Barbell Medicine

The programs are great. Worth the purchase. I rerun old ones all the time. The user flow doesn’t get in the way, very easy to jump into the next workout and see what’s you need to do. Also easy to look back at previous sets of an exercise, whether the exercise is part of the current template or not. Only gripe is the button and box extents are too small and should extent beyond the outline if possible. As in, I miss hit the number pad 20-50% of the time. And I will record 58 reps instead of 5 reps at RPE 8 because I miss hit the next box with my thumb. There is a next arrow for navigation (it’s also too small), but that’s not how people use phones. You touch the open box to go there. Otherwise, it’s a solid app.

This is hands down the best strength training app. Plenty of free programs to see if like their methods. Plenty of paid programs to keep it interesting and piling on gains for years.

I just want to start off saying I’m a huge fan of Barbell Medicine and their mission, with an emphasis on health outcomes. The app is solid and Barbell Medicine has hands down, the best programming I’ve ever done. The RPE calculator is a really nice tool to use. With all of that being said, I would like to see a warm-up calculator, plate calculator, and rest timer. That would make the app 3 times better. I’m currently using 4 apps to do my template(BBM, a warmup calculator, a plate calculator, and a rest timer). It’d be really helpful if this was all packaged in one app. It’s taking every fiber of my being not to switch to Juggernaut AI, but I feel like Barbell Medicine has a bigger emphasis on health, and I’m not a powerlifter. Regardless of what happens I’m super grateful for Barbell Medicine!

App only launches for me when the 24-Hour Time setting is turned on..

Only my iPhone 13 mini running iOS 17.0.3, the app is crashing and cannot be open when my phone is set to non 24-hour time format. And it will work again when it is set back to 24-hour format. Annoying bug, hope that can be fixed. Another thing is ALL my template purchased from the website shows in the app, but my in-app purchases don’t show up in download tab on the website. I hope that can also be fixed. Otherwise, this app offers useful resources. I hope the above issues can be addressed because the whole point of using the app is convenience. It isn’t as convenient as it can be at the moment.

When I am reason to be in the app, it’s great. Easy access to all the tools I need to effectively and efficiently run training. My biggest problem is that the app serves little utility to me unless running a BBM program (coached or template). Without the ability to create and run custom programs, I am no longer in the app (prior I was daily). I highly recommend creating the ability to self program. I’d suspect this would lead to higher user retention as well as create more conversion opportunities. For example, how cool would it be if you were to recognize a plateau and intelligently recommend a training template? There’s a gold mine of data being created with training sessions. But now you’re not getting mine since I can’t program.

Templates easy to follow 👍🏾

I like that all my prior templates sync to the app, but it’s missing a few features. -Weight calculator -Apple health integration -Ability to see prior workout’s weights and RPE rating For that reason, I will continue logging my workouts in the Strong app. But would love to make the switch once these changes have been implemented!

I really like the concept, but if I leave a session unfinished (hitting finished) and return to it (hitting continue program), my workout data for the exercises I’ve completed is empty. There should also be an easier way to view past workouts, as I use those numbers along with how I’m feeling during warmups to pick my top set numbers for the day. In addition I’ve faced some intermittent scrolling problem on some of the home pages that I’ve only been able to fix by closing and restarting the app.

The app is very well designed. It simplifies logging—no need to run clunky mobile Excel. A couple things I think could be improved: 1.) Exercise selection: changing exercise preferences, and having them save for all workouts in a given block, is not intuitive. 2.) Templates in the app do not match the original Excel templates. This isn’t a big deal for me, as the app templates are enhancements. 3.) It would be nice to save modified versions of base templates.