Seperate Workouts; Same Exercise; Different targets?

[Ryan S]

I'm attempting to set up a progression workout program to increase my max reps of a given exercise. I'm unable to establish separate targets for different days. Advice?

Here's what I'm doing:
New workout -> Pushups 1:1
Exercise -> Pushups
Set Targets:
Sets -> 5
Reps -> 10, 12, 7, 7, 15 (corresponding to the rep)

New workout -> Pushups 1:2
Exercise -> Pushups
Set Targets (note this is already prefilled based on my previous workout....)
Sets -> 5
Reps -> 10, 12, 8, 8, 16

Now when i load workout 'Pushups 1:1' the targets are the same as 'Pushups 1:2'

How can I set different targets for the same exercise across workouts?

[Team FitSync]

Good question, Ryan.  Right now the system attaches targets to the specific exercise rather than the workout which is why the targets for Pushups will be the same even if the exercise is in different workouts.

The reason for this structure is twofold; to keep exercises and targets unique to each other for consistency and to make the reports meaningful. 

For example, you might be doing the same exercise in multiple workouts (like crunches or elliptical, etc.) and performing it the same each time so you'll keep the same targets for consistency.

In terms of reporting, you might perform 3 variations of the same exercise depending on the workout so you'll want to track them separately.  For example, maybe you do bench heavy, light, and reps.  If you tracked all 3 types in one exercise the reports wouldn't make sense because the data would be all over the place (one day your max is 415, the next its 185).  However, if you create 3 separate exercises then you can track the performance in each so you can see how your raw strength is progressing (max rep) as well as endurance (like doing reps of 225 for the combine).

We understand that's fine for bodybuilders or powerlifters or competitive athletes who want to track the specific progression of each unique way they may perform the same exercise but your example is a bit different.  You want to pre-set your progression of reps for a single exercise which could be bodyweight like Pushups or could also apply to resistance exercises. 

We have some enterprise versions (military) that do this but we haven't made this available in our public version due to the variability of presetting targets.  We explored countless methods (linear, increasing at a decreasing rate, etc.) but the reality is that unless we take into account body type (ectomorph vs. endomorph), experience (newbie or pro athlete), frequency, mix of cardio vs strength, etc. (you get the picture) it's darn near impossible to come up with a presetting formula that works.

Therefore, later this summer we'll be releasing a new version that will allow you to do as you say; set current and future targets for the same exercise but link by workout.  That way you can set your Pushups to go up by 1 or 2 reps a week or any other rate of progression you wish.

Tell us a bit more about the options and variations you'd like to see in setting targets.  We'll have the basic functionality to set targets specific to the workout (so pushups in workout 1 might have targets of 3 sets of 30 reps each while workout 2 might have 5 sets of 25 reps each).  What other options would you like to see?  We'd like to hear exactly what our users would like so we can take that into consideration when we configure our features.

Best in Health,

John