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

What "no subscription" should mean in a workout app

• The core is free, not the sample

  Logging, prefilled sets, the next weight for every exercise and the rest timer are all in the free tier, with no workout limit. Coach suggests your loads and shows where your program is headed without a payment.

  

• Nothing that runs out

  There's no countdown and no card to enter. Download, pick a plan and train. The free tier on day 400 is the free tier on day one.

• Enough routines for a real week

  Four active routines cover a 4-day upper/lower split, a 3-day full-body plan with a spare, or push/pull/legs plus an arm day. Swap in any routine from the program library when you change plans.

• No account, no ads

  No sign-up wall before your first set, no ad between sets, and iCloud sync only if you turn it on.

• Bring your history from the app you're leaving

  Import your workouts from Hevy, Strong or FitNotes. Weights worked out from them are marked From history, so you pick up where you were instead of starting light.

• A clear line for what Pro adds

  Pro is $9.99/month or $79.99/year in the US. It adds far more Coach conversations, unlimited routines and cycles, all-time analytics, Fine-tune for step sizes, connecting Claude or ChatGPT, custom plates and bar, and CSV export.

What the free tier looks like after you switch

Week 1: you left a paid app and brought your history

You train at home with adjustable dumbbells and a bench, and you imported two years of workouts. One lift in the new plan is new to you.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Flat Dumbbell Press	Imported: 50 lb × 10 / 9 / 8	50 lb × 6–10, From history	Worked out from your imported sessions, not restarted from a guess.
Goblet Squat	Imported: 60 lb × 15 / 14 / 13	60 lb × 8–15, From history	Same source. Your first session here lands near your last one there.
Bulgarian Split Squat	20 lb pair (Estimate), 16 reps per leg, nothing left	25 lb × 8–12	Never logged before, so it started light. 16 reps to failure converts to about 25 lb for 8 with 1 left.

No restart and no paywall in week one. Your numbers came with you.

Month 2: a 4-day split on four free routines

Running the dumbbell upper/lower plan below: four routines, the exact free limit. Each lift moves when your sets say so.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Flat Dumbbell Press	55 lb, 10 / 10 / 10 reps, 2 left	60 lb × 6	Every set reached the top of 6–10: one dumbbell step up, rep target back to the bottom.
Incline Dumbbell Row	45 lb, 12 / 12 / 11 reps, 1 left	45 lb × 12	The weakest set hit this session's target of 11 but not the top of 8–12. Same weight, one more rep.
Dumbbell Lateral Raise	20 lb, 20 / 18 / 16 reps, to failure	20 lb × 17	The weakest set hit its target of 16. One dumbbell jump is a big share of this load, so reps climb first.

Progression, every weight and every rep target cost nothing. That's the whole engine, not a preview of it.

Back after three weeks away

Travel broke the routine. This is where a trial would have expired and a subscription would have kept billing.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Flat Dumbbell Press	Last session: 60 lb × 8, 2 left	55 lb × 6–10	After three weeks off the app offers Ease back in: one week about 10% lighter, rounded to your dumbbells.
Goblet Squat	Last session: 70 lb × 15, 1 left	65 lb × 8–15	Same easier week. Pick up where I left off skips it if you trained elsewhere.

The app was still there and still free. One lighter week, then normal progress.

Plans that fit inside the free tier

• The best workout with dumbbells, for the dumbbells you actually have

  Adjustable dumbbells and a bench, 4 days

  The plan the examples use: four routines, adjustable dumbbells and a bench.

  4× a week · 71 sets a week · ~45 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

• The best workout for full body, for your week

  Full gym, 3 days: heavy, moderate, light

  Three routines at a full gym, with a free slot left for an extra day.

  3× a week · 50 sets a week · ~45 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

• The best workout for home, with little or no equipment

  No equipment, 3 days a week

  No gym and no gear to buy either. Two bodyweight routines, three days a week.

  3× a week · 44 sets a week · ~35 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

Make it fit you

• Import before your first session

  Bring your workouts from Hevy, Strong or FitNotes first, so your first weights come from your history instead of a starting estimate.

• Choose your four routines on purpose

  Group them into a program and switch the active one when you change plans. Your logged history stays with each lift.

• Tell it your equipment

  Choose what your gym or garage has once. Plans and swaps stay inside it, and every weight rounds to a step your dumbbells or plates can actually make.

• Use your Watch, free

  The Apple Watch app is in the free tier: log sets, follow the rest timer and get the next weight from your wrist.

Questions

Read next

• The best free workout tracker apps for lifters (2026)

  What each free tier really includes, side by side.

• The best workout with dumbbells, for the dumbbells you actually have

  Dumbbell plans for any setup, including the 4-day split above.

• Double progression: how to run it and where it breaks

  The rule the free tier applies to every lift.

• How RIRLift picks your next weight

  Everything the free weight engine does, written out.

• How much weight should I lift?

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

More ways lifters use RIRLift

• The gym tracker that turns your logs into your next weight

  Bring your old logs, chart every lift, and see a stall answered before it eats another month.

• 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 home gym app that loads your own plates

  A rack, a bar and your own plates: weights rounded to what you can load, and a plan that skips the machines.

Every lifter and goal