The workout app for teens starting to lift

What a teen needs from a workout app

• A short plan to follow

  Two full-body workouts, alternated, five or six exercises each. Squat, press, row and hinge every week, plus a little arm work. Nothing to design yourself.

• Light first weights, from the empty bar up

  On a lift you've never done, the app suggests a light weight marked Estimate and asks for one set of as many good reps as you can. That set becomes your starting point.

  

• Steady progress, never a max test

  You never test a one-rep max. The weight goes up one step only when every set reaches the top of the rep range. A set that's too heavy brings the next one down.

• Every exercise explained

  Each exercise opens to an illustration, the muscles it works and your history on it. The push-ups guide shows how to make one of the first moves harder over time.

  

• Free, no ads, no account

  Unlimited workouts, suggested weights and up to 4 active routines are free. There's nothing to sign up for and no ads.

A first program, in numbers

15, first session in the school weight room

Off-season for baseball, three days a week. Workout A starts with squat, bench press and barbell rows, all estimates.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Barbell Back Squat	45 lb bar (Estimate), 12 reps, 3 left	55 lb × 6–10	15 reps to the limit with the empty bar converts to about 54 lb for 6 reps with 2 left: a 5 lb plate per side.
Barbell Bench Press	45 lb bar (Estimate), 15 reps, 2 left	55 lb × 6–10	17 reps to the limit converts to about 56 lb for 6 reps with 2 left, rounded to your plates.
Barbell Row	55 lb (Estimate), 14 reps, 1 left	60 lb × 8–10	Converted to 8 reps with 2 left, then rounded to the nearest loadable weight.

Every lift started light and found its level in one set. Workout A next week opens with these numbers.

16, home dumbbells between practices

Basketball most days, so lifting is twice a week in the garage with one pair of dumbbells, two months in.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Goblet Squat	30 lb, 20 / 20 / 20 reps, 2 left	35 lb × 10–20	Top of the range on every set at the target effort: one dumbbell step up, reps reset to 10.
Incline Push-Up	Bodyweight, 15 / 15 / 14 reps, 2 left	Bodyweight × 15	The weakest set hit today's target of 14. Bodyweight moves progress by reps.
Reverse Lunge	15 lb pair, 12 / 10 reps, 2 left	15 lb pair × 11	The second set hit today's target of 10, so the target goes up one rep.

Two days a week around a sport is enough for the numbers to keep moving.

A teammate says go heavier

Week five. You load more than the app suggested on bench to keep up with a friend.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Barbell Bench Press	Set 1: 85 lb × 4, nothing left	Set 2: 75 lb × 6	Below the 6-rep floor, so the next set comes down: 85 × 33 ÷ 37 ≈ 76, rounded to 75 lb.
Barbell Bench Press	Set 2: 75 lb × 7, 2 left	Set 3: 75 lb × 6	A little more left than planned, but the 2 lb it would add is smaller than your smallest plates, so it holds.

You can override any weight. The next set still comes from what you actually did.

First programs that open in RIRLift

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

  New to lifting, 3 gym days a week

  A barbell, a rack and a few machines, three days a week. The first example above.

  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 for beginners

  At home: bodyweight and one pair of dumbbells

  One pair of dumbbells at home, no bench.

  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

  Gym, three days a week

  Dumbbells and cables at a gym, if the barbell feels like too much at first.

  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

Make it fit you

• Choose the Steady pace

  Settings has three progression paces. Steady takes smaller, surer steps while you learn the lifts.

• Tell it what the weight room has

  Pick your equipment once and plans and swaps stay inside it. If the bench is taken, the swap picker shows replacements with their starting weights.

• Train with teammates

  Add friends to see when each other trains, cheer finished workouts, and run a 7, 14 or 30-day challenge.

• Set reminders around school

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

Questions

Read next

• The best workout for beginners

  Gym and home plans for a first program.

• Beginner Strength Program: 8 Weeks, 3 Days a Week

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

• What is RIR (reps in reserve)?

  What "reps left" means and how to judge it.

• Newbie gains: how to tell when yours have actually ended

  How fast new lifters progress, and for how long.

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.

• 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.

• 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.

Every lifter and goal