[HN Gopher] Show HN: I made a community sourced fitness routine ...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Show HN: I made a community sourced fitness routine database
        
       Author : sitesuniverse
       Score  : 265 points
       Date   : 2021-06-14 15:17 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (routinedb.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (routinedb.com)
        
       | steve_adams_86 wrote:
       | Features I want to see in things like this:
       | 
       | 1. Images/videos showing the exercises
       | 
       | 2. Program generators. I have {equipment} and n days per week.
       | Which programs work for me? Or, I have {goal} and n days per
       | week, what should I do? The programs would be populated with
       | exercises from the DB, programs could be exported, etc.
       | 
       | 3. As much ELI5 info as possible - the barrier to exercise for a
       | lot of people (myself included despite my experience) can be not
       | knowing wtf something is, or why to do it, and generally what the
       | benefits are.
       | 
       | 4. Treat warmups like any exercise - a critical part of the
       | routine. Include lots of warm up exercises, whether it's
       | something you make quantifiable progress with or not. Everything
       | from skipping rope and light jogging to dead bugs. Include these
       | as part of program generation.
       | 
       | Maybe something does this, but my favourite tracker (Strong)
       | doesn't cover all of it and I'd switch in an instant if something
       | did. I like the idea of switching programs every year or so,
       | experimenting with warm ups, having convenient access to
       | understanding programs and lifts better, etc. As it is, working
       | out requires a crazy amount of research. Or a coach.
        
         | sitesuniverse wrote:
         | Great feedback, thanks!
        
         | ed wrote:
         | If you want to feel like you've discovered a superpower, pay
         | for "programming" on a marketplace like TrainHeroic.
         | 
         | Lots of trainers actually buy their programming from other
         | trainers, since good programming is a lot of work, so you might
         | as well go straight to the source.
         | 
         | You'll probably need to buy more gear but that's kind of
         | unavoidable.
        
         | georgehotelling wrote:
         | You should look into the FitBod app. You tell the app what
         | equipment you have and it does the programming for you, with
         | short videos and text descriptions for form.
        
           | notjustanymike wrote:
           | I'll second that, FitBod was the single best investment I
           | made during the pandemic. Partially because I didn't invest
           | in AMD, Netflix, Zoom, Gamestop, AMC, Bitcoin or Doge; but
           | also because it taught me how to work out!
        
           | iab wrote:
           | Fitbod is great, but no significant updates in a year. No
           | additional exercises in the database from when I started,
           | can't log over 29 reps of a weighted exercise, lots of other
           | niggles. Has this been your experience?
        
           | donkeyd wrote:
           | How I love Apple's new 'App privacy' cards. The app you
           | recommended seems to have pretty decent privacy practices,
           | there doesn't seem to be tracking outside of the app, nor
           | tracking for advertising. This is rare in fitness apps, some
           | of which use health data for advertising, which I find
           | appalling.
           | 
           | So thanks for the tip!
        
           | Vaslo wrote:
           | I also recommend Fitbod. Excellent tracking and use of watch
           | and workout plans generated for you but plenty of options to
           | customize to get rid of exercises you can't do it want to
           | avoid. I love that it generates the workout for you and then
           | forces you to max out on a few exercises to calculate your
           | max strength which can be used for suggested weights in
           | further exercises. Can have multiple gym setups with excluded
           | exercises (in case you have a regular gym but also use
           | something much more limited like home.)
           | 
           | As mentioned the videos are great and explanations clear.
        
         | mam3 wrote:
         | 1 and 2 are ok, i'd also ad a bit about nutrition which is
         | around 50% of the work
         | 
         | 3: oh come on... if your actual limitation is entering the name
         | of the exercice in the google bar literally ONCE IN YOUR LIFE,
         | then your ACTUAL limitation is a base level of motivation and
         | you should rather find another activity.
         | 
         | 4: warmups are WAY overrated for fitness. Just don't push too
         | much with max weight and that's all, and listen to your body.
         | I've injured myself way more in my youth where I was doing
         | warmups but egolifting instead that now where I do 0 warmup but
         | work at 90% max.
        
           | steve_adams_86 wrote:
           | I agree about nutrition, that's a great point.
           | 
           | I'm half with you and half not on point 3. I've been working
           | out for a long time, and I still need to refresh myself and
           | review stuff quite often. Maybe my memory is terrible. I also
           | want to be certain I'm getting form right and using all
           | exercises I do as productively as possible though, so I feel
           | the research is warranted in many cases.
           | 
           | I don't mind doing it, my health is worth it. I suppose this
           | is my point though: In programming, I need to research
           | constantly, but the internet is full of bad ideas and red
           | herrings and half truths when it comes to solving all kinds
           | of problems. Fitness is a little more cut and dry in some
           | regards, but the misinformation and low quality is similarly
           | very widespread. I'm very tired of the sifting and sorting,
           | and I'd LOVE to have a resource I knew to come back to for
           | all manner of things fitness. Many things try to be that, but
           | they tend to fail in my experience.
           | 
           | I disagree on 4 - I've become a strong proponent of warm ups
           | as I've gotten older. I focus a lot on locking in good form
           | using lighter movements, loosening up, and getting acquainted
           | with how my body feels that day. I don't think it's only an
           | asset in injury prevention, but also in keying into your
           | performance and how your body's feeling. Definitely less
           | critical for young ones, but I've found it to improve my time
           | at the gym very consistently.
           | 
           | Like nutrition though, we've all got a different set of
           | preferences and needs. If you don't feel like you need a warm
           | up and your track record proves it, I'd skip it. What I'd
           | like to see though is the ability to insert a warm up I love
           | into a routine I do as though it's part of that routine. Then
           | it's very take it or leave it, but supports the shitty
           | inflexible tree people like me who need to be coerced into
           | moving their bodies.
        
       | yobananaboy wrote:
       | I'm happy to see that since this post, a bunch of workouts have
       | been added (whoever did the saitama one got a good laugh out of
       | me).
        
       | runawaybottle wrote:
       | This is good. Some things I think you should consider:
       | 
       | - Get users (hah, easier said than done of course).
       | 
       | - Comments will help people find variations (not everyone has the
       | same equipment, or have physical issues that require a variation
       | of the workout, comments will fill that void).
       | 
       | - Split this up into categories (core, legs, etc)
       | 
       | - Link this stuff to YouTube videos (it's just easier to watch
       | someone doing it with proper form)
       | 
       | - Last but not least, become an app. A routine is a checklist, so
       | make it so people can hit 'done' on a completed rep, maybe input
       | the weight lifted. Track it, charts.
       | 
       | - If you don't do any of this, I'm going to.
        
         | sitesuniverse wrote:
         | Thanks for the feedback! Yes I am planning to do all of this.
         | :)
        
         | bigsparky wrote:
         | " If you don't do any of this, I'm going to."????
        
       | rocknor wrote:
       | There needs to be much more upper back work, especially in the
       | full body strength routine, to avoid shoulder injuries.
        
       | lcjy wrote:
       | Love the idea, although it is indeed quite similar to liftvault
       | without the routine names.
       | 
       | Might be worth considering having a centralized repository of
       | exercises with curated links to videos which demonstrate how to
       | perform that exercise with proper form. Then when creating the
       | routine, you select from that list of exercises. This allows for
       | a bit of consistency and quality control so people aren't
       | throwing in random exercises.
       | 
       | Might also help to have an upvote feature so garbage routines
       | aren't given too much weight.
       | 
       | Great job!
        
         | sitesuniverse wrote:
         | One difference from liftvault is that users can't submit their
         | own routines to liftvault (as far as I know).
         | 
         | Good suggestions. Thanks for the feedback!
        
       | soheil wrote:
       | Genuine question: is it not better to have a workout a routine as
       | routine implies you are exercising the same muscles over and over
       | again at the expense of the remaining neglected muscles?
        
       | catchmeifyoucan wrote:
       | I like it! It looks similar to strong lifts app. Will you have
       | your own app that goes alongside this?
        
         | sitesuniverse wrote:
         | I think the first step would be to export routines as a
         | spreadsheet. Eventually an app would be awesome though. Do you
         | have any suggestions?
        
           | tylerscott wrote:
           | I have an open source app that uses a language called
           | Traindown to record exercises. It might be of interest for
           | folks who prefer text or more "free form" recording of
           | workouts: https://traindown.com/transponder/.
        
           | valtis wrote:
           | Check out the app Zero to Hero on Android. It has been
           | abandoned by the dev for a few years now, but it has
           | everything I ever wanted in an app.
           | 
           | It has a few well known pre-built routines with different
           | focuses, and then you can build your own if you so desire.
           | 
           | Auto weight progression, easy to use interface, rest timers,
           | graphs, etc.
           | 
           | I still haven't found a replacement.
        
       | matude wrote:
       | If anybody is looking for a routine database that supports more
       | complex routines like the Wendler's 5/3/1 variations with
       | Training Max percentage based weights then check out the
       | [Hardy.app](https://www.hardy.app/howitworks). The routines can
       | have progression overload based on AMRAP, deloads, etc. And the
       | workout tracking app calculates changes in your TM based on AMRAP
       | and other rules in the routine. Just enter you 1 rep maxes and
       | hit "start".
       | 
       | Full disclosure though, it's kinda self-promotion because I've
       | been developing [Hardy.app](https://www.hardy.app) with a friend
       | for over a year now. It's free and we're adding more features all
       | the time, check it out if interested. :)
        
         | krat0sprakhar wrote:
         | Looks like a great app! I run 5/3/1 and this is perfect.
         | Currently I use https://strong.app but I'd love to see a way to
         | see my weekly volume per muscle group. Is that something you
         | are planning to add on Hardy?
        
           | matude wrote:
           | Thank you for the kind words! Ah yeah, strong.app is very
           | popular. We have many cool features planned that should allow
           | us to give value to even the most serious weight lifters who
           | are not supported by the strong app, like autoregulating
           | based on RPE/RIR, routine snippets, supersets, dropsets,
           | private trainer profiles, etc, but we have a lot of work
           | ahead yet.
           | 
           | I added your wish to our subreddit as a feature request: http
           | s://www.reddit.com/r/hardyapp/comments/nzsmu2/feature_re...?
           | If your username is there as it is here I can notify you once
           | we have added such a feature. :)
        
       | sitesuniverse wrote:
       | Thanks for the feedback everyone, and thanks for posting content
       | on the site. Keep it coming!
        
       | jayroh wrote:
       | Would _love_ to see a community sourced database of "explain it
       | like I'm 5" translations.
       | 
       | Example: What does "Bent Over Lateral Raise" mean? Show me?
       | Lateral ... to what?
       | 
       | I'm sure I can figure that out, but, for the newbies of the world
       | it's another hurdle to keep them from actually starting/moving.
        
         | catchmeifyoucan wrote:
         | Pre made routines would be awesome
        
         | joelrunyon wrote:
         | Hope this isn't too over the top, but we built _exactly_ this
         | with https://impossiblefitness.com/movement/lateral-raise
         | 
         | Written demo, video, photo, etc of each movement.
         | 
         | We are adding more movements daily. Please give me a shout if
         | there's other information you'd want to see here.
        
           | steve_adams_86 wrote:
           | One thing I'd love to see here is better formatting of the
           | instructions. The content is great, but I found it a little
           | jumbled to read. Here's an image of the current format, and
           | an image of a proposed format as an example of what I mean.
           | 
           | https://imgur.com/a/rXPU4nr
        
             | joelrunyon wrote:
             | Bumped into an issue with formatting. Cleaning this up this
             | week.
             | 
             | Anything else structural wise you'd like to see?
        
               | steve_adams_86 wrote:
               | I'll dig around and see if anything comes to mind later.
               | I love stuff like this, so I'm happy to provide some
               | feedback.
        
           | jayroh wrote:
           | This is really great! Thank you!
        
         | sitesuniverse wrote:
         | Great idea, thanks for the feedback!
        
           | jayroh wrote:
           | Not a problem :). Thanks for the new resource!
        
         | dehrmann wrote:
         | Oh, it's a lateral (vs rear) _delt_ raise. That would have
         | helped.
        
           | xcambar wrote:
           | No 5 year old would understand that.
           | 
           | I'm way past 5yo and I do not understand.
        
             | dehrmann wrote:
             | A 5-year-old who knows anatomy might. You're raising
             | something from your side (lateral) with your shoulder
             | (deltoid muscle).
        
         | datsaladbowl wrote:
         | Quick plug, but l made some attempts at this:
         | https://github.com/wrkout/exercises.json
        
         | asdff wrote:
         | Why not search the internet for a video?
        
         | InitialLastName wrote:
         | darebee.com (similar website in terms of being a database of
         | fitness stuff, mostly bodyweight-oriented) does a great job of
         | this with some of their videos.
        
       | 29athrowaway wrote:
       | At least when I've joined a gym, a person there would assess your
       | fitness, ask what your goals are, and based on that you would get
       | an exercise routine.
       | 
       | Following a random exercise routine can result in injury.
       | 
       | You should at the very least talk to a lawyer and put a
       | disclaimer in that page.
        
         | sergiotapia wrote:
         | "can result in injury"
         | 
         | please.... just lift super light and find your form.
        
           | 29athrowaway wrote:
           | When you make a website, you have to think out of the box.
           | 
           | Your audience will not necessarily be a 20 year old in good
           | physical condition. It may be as well a 10 year old that
           | doesn't know what to do with the information you are giving
           | to them. Or someone with a pacemaker, or someone with some
           | medical condition that puts them at risk.
           | 
           | Then... Not only people can get injured by following an
           | exercise routine in good-faith... some people may injure
           | themselves on purpose so they can sue you.
           | 
           | Will people be able to injure themselves anyways if you add a
           | disclaimer to the website? Absolutely. But it won't be your
           | fault anymore.
           | 
           | But that's only the start. If you allow people to write
           | anything they want in a textbox, bad things can happen.
           | People can write ANYTHING, not only exercise routines... And
           | by anything, I mean, very illegal things.
           | 
           | And if you allow people to upload pictures, well... that can
           | go very wrong as well.
        
         | sitesuniverse wrote:
         | Good point, thanks for the feedback
        
           | 29athrowaway wrote:
           | Also add something like: I am at least 15 years old or
           | something. That is the age requirement for many gyms.
           | 
           | Also, a Report button is highly recommended for anything
           | involving user generated content.
        
         | ViVr wrote:
         | > Following a random exercise routine can result in injury.
         | 
         | A trainer can check your form and help you execute the exercise
         | safely but how does an exercise routine injure you?
        
           | neogodless wrote:
           | It might not be super clear from the site shared here, but
           | most of these exercises are done with barbells with weights,
           | or dumbbells. It's not hard for a beginner to do these with
           | incorrect form, and then increase the weight over time, until
           | bad form plus weight results in injury.
        
             | inspector-g wrote:
             | Citation needed that bad form inherently leads to injury.
        
       | 0-_-0 wrote:
       | Now that we're on the subject: Does anyone remember the Strength
       | Standards site? strstd.com [0]. It computed your 1RM from your
       | stats and then created customized weight lifting programs, like
       | Starting Strength. I used it a lot when I started lifting. A part
       | of it was similar to this: https://athletegrade.com/powerlifting/
       | 
       | [0]:
       | https://web.archive.org/web/20150315012046/http://www.strstd...
        
         | fudged71 wrote:
         | Check out SymmetricStrength
        
       | krat0sprakhar wrote:
       | This should have all the routines from here:
       | https://thefitness.wiki/routines/strength-training-muscle-bu...
       | 
       | They are all amazing
        
         | sitesuniverse wrote:
         | Help me add them? :D
        
       | oneupwallstreet wrote:
       | What tech stack did you use?
        
         | sitesuniverse wrote:
         | Nextjs and Prisma with postgresql. I'm not a web developer
         | typically, this is my first full stack project. Any
         | suggestions?
        
       | hairofadog wrote:
       | This is in no way a critique of this project (which looks nice!)
       | but my dream fitness program would be something like, "do all the
       | things in this book, in order, and by the end of the book you'll
       | be mostly fit". I'm sure it works great for some people but I get
       | bogged down by choice paralysis when I'm presented with a list of
       | workouts.
        
         | inspector-g wrote:
         | A good training template is basically what you're looking for.
         | Providers of such templates that are evidence-based will also
         | explain the reasoning behind the structure of the
         | template/program; I'd recommend starting with Barbell Medicine,
         | for example (though there are others I am most familiar with
         | BBM).
        
         | nbrempel wrote:
         | I haven't done this program, but I've always liked the way this
         | guide is put together: https://www.julian.com/guide/muscle/
        
       | neogodless wrote:
       | I was wondering if https://musclewiki.com/ was going to pop up.
       | My wife had just sent it to me earlier this week.
       | 
       | It lets you pick gender, muscle group, exercise type (stretch,
       | bodyweight, barbell, dumbbells, kettlebells) and has detailed
       | instructions and videos. (It does not have sets/reps like the
       | shared site.) Perhaps they would be good to use in tandem.
       | 
       | Personally, I think for sets/reps, it follows most exercise
       | advice. Choose what you'll actually do. If that's 3 sets of 5
       | reps, fine. Do that. If you can get yourself to consistently do
       | more than that over time, you'll benefit from the increase in
       | volume. (When I'm active, I follow Starting Strength style -
       | increase warm-up weight while decreasing reps; then a bunch of
       | working weight sets.)
        
         | sonium wrote:
         | I would assume that the appropriate exercise regime should be
         | determined by sex rather then gender?
        
           | hn192939 wrote:
           | Well, there are only two genders. So filtering by sex or
           | gender is the same thing.
        
           | simonbarker87 wrote:
           | In reality their is no reason for any difference in training
           | across sexes/genders. It's about goals and performance not
           | sex differences - my wife's training has always looked very
           | similar to mine (strength and hypertrophy phases) but we end
           | up with different physiques.
        
           | ASalazarMX wrote:
           | It actually filters by sex (male/female). Must be an innocent
           | mistake in the parent comment.
        
             | void_mint wrote:
             | Ultimately the filter boils down to how much T you have,
             | which (at least from the context of strength training)
             | isn't necessarily linked to gender or sex. I'm not sure how
             | you'd communicate that from the context of a web UI filter,
             | though.
        
           | eloff wrote:
           | The OP might have meant sex, but actually now that I think
           | about it gender is probably more important here since that
           | will be more closely linked to your hormones (have natural or
           | supplemented testosterone or not) as well as what exercises
           | you want to do (more lower body or more upper body, higher
           | reps or higher weight).
        
         | th0ma5 wrote:
         | I was just reading that the optimum reps count was somewhere
         | between 8 and 12. I was doing something that suggested 16 reps
         | and that felt a little more like cardio or something, and I dug
         | into it and it is a whole debate, but what I got out of it was
         | that for what I was doing eight or so is about right.
        
           | rypskar wrote:
           | The number of reps might not be as important as many claim,
           | if you are not training for competition the number of reps
           | are not that important for anything except maybe bench. [1]
           | This course from coursera did have some good research based
           | content [2] [1]https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.11
           | 52/japplphysio... [2]https://www.coursera.org/learn/hacking-
           | exercise-health
        
           | snug wrote:
           | It depends on what your goals are, lower reps with heavier
           | weights will give you more strength. Higher reps with lighter
           | weights will give you bigger muscles.
        
             | void_mint wrote:
             | This isn't true. Lower rep ranges will better acclimate the
             | CNS to higher bar-weight, but that's not really the same as
             | "strength".
             | 
             | On the flipside, higher rep ranges don't give you bigger
             | muscles - overall training volume (total weight moved per
             | movement) is moreso the determining factor on "size"[0]. In
             | general it's best to just do whatever you find difficult.
             | Lots of "powerbuilders" use Undulating Periodization
             | (sometimes Daily) to try and get the benefits of the CNS
             | acclimation + the increased work capacity that higher rep
             | ranges bring.
             | 
             | [0] https://www.strongerbyscience.com/hypertrophy-range-
             | fact-fic...
             | 
             | [1] https://www.strongerbyscience.com/daily-undulating-
             | periodiza...
        
           | Afton wrote:
           | There is no optimum number. There are optimum numbers for
           | specific goals. List your goals, your hormonal and diet
           | context, some genetic factors, and then people _could_
           | propose optimal reps for you.
           | 
           | Unfortunately, a _lot_ of exercise studies use untrained
           | people. How that extends to even moderately trained people is
           | usually pretty problematic. I 'd say "forget it, just listen
           | to people that have been doing it for a couple of decades" is
           | probably better advice.
           | 
           | The primary mover of all set-and-rep ranges is going to be
           | goals and hormonal context, so make sure that when taking
           | advice from someone, know what they think those two things
           | are.
        
           | void_mint wrote:
           | Just do whatever's difficult. Some days show up and do 10
           | sets of 3, some days show up and do 6 sets of 4. Total volume
           | is the deciding factor (other than, of course, recovery).
           | 
           | Mike Isratel's work on Maximum Recoverable Volume is probably
           | the best piece of work for deciding things like rep ranges.
        
         | sitesuniverse wrote:
         | This is cool, thanks for sharing!
        
       | sentinel wrote:
       | Great idea!
       | 
       | At some point in the past, I had spent... maybe 10-12 hours
       | putting together a number of bodyweight + dumbbell exercises I
       | picked up from YouTube. I used Giphy to record GIFs of the
       | movement, and saved them all in a Trello dashboard (tagged and
       | everything).
       | 
       | I used it every time I went to the gym to figure out what
       | exercises I could do for a particular muscle group.
        
         | tootie wrote:
         | A classic web 1.0 website that is still humming along is ExRx
         | that documents hundreds of different weight lifting techniques:
         | 
         | https://exrx.net/
        
       | cdubzzz wrote:
       | What is the "recipes" functionality that is linked in the header
       | but coming soon?
        
         | sitesuniverse wrote:
         | Still working out the details. What I have in mind is something
         | very similar to the routine database, but for recipes!
        
           | cdubzzz wrote:
           | Interesting. I'll add my email. I have been working on an
           | open-source, self-hosted recipe/calorie tracker dealy that my
           | spouse and I have been using for macro tracking during weight
           | training. Haven't put much effort in to "advertising" it but
           | we have been using it quite successfully for a few months
           | now.
           | 
           | https://github.com/kcal-app/kcal
           | 
           | EDIT: side note -- when signing up for the email the
           | MailChimp landing page has a "return to site" button that
           | points to "https://sites.cx/" (which is an NXDOMAIN for me).
        
             | sitesuniverse wrote:
             | Interesting, thanks for sharing. And thanks for the heads
             | up about the mailchimp settings!
        
       | jimbob45 wrote:
       | I'm betting more than a few people have used the below link as a
       | jumping-off point for their lifting career. It would greatly help
       | its longevity to post it on RoutineDB to avoid the inevitable
       | heat-death of BlogSpot.
       | 
       | http://newbie-fitness.blogspot.com/2006/12/rippetoes-startin...
        
       | joelrunyon wrote:
       | Cool. I've built basically two version of this previously:
       | 
       | https://ImpossibleFitness.com/exercises for fitness movements,
       | lifts and exercises.
       | 
       | and
       | 
       | https://MoveWellApp.com/stretches for mobility training and
       | stretching.
       | 
       | The goal is to make these more accessible to everyone and demo
       | exactly what each movement takes.
       | 
       | Would love any feedback on things we can improve. We're 100%
       | bootstrapped and are adding new movements + routines every week.
       | Happy to add anything that the HN community would think is
       | useful.
        
       | Ashanmaril wrote:
       | What does it say about me that I immediately recognized this was
       | styled with Tailwind?
       | 
       | Looks great!
        
       | goodcjw2 wrote:
       | I was wondering if https://www.jefit.com/ was going to pop up.
       | Sounds quite similar and has been around for quite some time.
       | 
       | There are probably more similar solutions out there. Fitness apps
       | are definitely an interesting space, where there are tons of
       | them, but they seem to rarely marketing themself. Probably the
       | customer acquisition cost would be higher than the custom
       | lifetime value, i guess...
        
       | unixhero wrote:
       | Would be cool to have a section for crossfit style workout of the
       | day and crossfit style mobility workouts.
        
         | sitesuniverse wrote:
         | Have you added any crossfit routines to routinedb? I would be
         | interested in knowing how well they fit in to this format. Let
         | me know if you have any feedback!
        
       | amelius wrote:
       | What I want is an app that counts reps/sets for me. I.e., point
       | phone camera at self, the apps starts counting down (using a
       | voice), and stops when I'm done. It should auto-detect the
       | exercise.
        
         | rickbhardwaj wrote:
         | (shameless self-promotion but) We're actually building
         | something just like this. We're calling it Formguru, here's an
         | example of my squat in action: https://www.formguru.fitness/vid
         | eo/c96fa975-fd9e-4912-8f60-1....
         | 
         | Right now it's more focused on form feedback, but adding live
         | audio cues is on our roadmap. I'd love to know what other
         | features you'd want us to build.
        
           | momothereal wrote:
           | This is really cool! Well done
        
         | teh_g wrote:
         | What I want is an app that screams at me like a drill sergeant:
         | "Let's go, you got 10 more to go! Keep up!"
        
           | tanjtanjtanj wrote:
           | That's basically what Peloton, Apple Fitness, and whatever
           | other competitors to those are.
        
             | blowfish721 wrote:
             | I'd go for a Peloton but for weight lifting for sure! I
             | know there are some of those but haven't found any for free
             | weights, can't say I have been looking too hard yet
             | however.
             | 
             | Edit: tempo.fit seems interesting!
        
           | blensor wrote:
           | Not really screaming but in VRWorkout the computer voice
           | combined with the visual cues are as direct as it gets :) So
           | if you need some motivation to get your bodyweight training
           | done maybe check it out ( https://vrworkout.at )
        
             | teh_g wrote:
             | That looks promising, thanks!
        
         | Multiplayer wrote:
         | I have the tempo.fit - It's a giant video screen with camera
         | that does exactly this. It's a great piece of kit.
        
           | sebdufbeau wrote:
           | Wow, that's fascinating, first time I stumble upon the
           | company. Seems like Peloton for weight lifting
           | 
           | Does the detection work well? Is it worth the price?
        
             | goodcjw2 wrote:
             | In terms reps counting. Yes, it works quite well :)
        
         | ddlutz wrote:
         | If you have some extra income I love my Tonal
         | https://www.tonal.com/
        
         | cdubzzz wrote:
         | My Garmin watch (Forerunner) does this (well, not audio
         | prompts). It will start rep count when I start the exercise and
         | end it when I stop and guess the exercise. The exercise
         | guessing is spotty at best but you can also pre-program the
         | workout and use is that way. Rep count is much accurate (if not
         | perfect).
        
         | markedathome wrote:
         | Runtastic had apps that used to do this, where you held the
         | phone and it counted the reps, push-ups, sit-ups etc. There
         | were apps for each activity, which gave you reps, a count, and
         | a timer, along with cooldown, with voice prompts.
         | 
         | Then Adidas bought them out and closed the individual apps and
         | released a replacement for the main Runtastic app.
         | 
         | There were numerous threads on reddit asking for similar
         | replacements, and I don't think there has been one. So I gave
         | up looking.
        
         | alex_g wrote:
         | I saw this exact thing pop up on ProductHunt at some point in
         | the last year. Sorry, I don't remember the name, but it was an
         | iOS app.
        
       | mam3 wrote:
       | I'm very tempted to add mine which I would call "the lazy lifter:
       | build a nice body with 4x30 minutes per week" (a very efficient,
       | leangains-based routine).
       | 
       | That said i'm very sad by the abscence of likes. What dopamine
       | rush can i hope to get by contributing to your database :( ?
       | 
       | Or at least comments.
        
         | yeswecatan wrote:
         | Go on...
        
         | zigzaggy wrote:
         | I started with a trainer one year ago next week, doing 2 days
         | per week with him and one day of "plyometric" drop-set/super-
         | sets (which seems to be a fancy way of saying workout almost to
         | failure).
         | 
         | Total time investment? 30 minutes, 3 times per week.
         | 
         | My entire physique has changed, including greatly increased
         | muscle mass, energy levels, and stamina to do whatever physical
         | activity. I've also dropped 30 pounds and have completely
         | eliminated back problems.
        
           | haskellandchill wrote:
           | What's the routine :)
        
           | sitesuniverse wrote:
           | Sounds like there's some interest in this routine... If only
           | there was a database you could submit it to..... ;)
        
           | michaelmcdonald wrote:
           | I, likewise, would be VERY interested to know more. Time is a
           | precious commodity and anything to maximize the gains for the
           | time spent would be appreciated!
        
             | float4 wrote:
             | Virtually everyone will tell you to just do Starting
             | Strength or Stronglifts 5x5. Both are fine, both require 3
             | workouts a week of ~45 minutes each.
             | 
             | If you're willing to monitor your diet a bit and stick to
             | the program, then you'll truly see _amazing_ gains in a
             | year.
        
         | sitesuniverse wrote:
         | Please do add it. I would really appreciate some more content!
         | Yeah a like/ranking/comment system is something I'm thinking
         | about. Any suggestions?
        
           | Dedime wrote:
           | This may be a little pie-in-the-sky, but I've found myself
           | disliking the "upvote" or "like" mentality. Instead, maybe a
           | "I use(d) this!" functionality, as well as talk sections for
           | each routine?
        
             | sitesuniverse wrote:
             | I like this idea!
        
               | swyx wrote:
               | if i've learned one thing from this thread:
               | 
               | don't like the idea, use the idea!
        
           | thecrimsonchin wrote:
           | This is really cool. When there a good bit more workouts
           | having likes/upvotes would help users not get overwhelmed by
           | choices and they can sort by most liked.
        
           | boplicity wrote:
           | Factor in how long someone has been doing a routine, in terms
           | of the value of their "like"
        
         | Hitton wrote:
         | Lazy lifter? That sounds exactly like a thing for me. I'm
         | willing to trade upvotes here on HN for that method :)
        
           | ar_lan wrote:
           | I would also look into 5/3/1! It's a very easy to follow
           | program, and doesn't take much time at all. Slow and steady
           | gains.
           | 
           | Granted, if you're a beginner, there are much quicker
           | programs (since noob gains are a very real thing), but 5/3/1
           | is a very simple program to follow, can be repeated for an
           | extremely long time, and isn't very intense stress on the
           | body. I increased my lifts pretty drastically over 2 years,
           | but it felt incredibly slow/gradual - until I looked back
           | over my increases from 2 years prior.
        
             | IggleSniggle wrote:
             | I just tried looking up 5/3/1 and although I believe you
             | when you say it's "easy to follow" I'm not sure if it's
             | beginner friendly or not. I don't know most of this DSL. I
             | still don't even know what the numbers 5 3 and 1 are for
             | sure in reference to, although my _guess_ is reps (ie
             | repetitions). And apparently it's supposed to have a
             | corresponding percentage of Max Single Rep, but what is it?
             | 
             | What is a core lift? Parallel squat? Standing shoulder
             | press? Do I need equipment for this stuff? If I do require
             | gear what do I need to get, how do I choose, what's
             | minimal? What is a safe way to find my "max lift"?
             | 
             | Etc.
             | 
             | I would find it useful if these kinds of workouts were
             | prefaced with their end-goal in mind: general wellness? To
             | bulk specific areas? To maximize real strength? To have
             | trim and endurance strength? To increase resting metabolic
             | burn?
             | 
             | Personally, I want to lose body fat, decrease body
             | aches/pains, and make my brain sharper with minimal
             | investment of time. I know strength training is a key
             | component of this goal. But that's about it. When I look
             | into strength training, it often seems the advice is
             | focused on strength enthusiasts, which is not me.
             | 
             | Older newbie dripping my toe into the water, I'll listen!
        
               | krrrh wrote:
               | 5/3/1 is primarily a strength program, but it will
               | definitely benefit general wellness and resting metabolic
               | burn.
               | 
               | In terms of barbell-oriented strength programs, 5/3/1 is
               | a good program to do after you've mastered the basics and
               | started to plateau with something like Starting Strength
               | [0] or Stronglifts 5x5 [1]. Those two programs take
               | advantage of the linear gains that are possible for
               | people in their first year of training, and 5/3/1 is a
               | methodical approach to continuing to improve strength
               | when simply adding 5lbs to the bar every workout stops
               | working.
               | 
               | Starting Strength is a great book for understanding the
               | principles and benefits of barbell lifting (and the
               | videos from the old DVD are very good). The introductory
               | essay is considered to be one of the best summations of
               | strength training and its benefits. A lot of people
               | believe that they aren't interested in strength training
               | because they don't feel attracted to the extreme
               | manifestations of the sport, but then discover that it
               | delivers mental health and brain sharpening benefits in
               | ways that they didn't expect.
               | 
               | All of the programs I mentioned are built around the core
               | barbell lifts, which are squat, deadlift, shoulder press,
               | bench press, cleans, and rows.
               | 
               | [0] https://startingstrength.com/about
               | 
               | [1] https://stronglifts.com/5x5/
        
               | d883kd8 wrote:
               | I do 5/3/1 and it does have it's tradeoffs but I've seen
               | gains while on it. Basically the goal is to make you
               | stronger, it was developed by a powerlifter and is
               | heavily influenced by traditional american football
               | training. I've linked a PDF below[1] which explains the
               | whole thing in language anyone can understand.
               | 
               | Core lifts: Bench press, Squat, Deadlift, Overhead Press.
               | Some people choose a different set of lifts.
               | 
               | The 531 thing means week one you do 3 sets of 5 on the
               | core lift, week two you do 3 sets of 3, week three you do
               | a set of 5, a set of 3, and a set of 1. Week four is
               | deload, you do lighter weight for three sets of five. In
               | all cases (except deload) the last set is actually for
               | "AMRAP" i.e. as many reps as possible.
               | 
               | Ultimately weightlifting is not a modern science, it is
               | an ancient practice akin to meditation or running or
               | martial arts. There is ongoing research to optimize it
               | but nobody here is going to the league and for us the
               | most important thing is to show up consistently and track
               | progress. The most impactful thing I ever did for my
               | lifting was to create a spreadsheet I could update from
               | my phone and write down how much I lifted and how many
               | reps every time I went to the gym. I do something like
               | this:                            |Bench
               | -----------------------------        1/22/2021  |135,
               | 135, 145                   |5, 5, 5
               | 
               | I'm proud to say I reached the end of my google sheet and
               | had to start a new one. I am fortunate I was exposed to
               | weightlifting early in life but after neglecting my
               | training for most of my twenties (I'm 32 now), most of my
               | current gains happened with 531. I hope you will start
               | lifting! The benefits weight training has brought to my
               | life can hardly be overstated.
               | 
               | Oh and stay away from planet fitness, that's not a
               | gym[2]. Their business model is based on appealing to
               | people who don't work out. You want to work out, go
               | somewhere else.
               | 
               | [1]:
               | http://www.anasci.org/ebooks/531%20by%20Jim%20Wendler.pdf
               | [2]: https://www.facebook.com/planetfitness/videos/were-
               | not-a-gym...
        
               | tylerscott wrote:
               | For recording your work, I've built a simple language and
               | some libraries around it: https://traindown.com. I am
               | hoping to add some additional I/O utilities like "export
               | to csv". I'd love any feedback you may have on it.
               | Totally OSS now and forever.
        
       | dgellow wrote:
       | One of our local sport club (in Hamburg) streamed multiple videos
       | per day during the pandemics. It's a great source of exercises:
       | https://www.youtube.com/c/sportspa%C3%9FeVHamburg/videos.
       | 
       | The club reopened ~1 week ago, so they stopped streaming but the
       | content is still available.
       | 
       | I highly recommend if you're looking for ~1h of exercise per day
       | :)
        
       | Moosdijk wrote:
       | I've lifted weights pretty regularly for some years, some years
       | ago. However, the first program I click is gibberish [1] to me (I
       | did olympic weightlifting too, so that's not the problem). Is
       | there some quality control in place?
       | 
       | [1]https://www.routinedb.com/routine/ckpvxacen02200wl8f8z27z77
        
         | sitesuniverse wrote:
         | Hey, thanks for the feedback. Yeah, community driven ranking
         | and filtering is in the works! Do you have any suggestions?
        
       | recov wrote:
       | Looks like a more casual and open version of
       | https://liftvault.com/
        
       | soheil wrote:
       | When I clicked on the Sign In button from the email it took me to
       | a page that showed another Sign Up button even though when I
       | navigated to the homepage I was already signed in, this was very
       | confusing and made me enter my email like 10 times.
        
         | sitesuniverse wrote:
         | Thanks for the info. I think the email is redirecting to the
         | wrong page. It should still sign you in though. Do you appear
         | signed in on this page? https://www.routinedb.com/routines
        
           | soheil wrote:
           | Yes I was signed in, there was just no way for me to tell
           | that I was until I navigated to the homepage manually and saw
           | the navbar changed.
        
             | sitesuniverse wrote:
             | Ah ok, thanks. got a quick fix for that incoming!
        
       | tomjen3 wrote:
       | Interesting, I tried the create a routine but it required a
       | login, that seems uncessary that early.
       | 
       | Especially because I assume (since I can't easily check it now)
       | that it can't be used to put together a routine for people who
       | are just terribly out of shape.
        
         | sitesuniverse wrote:
         | The login is currently just an email token so you can edit your
         | routines after they've been created. I am working on reducing
         | the friction for this. Any suggestions?
        
           | tomjen3 wrote:
           | My of-the-top suggestion would be to put it at the end, that
           | way there would be some value in it (as I would want to keep
           | the routine going), and I can test-drive the editor first, to
           | see if it makes sense to me.
        
             | sitesuniverse wrote:
             | I'll give it a shot. Thanks for the feedback!
        
       | rStar wrote:
       | seems to be all lifting.
        
         | sitesuniverse wrote:
         | Feel free to add any type of fitness routines!
        
       | sitesuniverse wrote:
       | Hey, I'm working on a community sourced fitness routine database
       | where users can upload and share routines. Does this site seem
       | useful to you? https://routinedb.com/routines
        
         | browningstreet wrote:
         | The world is filled with workout routines. They're everywhere.
         | They're in books, they're on sites, they're in magazines,
         | they're on forums. They've been explained a million times --
         | PPL, 5/3/1, bro-splits, kettlebell routines, WODs, etc.
         | 
         | My recommendation, if you're really a beginner, just go buy one
         | book that explains these things. They're all based on the same
         | principles. The same knowledge is being repackaged, re-sold,
         | re-presented by each subsequent personality.
         | 
         | You don't need more routines. You need the routine you'll do 50
         | or 100 times.
        
           | sitesuniverse wrote:
           | Thanks for the feedback. "They're everywhere. They're in
           | books, they're on sites, they're in magazines, they're on
           | forums." - this is the problem I'm hoping to solve with
           | RoutineDB.
        
           | fdw wrote:
           | > You don't need more routines. You need the routine you'll
           | do 50 or 100 times. Honest question from someone with just
           | anecdotes and no data: Is it preferable to do the same
           | routine regularly over different routines (equally often)?
           | Last year, a friend sent me a link to https://darebee.com/
           | where I've been choosing different routines almost every time
           | (or a program, which consists of different routines for each
           | day). This seems to me more effective for me, but maybe it's
           | just more motivation to do different things.
        
             | Afton wrote:
             | Goals goals goals. The implicit assumption is that your
             | goal is to develop _something specific_ over time. You want
             | to get stronger, you want to get bigger, you want to
             | increase your endurance, for example.
             | 
             | Since those specific goals are so common, they fade into
             | the background. But if your goals are more or less one or
             | more of those goals, then yes, do the same set of exercises
             | 50-100 times (progressing weights/intensity/etc). That will
             | stimulate improvements. Doing a bunch of different things
             | every time is 100% better than sitting on the couch, but
             | won't allow you to _progress_ very much. You 'll
             | essentially only be progressing e.g. strength when you
             | happen to overlap some motion with the right amount of
             | increase to cause improvement.
             | 
             | But something that you'll _do_ is better than a perfect
             | thing that you 'll get bored of and stop doing. Existence
             | is the primary predicate and all that.
             | 
             | Incidentally, Starting Strength (the book) talks about this
             | somewhat. He distinguishes between 'training' and
             | 'exercising'. Training is about progressive overload.
             | Exercise is about moving your body. If you want to change
             | your body, you'll want to train.
        
             | browningstreet wrote:
             | Routines should be a mix of things you develop expertise
             | and efficiencies at (say, compound barbell movements or
             | heavy KB base movements), and other things that you aren't
             | efficient at. Strength training (simply one modality) is
             | about progressive overload. So, it helps to get better at
             | some of your exercises, but it's also advantageous to
             | stress your body in ways that you're not efficient at --
             | but, if that's all you're doing, you'll never truly push
             | yourself because the progressive overload gains won't come.
             | 
             | My advice in the past is that 60% of your time in training
             | should be for things you like and you're getting very good
             | at. The non-compound movements have benefits, but unless
             | you're competing at something, the benefits are across a
             | broader impact spectrum.
             | 
             | How will this translate into a fitness routine? If you look
             | at some of the 5/3/1 periodization routines, it'll be
             | something like: bench press, shoulders/chest, lats,
             | triceps. Doesn't matter as much which shoulder/chest or lat
             | exercises, just take them to a proper RPE (search it).
             | 
             | Routines, in and of themselves, aren't super helpful if you
             | don't understand some of the basic principles. For which
             | some deeper resource -- a book, possibly -- is a wise
             | investment.
        
               | fdw wrote:
               | Thank you (and also the responders, u/Afton and u/jnosCo)
               | for your help!
               | 
               | While I have certainly a lot to learn on that topic, I
               | feel like I haven't failed completely - of course all
               | kinds of exercises come around again, and I'm increasing
               | difficulty/number of sets. So there's room for
               | optimization, but it's not a bad start, I think.
               | 
               | Thanks again :)
        
             | jnosCo wrote:
             | If we're talking about lifting, It's better to switch your
             | routine after a while to avoid "plateauing", but not so
             | often as to not be able to track progress and perfect form
             | in lifts.
        
               | Afton wrote:
               | This is one of those 'true but' statements. I think it's
               | actively harmful to provide it to beginners who don't
               | have the context to understand what that means.
               | Vanishingly few beginners are running a routine long
               | enough or hard enough to suffer from this problem.
        
         | abeppu wrote:
         | I think the hard part is knowing which routine will be
         | appropriate and effective for a given person. What's their
         | existing fitness level/experience? Do they use a gym and if so,
         | what equipment do they have? What are their goals? What's their
         | injury history?
         | 
         | And while adding a likes/ratings/whatever system might be
         | helpful, I'd much rather see a system that considers actual
         | information about people's progress. Did you get stronger?
         | Leaner? Did your mile time improve? Did you get bigger delts?
         | At a high level, for a given goal, routine selection is a
         | contextual bandit problem, but so far as I can tell no one
         | treats it that way.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2021-06-14 23:00 UTC)