Boostcamp review

Boostcamp next to its closest alternatives

Pick Boostcamp to run a named coach program, and add Pro if you want it to adjust your weights. If what you want is the adjusting itself, free and on the Watch, RIRLift does that job without the catalogue.

What Boostcamp does well, and where it stops

• The program library is the reason to get it

  Boostcamp lists programs by Greg Nuckols, Eric Helms, Jonnie Candito, Cody Lefever (GZCL) and 50+ other coaches, plus the Reddit classics and thousands of community plans. You pick one, filter by goal and days, and start today. No other tracker comes close on the number of named programs.

• The free tier is generous

  The library, the tracker, RPE and RIR logging, the rest timer, PR badges, warm-up templates and an uncapped program builder are free. The plate calculator stops after 10 uses on free; unlimited warm-up sets and custom exercises are Pro, along with 20+ exclusive programs.

• Weights follow the program unless you pay

  On free, a program runs as written: its percentages and jumps, whatever your sets looked like. Auto progression, which sets your next weights from performance, is part of Pro.

• No Apple Watch app

  Boostcamp has no watch app. A Live Activity shows the set and rest countdown on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island, so the phone stays out.

• Where RIRLift is different

  RIRLift has no creator programs. It sets every weight from what you logged, free, including on Apple Watch: load, reps and how many you had left. How it decides.

  

Boostcamp, Pro or RIRLift, in two real situations

Running a coach program on Boostcamp free

Second year of lifting, eight weeks into a 4-day powerbuilding program from Boostcamp's library. The weights rise on schedule, but some weeks the top sets fly and others grind. Phone in the bag, Apple Watch on.

App	What it does here	For this lifter
Boostcamp free	Runs the program exactly as written: next week's weights are this week's plus the program's jump, whether the sets felt easy or hard.	Good if you trust the program and want to follow it to the letter.
Boostcamp Pro	Auto progression sets the next weights from your performance, and the muscle heatmap shows weekly volume. $59.99/year.	The upgrade if you want to stay with the program and have it react.
Liftosaur	Runs the same kinds of programs with the progression written as editable rules, so you can change the jump yourself.	For lifters happy to edit a rule to get the behavior they want.
RIRLift	No coach catalogue. Each weight comes from your last set and how many reps you had left, on the iPhone or the Watch, free.	Good if you care more about the weights reacting than about the program's name.

Boostcamp free follows the plan, Pro reacts to you, and RIRLift reacts for free without the named plan.

A lower-and-back day in RIRLift

The same lifter tries RIRLift for a week. No percentages: the front squat targets 6 reps with 2 left, and the T-bar row runs 8–12.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Front Squat	Set 1: 155 lb × 6, 3 left	Set 2: 160 lb × 6	9 reps to failure against a planned 8, so 155 × 38 ÷ 37 ≈ 159 lb, loaded as 160 lb.
T-Bar Row	90 lb, 12 / 12 / 12 reps, 2 left	95 lb × 8	Every set at the top of 8–12: one 5 lb step, reps back to 8.

Set 2 went up because set 1 was easy, not because it was week 9.

Plans in RIRLift for a Boostcamp lifter

• The best workout routine for men, for your week

  Stronger squat, bench press and deadlift

  Heavy squat, bench and deadlift three days a week, for anyone who came to Boostcamp for a strength program.

  3× a week · 49 sets a week · ~55 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

• The best workout routine for the days you can train

  4 days a week: upper/lower

  Four days of upper/lower, the shape of most powerbuilding plans, and it fits the 4 free routines.

  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

Make it fit you

• Rebuild your days, not your percentages

  Add the program's exercises, sets and rep ranges to a routine, or build it on a computer in the web planner and import it. Leave the percentages out: the weights come from your sets.

• Give it one honest set per lift

  A lift RIRLift hasn't seen starts light, marked Estimate, and asks for max reps. Or type in the weight you were using and it works from your number.

• Turn RPE targets into RIR

  If the program says RPE 8, set 2 reps in reserve. RPE 9 is 1 left.

• Ask Coach for the program you had

  Describe it in plain words, like four days, squat and bench focus. The plan arrives as a preview you can adjust before anything changes.

When a different app fits better

• You want a specific named program, like nSuns or Candito 6 Week. Boostcamp. It has them, free, and RIRLift doesn't.
• You train on Android. Boostcamp. RIRLift is iPhone and Apple Watch only, with Android on a waitlist.
• You want percentage-based peaking toward a meet. Boostcamp or Liftosaur. RIRLift sets weights from your sets, not from percentages of a max, and isn't a peaking program.
• You log RPE and want to keep it. Boostcamp, which logs both. RIRLift logs reps in reserve.

Questions

Read next

• Boostcamp alternatives

  Ranked by why lifters leave Boostcamp.

• Boostcamp vs Hevy

  A program library against a logger with a feed.

• How RIRLift picks your next weight

  Where the 165 lb front squat came from.

• RPE vs RIR

  Moving a program's RPE targets to reps in reserve.

• Free workout tracker apps

  Free tiers compared.

More ways lifters use RIRLift

• Boostcamp alternatives

  Six apps for lifters leaving Boostcamp, ranked by what they do with your sets.

• Boostcamp vs Hevy

  Boostcamp runs a written program; Hevy logs your own. Where each wins, and where RIRLift fits.

• The powerlifting app for building your squat, bench and deadlift

  Heavy triples adjusted set by set, plates per side worked out, and no max test to get started.

• The progressive overload app that decides your next weight

  Next weight and rep target set from your weakest set, corrected between sets, with stalls caught early.

Every lifter and goal