The free workout app for college students who lift

What a college student needs from a workout app

• Free for real

  Unlimited workouts, the suggested weights, progression, the weekly muscle map and up to 4 active routines cost nothing. No trial, no ads, no account to make. Pro is there if you want more Coach conversations or unlimited routines.

• A plan for the rec center, with the weights filled in

  Pick a ready-made plan and every exercise opens with a weight. On a lift you've never done, it starts light, marked Estimate, and one set of max reps sets your real number.

  

• Every move explained

  500+ exercises, each with an illustration that works offline in a basement gym with no signal, plus the muscles it trains and your history on it.

  

• A way around the 5 pm crowd

  Squat rack taken? The swap picker lists replacements that train the same thing on the equipment your gym has, with the weight Coach would start you at.

• A semester-proof plan

  A skipped session changes nothing, so finals week costs you no progress. After three weeks or more away, the app offers Ease back in: one week about 10% lighter, then normal progress.

A semester of lifting, session by session

Week 6 at the rec center

Sam is a sophomore running the barbell plan for new lifters below, three days a week between classes. Squat and bench for 6–10 reps, rows for 8–10.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Barbell Back Squat	135 lb, 10 / 10 / 10 reps, 2 left	140 lb × 6–10	Every set at the top of the range: up one 5 lb step, rep target back to 6.
Barbell Bench Press	115 lb, 9 / 9 / 8 reps, 2 left (target 9)	115 lb × 9	The last set fell short of 9, so the weight holds and the target stays where it was.
Barbell Row	95 lb, 10 / 10 / 10 reps, 2 left	100 lb × 8–10	Top of 8–10 on every set: one step up.

Not every lift moves every week. Each one goes up when your sets earn it.

Finals week: one session instead of three

Two exams and a paper. Sam makes it to the gym once, eight days after the last session.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Romanian Deadlift	Last session: 135 lb, 10 / 10 / 10 reps, 2 left	140 lb × 6–10	He'd earned the step up before finals. Eight days off doesn't take it away.
Barbell Overhead Press	Last session: 75 lb, 8 / 7 / 7 reps, 2 left (target 7)	75 lb × 8	The weakest set hit the target, so the next target is one more rep at the same weight.

Missed sessions don't count as a stall and don't lower anything. The plan is waiting when the exams are done.

Back after a month home for winter break

Four weeks at home with no gym. First session back in January.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Barbell Back Squat	Last session: 155 lb × 8, 2 left	140 lb × 6–10	After three weeks or more away, Ease back in opens one week about 10% lighter, rounded to the plates.
Barbell Bench Press	Last session: 120 lb × 9, 2 left	110 lb × 6–10	Same lighter week. Choose Pick up where I left off if you trained at a gym back home.

One easier week, then normal progress. No starting over every semester.

Plans that fit a class schedule

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

  New to lifting, 3 gym days a week

  Sam's plan: squat, bench, row and their partners, three days a week. Built for the first six months of lifting.

  3× a week · 44 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 routine for the days you can train

  3 days a week: full body

  Three full-body days with more machines and dumbbells, for a gym where the racks are always busy.

  3× a week · 51 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

• Tell it what the rec center has

  Choose the equipment once, or save the campus gym and your hometown gym separately. Each saved machine remembers its own loads.

• Put training around your class schedule

  Pick your training days and a reminder time. If two days pass with nothing planned, the Dashboard offers to pick a time and remind you.

• Add your roommates

  Friends see when you train and every finished workout posts to them. The weekly board scores sessions against each person's own target, so it stays fair at any strength level. More on training with friends.

• Ask Coach instead of searching

  Ask why your bench stalled or what to do when the racks are full. Coach answers from your own log, and the free tier includes a limited number of chats every week.

Questions

Read next

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

  The full first-six-months plan, with every exercise explained.

• Newbie gains

  How fast you'll progress in your first year, and how to tell when it slows.

• The best free workout tracker apps for lifters

  What the free tiers actually include.

• How much weight should I lift?

  A starting weight for any exercise before your first session.

• What is RIR (reps in reserve)?

  The one number you log after each set.

More ways lifters use RIRLift

• The workout app for beginners that tells you what to lift

  Never lifted before? A plan with starting weights, demos for every move, and weights that rise on their own.

• A workout app you can train on for years without a subscription

  Unlimited workouts, weights set for you and Apple Watch, free with no trial countdown, account or ads.

• The workout app for friends who lift at different weights

  See when your friends train, cheer their workouts and run challenges that stay fair at any strength level.

Every lifter and goal