Logging workouts

This page follows a session from start to finish: starting a workout, logging sets on the training screen, timers and rest, supersets, skipping, and finishing.

Start a workout

Start from the Today screen:

Free workout - Tap New workout and pick your first exercise.
Repeat your last workout - When you haven't trained today, a Last workout card above New workout names the day and the first exercises, for example "Last workout, Tuesday: Lat Pulldown, Chest Press, Leg Press and 2 more". Tap Repeat it, then Copy. To copy an older workout, tap Copy previous workout.
From a routine - Tap a day of your active routine. The routine log preview opens; tap Start. See Start a workout from a routine.

The Today screen also shows:

This Week - How many days you've trained this week, plus a warning for any muscle group you haven't trained for a while.
Weekly volume chips - Sets logged per muscle category this week, one chip for each muscle you trained. A colored dot marks a group that needs attention. Tap a chip for the muscle balance detail.
Program week - If your active program runs in weeks, like 5/3/1, which week you're on and which days are done. See Which week the routine is on.
Welcome back - After six weeks or more without a workout, an offer to start lighter. See Coming back after a break.
Monthly report - In the first two weeks of a month: last month's workout count, total volume (with the change from the month before) and exercises you tried for the first time. Tap × to dismiss it.
Deload banner and plateau card - When those features are on. See Deload and Plateau detection.
One year ago - If you trained on this date a year back, a line at the bottom says so, for example "One year ago · Entry № 63 · Push Day". Tap it to open that session. If you didn't train that day, the line doesn't appear.

The training screen

Each exercise opens on the training screen, with three tabs: Track (logging sets), History (your past sessions of this exercise) and Graph (its progress chart). Swipe to switch between them.

Move between exercises

The left half of the bar at the bottom of the screen shows where you are in the workout, such as Exercise 3/7 · 9/24 sets: the exercise you're on, then sets done out of sets planned. On a narrow screen it shortens to 3/7 · 9/24. In a workout with no plan it counts the sets you've done so far.

Tap it to open the list of this workout's exercises. From the list you can tap an exercise to switch to it, drag to reorder, or tap Add exercise. To add another exercise without opening the list, tap + Add on the right.

Remove an exercise

Long-press the exercise on Today or in the Exercises list, and tap Remove from workout. On the training screen, Remove from workout is also in the ⋮ menu. The exercise and its sets leave this workout. Changed your mind? Tap Undo on the message at the bottom of the screen, and everything comes back as it was.

If you remove the exercise you're on, the screen moves to the next one. Removing the only exercise takes you back to Today. Your routine is not changed.

More options (⋮ menu)

Replace exercise - Swap in a different exercise. Sets already logged stay attached.
Switch to alternative or Swap exercise - Swap for this workout only. See Alternative exercises.
Skip remaining sets - Skip every set on this exercise that is not done yet. It does not show once every set is done. See Skip a set.
Superset - Group exercises. See Supersets. Not shown on cardio.
Change gym - Switch which gym this workout is at.
Set machine - Pick the machine and attachment. New machine… and New attachment… at the bottom of each picker add one on the spot.
Set bar - Pick the bar on a barbell exercise, at a gym that has bars. New bar… adds one.
1RM calculator and Plate calculator - Neither shows on cardio. The plate calculator opens with your current weight, and shows only on plate-loaded equipment: a barbell exercise, a plate-loaded machine, a plate calculator mode you set yourself, or an exercise with no equipment type. A cable, a dumbbell or a pin-stack machine never offers it. See Tools.
Remove from workout - Take this exercise and its sets out of the workout. See Remove an exercise.

Exercise notes

A notes card sits above the set input for an exercise that has notes or instructions. The info icon in the top bar shows or hides it. The card opens by itself when the exercise has notes of your own, and the first time you log an exercise that has instructions.

Long text is cut short: tap it to read the rest, and tap again to shorten it. To edit, tap the pencil on the card, which opens the exercise notes screen. For an exercise with neither notes nor instructions, the info icon opens that screen directly.

NOTES - Your own reminders: form cues, seat settings.
INSTRUCTIONS - Built-in technique cues.
GRIP - The grip you've selected, when the machine uses grips.

With a machine set, the notes you write are for that machine, so two leg presses can carry different seat heights.

The notes screen's heading reads Notes · MachineName. Notes you wrote for the exercise in general appear in their own block, and the attachment's notes ("use the thick end") appear in the same card. Increment, rest, instructions and muscles apply to the exercise on every machine.

Log a set

The Track tab shows the input fields at the top and your logged sets below. The fields follow the exercise type: weight and reps for a barbell lift, time for a plank. They start from the first working set of your last session of that exercise, and from zero if you've never done it.

Enter the weight and reps (or time, distance) with the +/− buttons, or tap a field and type. Hold a button to keep counting; it speeds up the longer you hold.
Tap Save set.

What Save set does depends on how you log. Badger asks the first time you save a set in a workout, with a short picture of each way:

Log as you go: Save set logs the set as done. It's ticked, your rest timer starts and Badger checks for a record. One tap per set.
Plan, then tick: Save set adds the set to your list, waiting. Tap the circle on its row when you've done it. That logs it, starts your rest timer and checks for a record.

Sets your routine planned, and sets copied from a past workout, are ticked the same way in both. If you came from FitNotes, Badger starts with the way you logged there. Change it any time in Settings → Logging → Save set.

In Log as you go, Save set keeps you on the exercise, so you can do as many sets as you like and move on when you're ready. Ticking the last of the sets you planned still moves you to the next exercise.

Edit a set: tap its row to load it into the fields. The line Editing set 2 shows which one. Change it and tap Update; the boxes clear and the next waiting set is selected, and Set 2 updated appears with Undo. To add a new set with those numbers instead, tap New set instead. Tap the row again to let go without saving.
Delete a set: tap its row, tap Delete and confirm.
Repeat a set: tap the Repeat last chip below your sets. It names the set it will copy, such as a weight and reps or a duration, along with its RPE or RIR.

See your target while you log

On a workout started from a routine, a line above the input fields shows the plan and your last performance, for example Plan 8-10 · Last 8 @ 80 kg, 3 days ago. It follows you from set to set, and says how long ago that last session was.

A set you haven't done yet shows its target in the list, such as 80 kg × 8+, until you complete it.
A dim + or -10 in the reps box shows an open or ranged target. It disappears once you change the number.

How the +/− buttons step

The weight buttons move by the exercise's increment. With a machine set, they use the machine's step instead, and a line under the field says so: Step: 10 lbs · from Cybex Leg Press.

On dumbbells and kettlebells at a gym whose rack you've set up, the buttons walk the rack's weights (5, 10, 15 up to 50, then whatever comes next), and the line reads Step: rack · My Gym.

You can still type any weight. Past either end of the rack, the buttons go back to your usual increment. With no rack set up, a link under the field offers to add one.

A Suggested: 82.5 kg line above the fields means you're ready to add weight. See Progressive overload suggestion.

On a Reps Only or Time Only exercise, a line such as 8 reps on every set, 3 sessions running means you're ready for a harder version, with a link to swap to it for today. See Bodyweight exercises: when to move on.

Typing a duration

Anywhere Badger asks for a duration (the Track tab, a routine's planned sets, quick edit, editing a past set, the set timer), type the digits and Badger builds the time from the right:

Type 2, 0, 0, 0 and the field reads 0:02, 0:20, 2:00, then 20:00.
Backspace takes the last digit off, so 20:00 goes back to 2:00.
Keep typing past four digits and hours appear: 1, 3, 0, 0, 0, 0 reads 1:30:00. The longest is 99:59:59.
Seconds above 59 are fixed when you leave the field: 0:75 becomes 1:15.

Tap a duration to select it, and the next digit starts a new time. Pasting a time such as 15:00 works too. The +/− buttons move 5 seconds up to 5:00, and 1 minute from 5:00 on.

Distance unit

Distances show in kilometers or miles, whichever you pick under You → Settings → Logging → Distance unit. New installs pick it during setup, and it starts from your phone's region.

When you update with distances already logged, Badger asks Kilometers or miles? once.

Tap Miles if you logged them in miles: your past distances keep their numbers, so a 3.1 stays 3.1 and now reads as 3.1 mi. Tap Kilometers and nothing changes.

Close the question without answering and it comes back the next time you open the app. With no distances logged yet, Badger asks the first time a distance field appears on the training screen.

After that, changing the unit in Settings changes how every distance is shown: graphs, records, history, set rows and the plan line. A distance logged in the other unit is converted for display, and the number you typed is kept as typed.

Weight per side

When an exercise or its machine is set to per side, the weight label reads WEIGHT (LBS / SIDE), and your sets read 90 lbs × 8 /side in your history, on the workout summary and in the exercise's log.

Badger stores the number you typed. Totals, volume, estimated 1RM and records use it as-is. Older sets have no /side mark.

Set it on a plate-loaded machine under How weight is logged, or on the exercise under Weight is logged as for when you use no machine. The machine's setting wins when both have one. Dumbbells and kettlebells don't have this setting, since their weight is always per hand.

A routine's weight column shows the same label, naming the machine: WEIGHT (LBS / SIDE · CYBEX LEG PRESS).

Machine, bar, grip and accessories

A row of chips under the input fields shows the machine, its attachment, the grip, the bar, any accessories, and the rest that starts when you finish the set. Tap a chip to change it. Long-press the machine chip to open that machine's screen.

Only the chips that apply to the exercise appear:

Grip appears when the machine has grip types (set them in You → Machines). Pick No grip to clear it.
Bar appears on a barbell exercise at a gym with bars. The bar feeds the plate calculator and your warmups, and records are kept per bar.
Accessories appear on barbell and bodyweight exercises at a gym with accessories, and on a machine marked as supporting bands. Pick several at once; the chip shows the count and colors, such as "2 bands". Sets with an accessory attached don't count toward records (see Personal records).

Add a comment to a set

Tap the comment icon on a set row, type your comment ("felt strong", "elbow twinge") and tap Save. A dot on the icon means the set has a comment. Comments show, read-only, on the workout summary and in History.

Personal records

The first time you log an exercise, nothing is a record yet: the set reads First time instead. Records start with your next workout of that exercise. See The first time you log an exercise.

When a working set beats your best for that exercise, a trophy badge appears on the set row, a message pops up at the bottom of the screen, and the phone buzzes if haptics are on.

Records are kept separately per bar. Left and right work has its own records. While an accessory is attached to an exercise, every set of it stays out of records; clear the accessories and those sets count again. An accessory never changes a weight, the plate math or the stepper. What counts as a best is explained under Personal records.

Warmups, RPE and to failure

The Set details section under the main fields holds the warmup toggle, the Left and right chip, the RIR or RPE numbers and the To failure chip. It starts closed. Tap its header to open or close it; it stays that way for every exercise until you change it. When it's closed, the header lists anything that's on, for example "Warm-up" or "RPE 8".

Warmup sets

Turn on the warmup toggle before you log a set to mark it as a warmup. Warmups show a "W" badge in place of a set number, and are left out of volume, records and progress graphs.

To have Badger build the warmups for you, tap the Warm-up calc chip beside the toggle; see Warm-up calculator. Set your usual style and number of warmup sets in Settings → Logging, and change them for one exercise on its edit screen. If a routine already plans warmup sets, those are used as they are.

RPE and RIR

RPE and RIR record how hard a set felt. They're optional: leave them blank and everything else works the same. Tap the (i) beside them in the app for a short version of this section.

You see one scale at a time. Tap RIR or RPE on the switch in Set details, then tap a number on the row under it: RIR 0 1 2 3 4 5+ or RPE 6 7 8 9 10. Tap the number again to clear it. 5+ means 5 or more reps left.

Switching scales converts your number: RIR 2 becomes RPE 8. RIR 5+ has no match on the RPE row, so switching clears it.

What you pick stays for the next set of the same exercise, scale included, so a session at RIR 2 is one tap, not one per set. Change it when a set feels different.

A set your routine plans at an RPE or RIR starts at the plan's number, on the plan's scale. A new exercise opens on the scale you pick in Settings → Logging → Effort scale.

Sets you logged with both an RPE and an RIR before version 1.1.15 keep both. They open on your Effort scale setting, and the other number stays as it was.

Reading the numbers

RPE rates the effort out of 10. The useful range is 6 to 10:

10 - Max effort. No more reps were possible.
9 - Could have done 1 more rep.
8 - Could have done 2 more reps.
7 - Could have done 3 more. Bar speed still crisp.
6 and below - Warmup territory. The training screen starts at 6. A set you logged lower before keeps its number, and you can edit it in your history.

RIR counts the reps you had left before failure:

0 - Nothing left. One more rep would have failed.
1 - One rep left in the tank.
2 - Two left. A common target for working sets.
3 to 5+ - Comfortable, well short of failure.

The two describe the same thing from opposite ends: RPE 10 is RIR 0, RPE 9 is RIR 1, RPE 8 is RIR 2, RPE 7 is RIR 3, RPE 6 is RIR 4. Pick whichever is easier to answer and stick with it.

If you tried another rep and it failed, tap To failure instead of picking a number. That set had no reps left to count.

Which one to use

If you're newer to lifting, RIR is usually easier, since it's a question about reps you've just counted. RPE can tell a hard set from an all-out one, where RIR reads 0 for both. Go with your honest read; most people's scale settles after a month or two.

The fields are hidden while the warmup toggle is on. Logged values show as small badges on each set row, and you can add or change them later by tapping a past set in your history. Logged RIR also feeds the RPE/RIR trigger of deload detection, when that trigger is on.

A set marked to failure counts as RIR 0 for deload detection.

Mark a set to failure

Tap the To failure chip after the RIR or RPE numbers when you tried a rep and it failed. Tap it again to clear it.

To failure and RIR 0 are different answers. RIR 0 means you stopped with nothing left, and one more rep would have failed. To failure means a rep did fail. History shows them apart: the set's badge reads To failure or RIR 0.

While To failure is on, the numbers are greyed out on both scales, and turning it on clears the number you picked. Turn it off and the numbers come back, empty. Your next set doesn't start at failure.

A set to failure is about effort: if you were aiming for 8 and got 6, log the 6 (see Skip a set, or log a short one). To fix a past set, tap it in your history; the edit sheet has the same chip.

Sets you marked with this chip before version 1.1.15 were saved as RIR 0, and they still read RIR 0.

AMRAP sets (8+)

An 8+ in your plan is an AMRAP set: do at least 8, then as many reps as possible. A 1+ set means go to failure. Log the reps you actually got; the set meets the plan once you pass the floor. How to write one into a routine is under Open-topped targets.

AMRAP is what the plan asks for, and To failure is what you record afterward. They're independent.

Tap To failure on a plain 8-rep set if that's how it went, or stop an 8+ set at 12 with reps left. In a program with a progression rule, the open set is often the driver, so the reps you log on it decide next session.

Left and right sets

For a one-arm or one-leg exercise, log the left and right separately and each gets its own number. It works on exercises that log reps or time.

Turn it on

Open the exercise's edit screen and set Log left and right separately:

Off - the default. Nothing changes.
Optional - each set can be both arms together or left and right. You choose per set.
Always - every set logs left and right.

The setting doesn't appear on weight-only, distance-only or distance + time exercises. A machine can override it in its Left and right section (see Machines); until you set one there, each exercise's own setting applies.

Log a set

On an Always exercise, the reps field is replaced by a Left and a Right field, with one weight. A timed exercise gets a left and a right time instead.

On an Optional exercise, open Set details and tap the Left and right chip beside Warm-up. The two chips are independent, so a warmup can be left and right too.

A left and right set is one set: one row, one rest timer after you log it, and RPE and RIR stay a single value for the set. It reads 15 lbs × 12 L · 11 R in your history and on the summary, and the hint above the fields shows your last one the same way.

How it counts

Volume counts both arms: weight × (left + right).
Graphs and estimated 1RM use your better arm.
Records are kept for one-arm work apart from both-arms work, so a left and right set never competes with a barbell set of the same exercise. For one-arm work Badger tracks Overall (your better arm), Left and Right. A best on one arm flags the set with the arm, such as PR · RIGHT. Sets logged before you turned this on count as both-arms sets.

To plan these sets ahead, see Left and right in a routine.

Rest timer

The rest timer shows as a chip near the top of the training screen. It counts down after you save a set, then plays a sound, vibrates, or both (set this in Settings). It doesn't start after the last working set of your last exercise, or on its own after a cardio exercise (one in the Cardio category, or one logged as Distance + Time or Distance only). Tap the chip to start one by hand.

The first time a rest or set timer runs, Badger asks to send notifications. Tap Allow to get an alert when a timer ends with the phone locked, or Not now to skip it.

Tap the chip to open the rest timer sheet:

While a timer runs: Stop, +30s, or Restart from the full duration.
When none is running: pick a preset or type a number of seconds, then tap Start for a one-off timer.

How long the rest is

Badger uses the first of these that's set:

A one-off duration you set in the rest timer sheet
The exercise's own rest (on the exercise notes screen)
The routine's rest for that exercise
The default in Settings → Rest timer
The last duration you used
90 seconds

Warmup sets use a separate, shorter rest, set per exercise or in Settings.

Set timer (timed exercises)

A timed exercise (a plank, a carry) gets a timer for the set itself, started from the training screen. It keeps running when you lock the phone or switch apps.

Stopwatch or countdown

Open the set timer and pick Stopwatch to count up until you stop. Stop fills in the time you held, and you tap Save set yourself.

The sheet opens on Stopwatch when the Duration field is empty or holds a time the timer filled, in the mode you used last for that exercise. A routine target or a time you typed opens a countdown to that time instead. You can switch either way.

Stopping a countdown early works the same way: it fills in what you held, not the target. A stop during the three-second count-in fills in nothing. On a left and right exercise, the first run fills Left and the next fills Right.

When the countdown ends

When the countdown reaches zero, Badger fills in the set's duration and starts your rest timer. The set stays open until you tap its check, and that tap doesn't restart the rest.

To have Badger log the set for you as well, turn on Settings → Set timer → Log the set when the timer ends. To start rest yourself, turn off Start rest when the timer ends. In a superset, rest follows the superset's own rule. If you stop the timer early, neither happens. A stopwatch has no end, so neither applies to it.

What Badger says while the set runs

With a stopwatch running, Badger counts you in with "3, 2, 1, Go", then says the time you have held at each whole minute: "1 minute", "2 minutes". It never says "Time" or counts down, because there is nothing to count down to. On the lock screen the stopwatch counts up.

With a countdown and the app open, Badger counts you in with "3, 2, 1, Go", warns you at 30 and 10 seconds left, and says "Time" at the end. On a long set it also calls out the minutes left: every minute under ten, every five minutes up to thirty, every ten above that.

Pick the voice in Settings → Set timer → Set timer voice: Female, Male or Off. Tap a choice to hear it. The voices are built into the app, so they work offline. If music is playing, it gets quieter while Badger speaks.

When the phone is locked

On iPhone, the spoken countdown keeps going through a locked screen. On Android, or on an iPhone where a call or another app took the audio, a Set complete notification arrives when the set ends instead.

Voice Off doesn't stop that notification. To make it silent, turn off Settings → Set timer → Set timer sound; the rest timer has its own sound setting. That toggle only covers the notification - the spoken countdown keeps talking with it off.

Your workout on the lock screen

iPhone: Live Activity

On iOS 16.2 and later, your workout shows as a Live Activity on the lock screen, and in the Dynamic Island on models that have one. Tap it to go back to your workout.

Between sets it shows the exercise, the set you're on ("Set 3 of 4"), its target and how long you've been training. During rest it shows the countdown and the set that comes next, such as "Next: set 4, 80 kg × 8".

A timed set shows its countdown, or counts up for a stopwatch, and reads "SET DONE" at the end.

On iOS 17 and later the card has buttons:

Set done ticks the set that's waiting, the same as tapping its check mark: the rest timer starts and records are checked. It shows only when a set is waiting to be ticked, which means a workout from a routine or Plan, then tick. With Log as you go there's no button.
-15 s and +15 s shorten or lengthen the rest. Skip ends it.

When the next set is on a different exercise, including the next one in a superset, open Badger once to move there. Set done comes back after that.

The first time, iOS asks "Allow Live Activities from Badger?". Allow it to see your workout outside the app; you can change it later in iOS Settings under Badger.

To turn it off, use Settings → App → Workout on the lock screen. The rest and set timers then show on their own card while they run, with no buttons.

On iOS 26.6 and later, a rest timer that finishes while the phone is locked plays the Badger sound you picked. On earlier versions, iOS plays its standard sound instead.

Android: workout notification

During a workout, a notification shows the exercise you're on and the set that's next, such as "Set 3 of 4 · 85 kg × 8", so you can check it from the lock screen. It adds the elapsed time once the workout timer is running, and tapping it takes you back to that exercise.

It updates as you switch exercises, move through a superset and complete sets, and reads "No target set" when the exercise has no sets left. During rest it shows the countdown and the next set, then goes back to the set.

It has the same buttons as the iPhone card: -15 s, +15 s and Skip during rest, and Set done when a set is waiting to be ticked. They work without opening Badger.

The notification stays on your phone. Android doesn't send ongoing notifications to a watch, so it doesn't appear on a Wear OS watch. The alert when a rest ends does.

Turn it off in Settings → App → Workout notification. Workouts logged for a past date don't get one.

Supersets

A superset is a group of exercises you alternate between. After you log a set of one, Badger switches to the next exercise in the group with no rest in between. After the last one in the round, the rest timer starts and you go back to the first exercise that still has sets left.

Grouped exercises show as a named, colored block in exercise lists, and the training screen shows the superset's name under the exercise name.

Create a superset

Open the training screen's ⋮ menu and tap Superset…, or open the Exercises list and tap Create superset.
Check two or more exercises and confirm.

An exercise that's already in another superset moves to the new one (its row says so).

Edit a superset

Tap the superset's name in the app bar, or its block header in any exercise list. In the editor you can:

Rename it and pick its color.
Drag exercises into the order you alternate in.
Remove one exercise. A superset left with one exercise is removed.
Add exercises.
Dissolve it, with an Undo. Your logged sets aren't affected.

The same editor works in a routine, and on a past workout from its summary: tap the superset header above an exercise card.

Skip a set, or log a short one

If you did the set but came up short, log what you did. If you didn't do it at all, skip it.

Skip one set: tap its row, then tap Skip. Tap Unskip to undo.
Skip the rest of an exercise: open the ⋮ menu, or long-press the exercise in the Exercises list, and tap Skip remaining sets. Sets you already did stay done. Once nothing is left to skip, the same item reads Unskip exercise if some sets are skipped, and does not appear if every set is done.

A skipped set stays on the training screen, struck through, and is left out of your history, all calculations, and plateau and deload detection.

A short set is a real set. Aiming for 8 and getting 6? Log the 6. It counts toward volume, shows in your history and feeds plateau and deload detection. On a routine workout, the summary marks it as under plan.

Skipping the last set left on an exercise moves you to the next exercise that still has work, the same as completing it. Turn off Auto-advance to next exercise in Settings → Logging to stay put.

Finish a workout

Tap End next to the timer at the top of Today and the workout summary opens. You can also tap End workout at the bottom of Today, or open the exercise list on the training screen and tap End workout in its last row. Once a workout has ended, those buttons read Summary.

On a routine workout, the summary can offer to update the routine with heavier weights you lifted; see Auto-progress routine weights.

The clock at the top of Today only counts. End is what stops it.

A workout started from a routine finishes by itself once every planned set is done. A free workout doesn't: ticking its last set leaves it open, so you can add more, and you end it with End.

Sets you saved but didn't tick

If some sets are saved but not ticked, Badger asks before it ends the workout. Leave them out ends it as it stands: the sets stay saved and unticked, and they don't count. Count them ticks them first. Close the sheet to keep going.

Forgot to end it

If a workout has no new completed set for 3 hours, or is still open the next day, Badger ends it at the time of your last completed set the next time you open the app. For a workout from today or yesterday, the duration, the Apple Health or Health Connect entry and your backup use that time. An older workout gets the same end time, but nothing is sent to Apple Health or Health Connect.

Resume a finished workout

Forgot an exercise? Open today's workout summary and tap Resume workout. It's offered for today's workout only.

The workout timer picks up where it stopped when you log the first new set, so the time between finishing and resuming isn't counted. Editing or re-marking sets on a finished workout doesn't change its duration.

Exercises done out of order

Badger records the order you actually did your exercises. When you complete the first set of an exercise, it moves into place after the ones you've already done, and exercises you haven't started stay queued after it. Your routine's planned order stays the same. You can still drag to reorder, and a drag sticks.

Progression rules and suggestions

How a routine's rules, training maxes and percentage sets set your weights, and how the progressive overload suggestion and auto-progress work, is on the Progression page.