MacroFactor Workouts vs Hevy

MacroFactor Workouts vs Hevy, side by side

MacroFactor Workouts if you want a program that adjusts itself and you're in the MacroFactor ecosystem; Hevy if you want a free log and a feed. If you want the adjusting without the subscription, and on your wrist, RIRLift is the better fit than either.

MacroFactor Workouts and Hevy, point by point

• Who decides the weight: MacroFactor Workouts

  MacroFactor Workouts adjusts weights and reps from your logged sets, RIR targets and rep ranges after every workout. Hevy shows what you did last time and leaves the jump to you; its Trainer plans are part of Pro.

• Price: Hevy

  Hevy is free, with Pro at $2.99/month, $23.99/year or $74.99 once in the US. MacroFactor Workouts is $11.99/month, $47.99 for six months or $71.99/year after a 7-day trial.

• Watch and social: Hevy

  Hevy logs from Apple Watch and Wear OS and has a feed where friends follow and copy routines. MacroFactor Workouts has no watch app, and smartwatches don't connect to it directly.

• Switching in: Hevy

  Hevy imports a Strong CSV. MacroFactor Workouts can't import history from other workout apps; you backfill by hand or start fresh.

• Where RIRLift is different

  RIRLift reads load, reps and reps in reserve after every set and between sessions, free, on the iPhone and the Watch, and imports Hevy history. No public feed and no Android. How it decides.

  

Which one fits, in two real situations

Hevy user whose bench stopped moving

A year on a push/pull/legs split they wrote in Hevy, three days a week. The bench has been stuck at the same weight for two months because they never know when to add a plate. Looking at MacroFactor Workouts.

App	What it does here	For this lifter
Hevy	Shows last week's 185 × 8 on every set; whether to try 190 is up to you. Trainer, its built-in plan, needs Pro.	Not the fix, unless you add a rule yourself.
MacroFactor Workouts	Generates a new program or takes the one you build, and adjusts the bench from your weight, reps and RIR after each workout. History stays in Hevy.	Fixes it for $71.99/year, starting from a blank log.
RIRLift	Imports the Hevy history, then works out the bench after every set and between sessions from reps in reserve. Free, on the Watch too.	Fixes it free, with the past year already in.

The fix is the same in both adaptive apps; one keeps your Hevy year and costs nothing.

A heavy set and a clean one, in RIRLift

The same lifter after importing. Sumo deadlift targets 5 reps with 2 left in a 5–8 range; the incline bench runs 6–10 with 2 left.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Sumo Deadlift	Set 1: 275 lb × 4, 1 left	Set 2: 260 lb × 5	Below the 5–8 range, so it comes down: 5 reps to failure against a planned 7, 275 × 34 ÷ 36 ≈ 260 lb.
Incline Barbell Bench Press	155 lb, 10 / 10 / 10 reps, 1 left	160 lb × 6	Every set at the top of 6–10: one 5 lb step, reps back to 6.

The miss cost one set at a lighter weight, not a week at the wrong one.

Plans in RIRLift for either kind of lifter

• The best workout routine for men, for your week

  Busy: 3 gym days, push/pull/legs

  Three days of push/pull/legs, the split from the first example.

  3× a week · 48 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

  Legs are ahead, upper body lags

  Four days for a lifter whose bench and upper body have fallen behind.

  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

• Coming from Hevy: import first

  Export a CSV from Hevy and import it in RIRLift on the iPhone. Weights worked out from it are marked From history.

• Coming from MacroFactor Workouts: bring your numbers

  Its history doesn't import. Type each lift's current weight once, marked Yours, and keep your RIR targets: 2 left means the same in both apps.

• Turn Hevy's RPE into RIR

  RPE 8 is 2 reps left, RPE 9 is 1. Set them once per exercise.

• Pick Ask first for the final say

  With Ask first, next session's weights wait on the recap until you confirm them.

When a different app fits better

• You track food in MacroFactor. MacroFactor Workouts, in the $89.99/year bundle with nutrition.
• You want a feed, Android or Wear OS. Hevy. RIRLift has no public feed and runs on iPhone and Apple Watch only.
• You log RPE and want to keep it. Hevy. RIRLift logs reps in reserve.

Questions

Read next

• MacroFactor Workouts review

  Price, programs and progression in depth.

• Boostcamp vs Hevy

  Hevy against a free program library.

• How RIRLift picks your next weight

  Where the 260 lb sumo set came from.

• RPE vs RIR

  Moving from Hevy's RPE to reps in reserve.

• The progressive overload app that decides your next weight

  For the stalled bench.

• Hevy app review: free vs Pro, and who should pay

  Hevy's free and Pro tiers in detail.

• Hevy vs Strong: which workout log to pick

  Hevy against the other big logger.

More ways lifters use RIRLift

• MacroFactor Workouts review

  What MacroFactor's workout app does, what it costs, and when another app fits better.

• Hevy on Apple Watch, and what RIRLift does differently

  Hevy's Watch app logs sets and rest. RIRLift adds reps in reserve and sets the next weight on the wrist.

• 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.

• The RPE and RIR app where effort sets the weight

  Log reps in reserve on every set, and your effort decides the next set's weight and the next jump.

Every lifter and goal