Between Sets
What we work out between sets
Occasional writing about training apps, the numbers behind them, and what any of it is worth. Published when there is something to say, which is not often.
Training
5 min read
Health Connect has nowhere to put the weight you lifted
Health Connect can record that you benched for eight reps. It can't record that the bar had 80kg on it. What that means for a strength log, and what Google actually says about where your data lives.
Read it →Training
3 min read
Protein for lifters: three numbers and where they came from
1.6 grams per kilogram, 20 to 30 grams a meal, protein every three hours. Each number traces to a real study, and each study is narrower than the rule built on it.
Read it →Training
3 min read
Your first months of lifting, according to the research
You get dramatically stronger before you look any different, the soreness fades, and everyone has an opinion. What the research says about the first few months of lifting.
Read it →Training
3 min read
Progressive overload without adding weight
Progressive overload is almost always explained as adding weight to the bar. A trial in trained lifters compared adding load against adding reps, and both routes worked.
Read it →Training
4 min read
How many sets per muscle per week, and who that number was for
Ten to twenty sets per muscle per week is the number everyone repeats. It came from a review restricted to young trained men, it describes size better than strength, and between-person variation is bigger than the effect.
Read it →Training
3 min read
When to deload, and why the research disagrees with the advice
Every program tells you to deload every four to six weeks. Two trials have tested that directly. One found no difference, and the other found the group that trained straight through gained more strength.
Read it →Comparisons
5 min read
Can you get your training data out? We read every help center
One question asked of every major Android tracker: is there a documented way to get your training history out, and what shape does it come in? Read from each vendor's own help center, with the ones we couldn't confirm marked as exactly that.
Read it →Comparisons
8 min read
FitNotes alternatives, and when to just keep FitNotes
A comparison of FitNotes and FitTrack on the three things FitNotes was never built to do, with every FitNotes figure read from its own Play Store listing, and the rows where FitNotes wins left in.
Read it →Comparisons
7 min read
Fitbod alternatives for Android, and what you lose
Fitbod builds your session and keeps a per-muscle recovery heat map, and charges for all of it with no free tier. Compared with FitTrack on price, account, recovery and the exercise library, with the rows Fitbod wins left in.
Read it →Training
9 min read
How Long Muscles Actually Need to Recover
The 48-hour rule is real, and it was measured mostly on beginners, where the response was dominated by repairing damage rather than building tissue. What the research supports instead, with every claim traced to a paper.
Read it →The app all this is about
Training, nutrition and recovery in one Android app, with no account and no backend. Your history is written to your phone and stays there.