reserve

  RIR on every set, weekly sets per muscle, and deloads when a lift stalls instead of on a calendar.

• The Apple Watch weightlifting app that runs the whole session

  Log sets, rest, load plates and swap machines from your wrist, with the next weight set on the Watch.

• Log effort on your wrist, set by set

  Reps in reserve logged on Apple Watch after every set, and the next set's weight adjusted right there.

Every lifter and goal