FITIV Pulse tracks weightlifting set by set. Build a template or start an empty session, log the weight and reps for every set on your iPhone or Apple Watch, and FITIV flags personal records as you hit them. The same app tracks your heart rate, training load, and recovery, so your lifting sits in the same picture as your cardio.
What You Can Track in a Lifting Session
FITIV logs each lift in detail: the exercise, the sets, the weight, and the reps.
- Weight and reps for every set, as you actually performed them
- Set types: Normal, Warm Up, Cool Down, Failure, and Dropset
- Supersets, so paired exercises stay together
- Reps in Reserve (RIR), if you want to log how many more reps you had left
- Bodyweight exercises, including weighted (a dip belt or vest) and assisted (a band or machine) versions
- Timed and distance exercises, such as planks or carries
Warm-up and cool-down sets can be left out of your set, rep, and volume counts with the Exclude Warm-Up & Cool-Down setting, so your numbers reflect your working sets.
How to Start a Weightlifting Workout
In the Workout tab, tap Weight Lifting to open your Templates. From there you have two options:
- Start a template. Tap Start Workout on any template and your planned exercises, sets, and reps are ready to log.
- Start Empty Session. No template needed: add exercises as you go. It's useful for accessory days, deload weeks, or training by feel.
Either way, you can add or remove exercises and sets mid-workout, so your log matches what you actually did.
Building Templates
Build templates in the iPhone app from a library of hundreds of exercises. For each exercise, set the planned sets, reps, and weight, add a note with cues for the movement, and set a rest timer. If an exercise you do isn't in the library, create your own with a name, equipment, primary muscle group, and exercise type.
Already have a program written down? Use Scan to photograph a written or printed routine, or Describe to type it in plain words, and FITIV AI builds the template for you.
Organizing Templates into Folders
As your template list grows, group templates into folders on iPhone: one per program, training block, or anything you run together. Tap New Folder, pick the templates to include, and rename, reorder, or delete folders whenever your plan changes. Deleting a folder keeps its templates. Each template lives in one folder at a time, and Move to Folder shifts it between them.
Logging Sets on Apple Watch
Your templates sync to Apple Watch, so you can leave your phone in your bag. On your wrist, you see the current exercise, enter the weight and reps for each set, and see which sets you've completed. A personal record pops up the moment you set one.
When you finish a set, the rest timer starts on its own. Add or subtract 15 seconds or skip it, and FITIV lets you know when rest is over (it can also say "Rest time is over" if you use Voice Coaching). Set your default rest time once in the Weight Lifting settings.
Your live heart rate is a swipe away from your sets during a Watch workout. The iPhone app works on its own, too, if you'd rather log on your phone.
Personal Records and Exercise History
FITIV checks your weight-and-reps sets against your history for that exercise and flags three kinds of personal record:
| PR | What it means |
|---|---|
| Heaviest Weight PR | The most weight you've lifted for the exercise |
| Estimated Max PR | Your highest estimated one-rep max, worked out from a set's weight and reps |
| Rep PR | The most weight you've lifted for that many reps or more |
PRs show on the set with a trophy and in your post-workout summary. They start once you have an earlier session of that exercise to beat.
During a workout, tap the exercise, then History. After a workout, tap the exercise in Set Details. Either way, you see its history: your heaviest weight, estimated one-rep max, and every personal best by rep count. Charts track Heaviest Weight, One Rep Max, Session Volume, Best Set Volume, and Session Reps over time. To estimate a one-rep max by hand, try the one-rep max calculator.
Progressive Overload with FITIV
Getting stronger depends on progressive overload: gradually asking more of your muscles over time, through more weight, more reps, or more sets. The ACSM recommends increasing the load by 2–10% once you can do one or two reps more than your target at the current weight for two sessions in a row (ACSM, 2009).
FITIV helps with that call. Open an exercise's ⋯ menu and tap Apply Progressive Overload, and FITIV reviews your recent sessions for that exercise and fills in your next weight, reps or rep range, RIR, and rest. You choose when to use it. The help center's guide to using RIR and Progressive Overload walks through both, step by step.
Logging RIR gives those suggestions more to work with. Reps in reserve is how many more reps you could have done before failure. In a squat study, experienced lifters' RIR ratings lined up closely with how fast the bar moved, a sign the scale tracks real effort (Zourdos et al., 2016). If you finish a set of squats knowing you had three more reps in you, that's RIR 3, which suggests room to add weight, while a set at 0 or 1 says you're near your limit. If you'd rather not log it, Disable RIR hides the controls.
Plate Calculator
Enter a target weight and the plate calculator shows which plates go on each side. It supports standard, short, and EZ bars, a no-bar option, and custom bars, and you can choose which plates you own.
Your Post-Workout Summary
After a session, the summary shows your workout's totals, any personal records, and two strength-specific views:
- Muscle Mix shows how your sets split across chest, back, legs, shoulders, arms, and core. Over time it helps you spot a muscle group you keep skipping.
- Set Details lists every exercise with its sets, weight, reps, RIR, and PRs, plus each exercise's volume.
If you wore a heart rate device, the summary also shows your heart rate zones for the session. With Apple Health sync on, FITIV saves the workout to Apple Health as Traditional Strength Training.
How Lifting Fits Your Training Load and Recovery
FITIV counts lifting through your heart rate. Your session's heart rate feeds your daily Strain and your training load, the same way a run or ride does. If you use the Perceived Effort method for training load, your effort rating counts instead. FITIV doesn't add Strain from the weight or reps you log.
That shared load feeds your Training Readiness, so a heavy leg day is part of the picture when you're deciding how hard to go the next morning. Most adults benefit from muscle-strengthening work on at least two days a week (Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2018), and seeing it alongside your cardio helps you balance both.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I log strength workouts without an Apple Watch?
Yes. The iPhone app handles the whole workout on its own: start a template or an empty session and log each set on your phone. Apple Watch adds wrist logging, a rest timer on your wrist, and live heart rate, but it isn't required.
How many exercises are in FITIV's exercise library?
Hundreds of built-in exercises. If something is missing, you can create a custom exercise with its own name, equipment, primary muscle group, and exercise type.
Can I import a training program from another app?
There's no direct import, but you don't have to rebuild programs by hand. Photograph a written routine with Scan or type it out with Describe, and FITIV AI builds the template. Group the templates into a folder to keep a program together.
Does FITIV suggest how much weight to lift next?
Yes, when you ask. Tap Apply Progressive Overload in an exercise's ⋯ menu and FITIV fills in your next weight, reps, RIR, and rest based on your recent sessions for that exercise. It won't always add weight: it may add reps or sets, hold you steady, or ease off. It needs at least one earlier session of that exercise to work from.
Do my lifting workouts sync to Apple Health?
Yes, when Apple Health sync is on. FITIV saves each weightlifting session to Apple Health as a Traditional Strength Training workout, so it counts alongside the rest of your activity there.
