The workout app for beginners that tells you what to lift

What a beginner needs from a workout app

• A weight for every exercise, even the first time

  Most beginners quit over the blank weight field. On a lift you've never done, RIRLift gives a deliberately light starting weight marked Estimate and asks for one set of as many good reps as you can. That single set becomes your real starting point.

  

• One question per set you can actually answer

  After each set you tap how many more reps you could have done: 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4+. That's the whole log. Weight and reps are prefilled from last time, so a session is mostly tapping Log.

  

• Demos for every move

  Every exercise in a plan opens to an illustration, the muscles it works and your history on it. The exercise library has step-by-step guides with video for the moves beginners start with.

  

• A rule for adding weight that isn't guesswork

  When every set reaches the top of the rep range, the weight goes up one step next session. If not, it holds and you aim for one more rep. It's double progression, applied for you.

• Free, with no account

  Download and lift. Unlimited workouts, the weight suggestions and up to 4 active routines are free; Pro adds more Coach conversations and unlimited routines.

Your first weeks, set by set

Session 1: you've never touched these lifts

Running the 3-day gym plan below. Every weight starts as an estimate, and the first set of each lift is as many reps as you can with good form.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Goblet Squat	25 lb (Estimate), 18 reps, nothing left	30 lb × 8–12	18 reps to failure at 25 lb converts to about 30 lb for 8 reps with 2 left.
Flat Dumbbell Press	20 lb pair (Estimate), 21 reps	25 lb × 8–12	The estimate was light on purpose. One set measured you; the rest of the session uses the real number.
Lat Pulldown	60 lb, 12 / 12 / 12 reps, 2 left each	65 lb × 10–12	Every set hit the top of the 10–12 range, so the weight goes up one step.

You never tested a max or looked anything up. Session 2 opens with these weights already filled in.

Week 3: one lift moves, one doesn't

Two weeks in, form is settling and the numbers start to separate.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Goblet Squat	35 lb, 12 / 12 / 12 reps, 2 left	40 lb × 8–12	Top of the range on every set at the target effort: one step up, reps reset to 8.
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift	35 lb, 11 / 10 / 9 reps, 2 left	35 lb × 10	The last set fell short of 10, so the weight holds and the target stays where it was.
Dumbbell Shoulder Press	20 lb, 10 / 10 / 10 reps, 1 left	20 lb × 11	Every set hit 10, but not the top of 8–12 yet. Same weight, aim for one more rep.

Not every lift goes up every week, and that's the plan working. Each one moves when your sets earn it.

Back after three weeks off

A holiday or a busy month broke the streak. This is where most beginners restart from zero or pick up too heavy.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Flat Dumbbell Press	Last session: 35 lb × 10, 2 left	30 lb × 8–12	After three weeks away the app offers Ease back in: one week about 10% lighter, rounded to your dumbbells.
Goblet Squat	Last session: 45 lb × 12, 2 left	40 lb × 8–12	Same easier week. Choose Pick up where I left off instead if you kept training elsewhere.

A missed session changes nothing. A long break gets one lighter week, then normal progress.

Beginner plans that open in RIRLift

• The best workout for beginners

  Gym, three days a week

  The plan the examples above use: two full-body workouts, alternated, five exercises each.

  3× a week · 39 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 for beginners

  At home: bodyweight and one pair of dumbbells

  No gym yet? Bodyweight and one pair of dumbbells, same structure.

  3× a week · 39 sets a week · ~35 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

• The best workout for beginners

  Busy: one gym workout, twice a week

  Machines only, twice a week. The easiest way to learn a gym floor.

  2× a week · 26 sets a week · ~30 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

Make it fit you

• Pick the slower pace for your first month

  Settings has three progression paces. Steady takes smaller, surer steps, which suits lifts you're still learning. Switch to Standard once the movements feel familiar.

• Tell it what your gym actually has

  Choose your equipment once and every plan and swap stays inside it. A machine taken? The swap picker shows replacements with the weight they'd start at.

• Not sure how many reps you had left?

  Guess, and guess the same way every time. The app compares your answer with targets you judge the same way, and reps count first. The RIR guide shows what 0 to 4 feel like.

• Set a reminder for training days

  Pick your days when you set up the plan. If two days pass with nothing logged, the Dashboard offers to pick a time and remind you.

• Leave the phone in your bag

  With an Apple Watch you can run the whole session from your wrist, including rest timers and which plates to load. It's optional; the iPhone app does everything on its own.

When a different app fits better

• You want follow-along video classes. A class or HIIT app fits better.

Questions

Read next

• The best workout for beginners

  The three beginner plans in full, with a demo for every exercise.

• What is RIR?

  The one number you log after each set, explained.

• Beginner strength program

  How a first program is built and why it stays simple.

• Newbie gains

  How fast beginners really progress, and for how long.

• How much weight should I lift?

  A starting weight for any exercise, before you open the app.

More ways lifters use RIRLift

• The workout app for women who want to get stronger

  Lifting plans for glutes, legs and upper body, with the weight for every set picked from what you logged.

• The workout app for home that plans around what you own

  Bare floor, a pull-up bar, bands or one kettlebell: a plan for your gear that gets harder as you do.

• The workout app for seniors who want to stay strong

  Strength plans for 65 and up, at a gym or at home with a chair, that add weight only when you're ready.

Every lifter and goal