Exercises

Badger comes with around 370 exercises in 8 categories. Use them as they are, edit them, add your own exercises, or add categories of your own.

Exercise library

Open You → Exercise library to see every exercise you have in one alphabetical list.

Each row shows an equipment glyph, the exercise name, and its type and category underneath. A star means it's a favorite. Tap a row to open the exercise's page.

Letter headings divide the list. Tap a letter in the strip down the right edge to jump to it, or drag your thumb along the strip to scrub through.

Search and filter

Type in the search box at the top to narrow the list as you type.

Search looks at each exercise's name, its category and its equipment. So "bicep curl" finds Barbell Curl, which sits in the Biceps category, and "dumbbell curl" finds Hammer Curl. Plurals and accents don't matter: "squats" finds every squat.

A few everyday words work too. "Abs" finds the Core exercises, and "stationary bike", "rower", "stairmaster" and "cross trainer" find the cardio machines by their names in the library.

In the exercise pickers, names that match exactly or start with what you typed come first.

You can also search for about a hundred of the most common lifts by their German, French or Spanish name. "Kreuzheben" finds Deadlift, "développé couché" finds Flat Barbell Bench Press, and "sentadilla" finds Barbell Back Squat. In the exercise pickers, the name you typed shows in lighter text under the English one. The rest of the app is in English.

Filter chips

Under the search box are the chips All, Favorites, and one per category. Tap Favorites for only your starred exercises, or a category chip for only that category.

Muscle filter

Tap the muscle icon in the top bar. A body diagram sits above a scrollable list:

• Tap a region on the diagram to filter by that muscle group.
• Tap a group header in the list to select the whole group.
• Tap a single muscle to narrow to just that muscle.
• The active filter shows as a pill below the search box. Tap it to clear.

Equipment filter

Tap the equipment icon in the top bar to filter by barbell, dumbbell, cable, machine, bodyweight, kettlebell, band or other. The active filter shows as a pill below the search box.

An exercise with no equipment type shows an empty-bracket glyph on its row. Open the exercise and set the type to fix it.

Search, chips, muscle filter and equipment filter all combine. Type "row", pick the Back chip and filter to cable, and you see only what matches all three.

Pick an exercise for a workout

When you add an exercise to a workout, the picker opens with the keyboard up, ready for a search. Right under the search box is a row of category chips: All, then one per category. Tap a chip to close the keyboard and see only that category. A search or a filter you set stays narrowed to it.

In each category, the exercises you have logged come first, newest first, each with the day you last did it ("last done Oct 14"). The rest of the category follows in A-Z order.

The two buttons in the top bar are labeled Muscle and Equipment. They open the same filters as in the library.

Under each name, a row shows the equipment and the main muscle, for example "Cable machine · Lats". An exercise that logs something other than weight and reps adds what it logs: "Bodyweight · Abs · Time".

Tap a row to add the exercise straight away. To read about it first, tap the i button at the end of the row. A sheet shows the illustration (when there is one), how to do the exercise and the main muscles, with a button to add it. The picker for a routine day works the same way.

Favorites

Open the ⋮ menu on an exercise's row and tap Favorite. A star appears on the row, and the Favorites chip shows only your starred exercises. Tap Unfavorite in the same menu to remove it.

Avoided exercises

Mark an exercise you want to stay away from (an injury, a preference, equipment you don't have): open the ⋮ menu on its row and tap Mark as avoided.

In the library it gets an "Avoided" tag and a dimmed name, and you can still log it. It's left out of Swap exercise suggestions, and Copy context for AI lists it so an AI knows to leave it out. Tap Remove from avoided in the same menu to clear it.

The exercise page

An exercise's page leads with your history for it: every session you've logged, newest first.

• The record key at the top, beside the illustration, shows your best set and the estimated one-rep max it works out to. Tap it for the full progress screen, with the graph and the rest of your records.
• Muscles worked opens to an anatomy diagram of the primary and secondary muscles.
• Notes & instructions shows your notes for the exercise and the built-in technique cues. Tap it once it's open to edit your notes. It appears only when there's something to show.
• The pencil in the top bar opens the edit screen.

Create an exercise

Tap + in the exercise library.

You can also create one while you add exercises to a workout or a routine day. Search for it in the exercise picker, then tap Create at the bottom of the list. The form opens with your search as the name and the category chip you picked. Saving puts it straight into the workout or the day.

Badger fills in the exercise type and equipment from the name. A name close to one in the library takes that exercise's type and equipment: "clap push up" starts as Reps Only and Bodyweight, like Push-Up. A word like "dumbbell" or "cable" sets the equipment. Check the type before you save, because it decides what you log for each set.

With no library match, Badger goes by words in the name:

• push up, pull up or dips: Reps Only
• plank, hold or hang: Time Only
• run, bike, rower or treadmill (or running, jogging, cycling): Distance + Time
• anything else: Weight + Reps

"Weighted" or "assisted" in the name keeps a weight field, so "weighted pull up" starts as Weight + Reps.

Once you pick the type or equipment yourself, changing the name leaves it alone.

The form shows only the fields that fit the type and equipment. Weight settings appear only for a type that logs weight, and the plate calculator and bar weight only for a barbell or machine exercise. The save button stays at the bottom of the screen while you scroll.

Required fields

• Name
• Exercise type - Decides which fields you fill in when logging (see below).
• Category - A built-in category or one of your own.

Optional fields

• Equipment type - Barbell, dumbbell, machine, cable, bodyweight, kettlebell, band or other. It decides which equipment settings the form shows.
• Weight unit - kg or lbs. Starts on your global setting.
• Default increment - How much weight the progressive overload suggestion adds.
• Default rest (working sets) - Rest timer length after a working set.
• Default rest (warmup sets) - Rest timer length after a warmup set.
• Primary & secondary muscles - Picked on the body diagram. Used for muscle balance and filtering.
• Plate calculator mode - Dual-loaded (barbell, leg press) or Single-loaded (T-bar, landmine). Sets how the plate calculator splits the weight. Shown for barbell and machine exercises.
• Bar weight - Replaces the default bar weight in the plate calculator. Shown for barbell and machine exercises.
• Log left and right separately - Off, Optional or Always, for one-arm and one-leg work. Offered on exercises that log reps or time. See Left and right sets.
• Compatible machines - Machines at your gyms that this exercise uses. The training screen offers these when you pick a machine.
• Default graph - Which progress graph shows first.
• Notes - Your reminders (form cues, machine settings, links). They show at the top of the training screen when you log this exercise.
• Instructions - How to do the exercise, filled in for every built-in exercise. The most common machine and dumbbell exercises explain it in plain words; if you have edited an instruction, your text stays. On the training screen, tap the notes card to read them in full, or tap its pencil to edit them.

Exercise types

The type decides which fields you fill in for each set.

You can change an exercise's type later on its edit screen. If the exercise already has logged sets, Badger asks before it saves, because those sets keep only the fields the new type shows. For example, sets logged as Reps Only keep their reps and show a dash for weight.

Changing the equipment to or from Bodyweight on a Weight + Reps exercise asks too, because it changes whether logged weights read as added weight.

Bodyweight, weighted and assisted exercises

Push-Up, Pull-Up, Chin-Up and Dips are Reps Only: you log reps and nothing else. When you start adding weight, or using a machine that helps you up, log on the exercise made for it:

• Weighted Pull-Up, Weighted Chin-Up, Weighted Dip and Weighted Push-Up log weight and reps. Enter only the weight you add, such as a belt or a vest. A set with no weight reads BW × 8, and a set with weight reads +25 lbs × 6. Your body weight is never added, so volume and records count the added weight only. Sets with no added weight count toward your reps records.
• Assisted Pull-Up and Assisted Dip log the assistance the machine gives. Less assistance is the harder set, so a lower number counts as the record (see Record weight).

If you want one history for strict and weighted sets, log them all on the weighted exercise and leave the weight empty for strict sets.

The library also has easier and harder versions of the common moves: Knee Push-Up, Incline Push-Up, Pike Push-Up, Archer Push-Up, Handstand Push-Up, Negative Pull-Up, Dead Hang, Bodyweight Squat and Muscle-Up. For machines there is Ab Crunch Machine. Imports from Hevy and Strong land on these, so Pull Up (Weighted) becomes Weighted Pull-Up with its weight.

When the same reps come easily every session, Badger suggests the next version up. See When to move on.

Categories

Every exercise belongs to a category. The 8 built-in ones are Chest, Back, Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps, Legs, Core and Cardio. Categories drive the library's chip row, the exercise picker's filters, and the weekly volume chips on the Today screen.

Manage categories

In the exercise library, open the ⋮ menu and tap Manage categories.

• Tap New category to name it and pick a color. A custom category works everywhere a built-in one does, except the muscle heatmap, since it has no muscle group.
• Tap the pencil icon to rename a category or change its color, built-in ones included.
• Drag a row's handle to reorder.
• Tap the trash icon to delete. Only an empty category can be deleted; if it still holds exercises, Badger tells you how many so you can move or delete them first.

Linked exercises

Link two exercises that are the same movement under different names (Flat Bench Press and Barbell Bench Press, or a free-weight lift and its machine version) and they share progress history and personal records.

1. Open the exercise and tap the pencil.
2. Scroll to Linked exercises, below Compatible machines.
3. Tap Link exercise and pick the other exercise.

Both exercises then show the same graphs, PRs, stats and history. A new best on either one counts as a PR on both.

To unlink, tap the linked exercise's chip (it has an ×) and confirm. The two stop sharing history, and both stay in the library.

Looking for Lying Leg Curl or Good Morning (Legs)? They're now Leg Curl (Lying) and Good Morning, and sets you logged under the old names are there, with your records and graphs.

Changing exercise settings mid-workout

On the training screen, tap the info icon in the top bar (or the pencil on the notes card, when it's showing) to open the exercise notes screen. Changes there apply to the exercise from now on, in every workout:

• Notes and instructions
• Default weight increment
• Default rest times (working and warmup)
• Bar weight for the plate calculator
• Tempo (for example "3-1-2-0")

The screen also shows the exercise's muscles.

Delete an exercise

In the exercise library, open the ⋮ menu on the exercise's row and tap Delete, then confirm.

An exercise that's logged in a workout or used in a routine can't be deleted yet. A note shows how many workouts and routines use it; remove it from those first.