How recommended weights work
The next weight is a suggestion from sets you already logged. It is your history, not a test, and not someone else’s program. Change it before you finish the set. The line under the log says why that number is there.
Every set of that exercise gets the same suggestion. The last set does not get a different weight.
What it looks at
- The exercise, including whether it is a dumbbell or bodyweight movement.
- How many sets and reps the workout asks for today.
- Your recent logs for that exercise.
- Your experience (beginner, intermediate, or advanced), your unit, and a preferred jump if you set one. If experience is blank, you are treated as intermediate.
A session counts as done when you finished at least as many sets as the workout asks for, at the reps it asks for, with the working weight. The working weight is the heaviest weight you used for a set that hit those reps. If none did, it is the heaviest weight you used.
If you change the rep target a lot from last time, Swoledex does not pretend it is the same workout. It shows the last working weight and waits for a new run of sets before it adds load.
How it decides
- No rep target. Some blocks are just a movement, with no reps written down. If you have used a weight before, that weight is filled in. Nothing is added.
- No history. The weight stays empty. Reps are filled in from the plan. Pick a weight you can move with clean reps.
- The reps changed. Weight stays at the last working weight. The screen says the rep target changed.
- Bodyweight. Hit the sets and get a couple of reps past the target, and it is time to add a little load. Hit the sets but not by that much, and you stay at bodyweight and try one more rep. Miss, and you stay at bodyweight with the planned reps.
- Beginner, with a bar or a dumbbell. Finish the sets and the next session adds one step. Miss, and the weight holds. Miss twice at the same weight and the next session drops one step.
- Intermediate or advanced. Finishing the sets is not enough on its own. Beat the target by a couple of reps and the weight goes up. Otherwise hold the weight and try to add a rep. Miss twice at the same weight and it drops one step.
A skipped set is not a logged set, so it cannot complete the session.
The size of the step
If your profile has a preferred increment, that is the jump for every exercise.
Otherwise a barbell or machine moves 2.5 kg (5 lb), and a dumbbell moves 2 kg (5 lb). Bodyweight uses a 2.5 kg or 5 lb jump when it is time to add load, unless you set your own.
A hold shows the weight you logged. An increase adds one step to it. A deload takes one step off, and it will not drop below a single step.
What you can see
| Situation | What the line says |
|---|---|
| No history | No history yet. Pick a weight you can move with clean reps. |
| Beginner added load | You hit every set last time. Add the next step. |
| Load after extra reps | You beat the rep target. Add the next step. |
| Same weight, try a rep | Same weight. Try to add a rep. |
| Hold after a miss | Same weight. Hit the reps on every set before adding load. |
| Deload | Two sessions short of the target. Drop a step and rebuild. |
| Reps changed | Rep target changed. Last working weight stays. |
| Bodyweight, one more rep | Bodyweight. Try one more rep. |
| Bodyweight, add load | Reps are ahead of the target. Add a little load. |
A hold that is not a miss
Intermediate, barbell, 3×8, latest session 80 kg for 8, 8, and 8. The sets were completed, but nobody beat the target by a couple of reps. The suggestion stays 80 kg for 8. Same weight. Try to add a rep.
A longer walk through beginner jumps, adding reps before weight (double progression), and easing off after misses is in Progressive overload, explained.