A muscle-building coach that shows its work: every decision explained in plain language, and traceable to your training data.
RoleFounder, Product Design, Engineering
PlatformiOS · Expo / React Native
Lifters who’ve trained for a few years usually stall, and they can’t tell whether they need more volume or less. Tracking apps don’t answer that question, and coaching apps answer it without showing their reasoning, so users override them the first time a recommendation feels wrong. I thought people would follow a program if they could see why it was built that way.
I set one rule: the app can only say things it can back up with the user’s logged workouts. This applied to praise too, so celebrations only happen when the data shows a real result.
Assisted pull-ups were the hardest case. Progress there means using less weight, which breaks every standard strength score. I tried two alternative metrics and both gave misleading numbers for anyone losing weight. I removed the score for those exercises and added a short explanation of why it doesn’t apply.
A weekly review that explains what’s changing and why for each muscle group. An onboarding flow that ends in a program with the reasoning shown for each choice. Feedback that updates the following week’s plan the same day. I also wrote automated tests that fail the build if any screen shows a claim the engine didn’t make.
LIFT is on the App Store with 45 lifters in trial. One user said it’s the first app that feels like having an actual coach. I’m building progress tracking next, under the same rule.
Lifters who’ve trained for a few years usually stall, and they can’t tell whether they need more volume or less. Tracking apps don’t answer that question, and coaching apps answer it without showing their reasoning, so users override them the first time a recommendation feels wrong. I thought people would follow a program if they could see why it was built that way.
I set one rule: the app can only say things it can back up with the user’s logged workouts. This applied to praise too, so celebrations only happen when the data shows a real result.
Assisted pull-ups were the hardest case. Progress there means using less weight, which breaks every standard strength score. I tried two alternative metrics and both gave misleading numbers for anyone losing weight. I removed the score for those exercises and added a short explanation of why it doesn’t apply.
