Gyms and equipment

Record the gym, machine, bar and attachment you use, and Badger keeps a separate history for each: a cable row on the low pulley doesn't compete with one on the high pulley. This page starts with picking equipment during a workout, then covers setting up gyms, machines, attachments, bars, bands and chains, dumbbell racks, and sharing a gym.

Picking equipment during a workout

The gym shows in the training screen's header. Bar, accessories and grip show as chips in the context row above your sets. Tap a chip to change it, or use the ⋮ menu.

Gym

Badger picks the gym when the workout starts:

• Started from a routine day that has a Default gym: that gym.
• Otherwise, your default gym, or your only gym if you have one.
• Several gyms and no default: no gym until you pick one.

To change it, tap ⋮ → Change gym….

Machine and attachment

Tap ⋮ → Set machine…. Machines marked compatible with the exercise at your current gym come first. Other machines at this gym lists the rest, and picking one there marks it compatible for next time.

If the machine has Uses attachments on, pick the attachment in the same picker. Badger remembers the last attachment you used for each exercise and machine and selects it next time. Notes on the machine and the attachment show in the training screen's notes card.

Bar

On a barbell exercise, at a gym with bars linked, tap the bar chip (or ⋮ → Set bar…) and pick a bar. Each shows its weight in your logging unit.

For a bar you haven't added yet, tap New bar… at the bottom. It only asks for a name, and you can weigh it later on its own page.

The bar shows in History and on the workout summary. To change it afterwards, tap the equipment line there.

Bands, chains and straps

The accessories chip appears on a barbell or bodyweight exercise at a gym with accessories linked. On a machine it appears only when the machine has Supports bands on, and then only bands are offered.

You can pick several; tap Done when finished. To clear them, uncheck everything and tap Done. Backing out changes nothing.

The chip then shows a count with the colors beside it ("2 bands", "1 chain", or "3 accessories" for mixed kinds), and History and the workout summary show the same. Sets with an accessory don't count toward records (see Accessories and personal records).

Grip

On a machine with Uses grip types on, a grip chip appears in the context row. Tap it to choose Overhand, Underhand, Neutral, Wide, Close or Hammer, before or after logging sets. Tap No grip to clear it. Your grip shows in History.

Dumbbells and kettlebells

If the gym has a rack set up, + and − step through the weights on it.

Setting equipment ahead in a routine

A routine can preselect the equipment so each session starts with it picked:

• Default gym - on the routine day.
• Default machine, Default attachment, Default bar, Default grip and Default accessories - on the exercise's sets screen in the routine editor.

Setting up gyms

Go to You → Gyms.

• Tap + to create a gym. Tap a gym to edit its name or notes, or to make it your default.
• Plates: under Plate inventory, tap Plate assortment to set which plates, and how many, the gym has. kg and lbs plates are listed separately. If you skip this, the gym uses your global plate set.
• Racks: list the dumbbells and kettlebells the gym stocks. See Dumbbell and kettlebell racks.
• Archive a gym to hide it from pickers and keep its history. If it was your default, another active gym becomes the default.

Machines

Go to You → Machines.

Adding a machine

• Tap +, name it ("Cable station", "Leg press") and pick the gyms it's at. With one gym, it links there on its own. You then land on the machine's page to fill in the rest.
• Turn on Uses attachments or Uses grip types if the machine takes them.
• Use Available at to change which gyms have it. A machine linked to no gym isn't offered while you train.

Resistance type and plate calculator

Set Resistance type first. It decides which of the settings below you see.

Weight settings

• Starting weight - what the machine weighs empty (the bar, sled or arms). Leave it blank if you don't know, and the plate calculator counts plates only. Tap (i) for the in-app explanation.
• How weight is logged - on a plate-loaded machine set to Dual-Loaded, choose Total or Per side. If you load 90 lbs a side on an iso-lateral press and type 90, choose Per side. The weight field then shows "/ side", and the plate calculator and every set you log on the machine read it that way. The numbers you type are stored as typed. A selectorized stack or a Single-Loaded machine doesn't ask.
• Logging unit - kg or lbs for this machine, whatever your app setting. Useful for a kg stack with awkward lbs markings. Default follows the exercise, then the app. The weight field switches to this unit when you log on the machine, and routines that use it as a default plan in this unit too.
• Weight increment - the step between settings, in the machine's own unit (for example 5 kg between stack pins). For a stack whose step changes partway up, fill in Then step and Above (for example 10 kg up to 100, then 20 kg). The + and − buttons and the progressive-overload suggestion follow these steps.

Left and right

Set Left and right to Off, Optional or Always to override the exercise's setting on this machine, for example Always on a single-arm cable station. Until you pick one, it shows "Not set" and each exercise's own setting applies. See Left and right sets.

Linking machines to exercises

A machine linked to an exercise appears at the top of the Set machine picker. Pick a machine from Other machines at this gym during a workout and it's linked from then on. To link ahead of time, open the exercise library → Edit → Compatible machines.

Removing equipment from a gym

Remove a machine from a gym, from the gym's screen or from the machine's own screen, and it goes at once. Undo puts it back.

Deleting a machine

A machine used in a logged workout or a routine default can be deleted only after you remove it from those. Otherwise, deleting it also removes it from every gym and exercise link. Attachments, bars and accessories delete the same way. Deleting asks you to confirm, then Undo on the message brings it back with its gyms, links and photo. See Undo a delete.

Attachments

Attachments are the handles you clip to a cable: straight bar, rope, V-bar, D-handle. Go to You → Attachments.

• Tap +, name it and pick its gyms (skipped with one gym), then finish on its page.
• Change its gyms under Available at. An attachment with no gym isn't offered while you train.
• Attachments are offered only on machines with Uses attachments on.

Bars

Add each bar you lift with (the Olympic bar, the trap bar, the EZ curl, the worn 45 that actually weighs 44) and pick one per exercise. Go to You → Bars.

• Tap +, name it and pick its gyms, then finish on its page.
• Give it a weight in kg or lbs, or leave it blank if you don't know it. It's stored exactly as typed and never converted - a 45 lb bar stays 45.
• Add notes and a photo if you like.
• Link it to gyms from its Available at section, or from Bars at this gym on the gym's page.

Where the bar's weight is used

The plate calculator and the warm-up calculator take the starting weight from the bar you picked, then the machine, then the exercise. A bar with no weight skips to the next one.

Records are kept per bar

Personal records are tracked per machine and per bar, so a trap-bar deadlift keeps its own records apart from your straight-bar deadlift, whatever the Progress filter is showing (see Personal records). Sets with no bar recorded compete with your whole history. Chart filters there narrow an exercise's chart and history list by machine, bar or accessories.

Accessories: bands, chains and straps

Accessories are what you add to a lift on top of the load: resistance bands, chains, suspension straps. Go to You → Accessories. Each one has:

• A name and a kind: Band, Chain, Suspension or Other. Suspension shows as "Suspension (TRX)" where there's room.
• A color, since that's how you tell bands apart. Pick a preset or set your own. An accessory with no color shows a hollow ring.
• An optional label shown beside the name, such as "rated 25 lbs" or "doubled". It's for you to read only.
• Notes and Available at gym links.

Accessories and personal records

Sets with an accessory attached never count as a personal record, and never stop a bare set from being one. A banded 100 kg bench earns no PR badge and doesn't block a bare 95 kg bench. Clear the accessories off an exercise and its sets count again. Accessories don't change the weight, the plate math or the stepper.

For a session that's part banded and part bare, add the exercise twice, once with the accessory and once without. The bare sets keep their records. To alternate between the two, put them in a superset.

Dumbbell and kettlebell racks

List the weights actually on a gym's rack (5, 10, 15 up to 50, then 60 and 70, say), and the + and − buttons beside the weight field step through that list. The rack only changes where + and − land. You can still type any weight.

Setting up a rack

Open a gym and use its Racks section, which has a row for dumbbells and one for kettlebells. Or, on a dumbbell or kettlebell exercise at a gym with no rack, tap the "Set up [gym name]'s dumbbell rack" link under the weight field (it says "kettlebells" for kettlebells). The link goes away once the rack exists.

• The first time you open a rack, it fills in a starting list and saves it.
• Add weights one at a time, or tap Add range for a run of them (from, to, step). An adjustable dumbbell is a range.
• Edit or delete any weight, including the ones the preset added.
• kg and lbs racks are separate lists, never converted into each other - entering one doesn't fill the other. The kg / lbs switch at the top of the editor flips between them.
• Until a rack has two weights, the stepper uses your normal increment.

Kettlebell colors

The kg kettlebell preset comes with the competition color code: 8 pink, 12 blue, 16 yellow, 20 purple, 24 green, 28 orange, 32 red (4 kg starts blank). Tap the dot beside any weight to change its color, or to give a dumbbell one. The lbs preset has no colors.

While you log, a matching dot appears beside the weight when it lands exactly on a colored rack weight, so you can check you picked up the bell you meant to.

How + and − step through your rack

+ or − moves to the next weight on the rack in that direction. A weight that isn't on the rack moves to its nearest neighbor on that side. Above the top or below the bottom of the rack, the stepper uses your normal increment. A line under the field shows the source: "Step: rack · [gym name]".

Kettlebells in kg at a gym that works in pounds? Racks follow the exercise's logging unit, not the app setting. Set up the kg rack in the rack editor, then set the exercise's weight unit to kg (exercise library → Edit → Weight unit). The stepper needs both.

Photos

Add a photo to a machine, attachment or bar so you can recognize it on the floor. Open it and tap the photo panel at the top to take a photo or choose from your gallery. Tap again to replace or remove it. Photo removed appears with Undo. Accessories have no photo; their color identifies them.

Badger asks for camera or photo library access only the first time you add a photo.

• Attachment photos also show as thumbnails in the attachment picker during a workout.
• An iCloud or Drive backup leaves photos out unless you turn on Back up equipment photos on the Backup screen (the on-phone copies Android keeps never include them). Without it, a restore onto a new phone brings your machines, attachments and bars back without their pictures. Photos make backups much larger.
• Deleting a machine, attachment or bar deletes its photo too, unless you tap Undo.

Sharing a gym

Open a gym and tap ⋮ → Share gym to write a .badger file. A friend who opens it gets the gym's equipment without typing it in.

The file carries the machines (with their resistance types, increments and units), attachments, bars with their weights, accessories with their colors, and the notes on all of them. It also carries any racks and plate inventory you've set up. Your photos, and the setup cues you save for one exercise on one machine, stay on your phone.

Importing fills gaps and overwrites nothing. If your friend already has that gym with their own rack, theirs stays. The import preview marks those items yours are kept and counts the machines, attachments, bars and accessories before you confirm. Field-by-field details are on the file format page.