Hypertrophy apps for iPhone: which one fits how you train

The short answer

Ranked for lifters who already have a split they like and want the app to handle progression and logging.

• SayLift: keeps your routine and sets your next weight for every lift from what you logged. You log the whole session by voice. $4.17 a month (billed $49.99 a year).
• Alpha Progression: suggests a weight and reps before every set and can generate a plan from your equipment and priorities. $79.99 a year.
• MacroFactor Workouts: generates a program from your goal, schedule and up to 5 focus points, and adjusts weights and reps as you go. $71.99 a year.
• RP Hypertrophy: builds training blocks of up to 8 weeks and adjusts each week from your pump, soreness and workload feedback. $299.99 a year.
• Fitbod: builds each workout from your history and how recovered each muscle is. $79.99 to $95.99 a year.
• Hevy: a log first, with a weekly sets-per-muscle view and a program builder, Hevy Trainer, in Pro. $23.99 a year.

Two kinds of hypertrophy app

Program generators decide what you do. You answer questions about your goal, equipment and schedule, and the app hands you the exercises, sets and rep ranges. RP Hypertrophy, MacroFactor Workouts and Fitbod work this way, and Alpha Progression can.

Coached logs keep the plan you chose and decide what you lift on it. If you already run a push/pull/legs or a bro split you like, this is the kind that fits. The app reads your last sessions and tells you, lift by lift, whether to go up, stay, or come down.

Both rely on the same thing: an accurate record of every set. An app can only progress what you log, so how fast logging is matters as much as how clever the progression is.

Hypertrophy apps compared

#1 SayLift: your split, coached lift by lift

SayLift is our app. It does not hand you a new program. It takes the routine you already follow, on the Profile tab, and works out what to lift on it each session.

The coach uses double progression, the standard method for muscle growth. Each lift has a rep range, such as 8 to 12, from your routine. Stay at the same weight and add reps until every working set reaches the top of the range, then the coach adds weight: 2.5 kg (5 lb) on upper-body lifts and 5 kg (10 lb) on lower-body lifts. If your reps fall below the bottom of the range, it takes about 7.5% off so you can rebuild. If a lift goes three weeks without progress, it suggests a lighter week for that lift only. The Today page shows every call with the reason, for example "You hit 12 reps at 80, time to go up."

The other difference is logging. You finish training, hold one button and say the session, for example "incline dumbbell press, three sets of ten at 30, then lateral raises, fifteen, twelve and twelve at 10". SayLift writes every exercise, set, rep and weight onto a review screen. You check it and save. Warm-up and drop sets can be marked so they never inflate your records, and you can still log by hand with a rest timer when you prefer.

Pick the Hypertrophy training style and SayLift labels your days by muscle group, such as "Chest & Triceps" or "Back & Biceps". The Progress tab shows volume, streaks, personal records and each lift against its last session. All 873 exercises have instructions and photos and work offline.

#2 Alpha Progression: suggestions before every set

Alpha Progression's plan generator builds a split, exercises, sets and rep ranges from your equipment and the muscles you want to prioritize. Before each set it suggests a weight and reps, and Pro adds periodization and deloads you schedule. Its charts include sets per muscle. Logging is unlimited on the free tier. Pro is $12.99 a month or $79.99 a year, with a 14-day trial on the yearly plan.

#3 MacroFactor Workouts: generated programs with RIR

MacroFactor Workouts generates a program from your goal, days per week, session length, equipment and up to five focus points for priority muscles, then adjusts weights and reps from session to session. You can set reps in reserve per exercise and add an optional deload at the start or end of a block. There is no free tier. It costs $11.99 a month or $71.99 a year after a 7-day trial.

#4 RP Hypertrophy: weekly feedback, premium price

RP Hypertrophy runs you through training blocks of up to eight weeks, the last of which is always a deload. After sessions it asks about pump, soreness and workload, and uses the answers to set the next week's weights and reps. It has 45 or more pre-built templates and supports custom ones.

It is the most expensive app here by a wide margin: $34.99 a month or $299.99 a year, six times SayLift's yearly price.

#5 Fitbod: a new workout every session

Fitbod builds each workout for you from your training history and a recovery estimate for each muscle, shown as a heat map. That suits people who want to be told what to do on the day. It is less suited to running a fixed split you have chosen, because the exercises change as recovery changes. After three free workouts it costs $12.99 to $15.99 a month or $79.99 to $95.99 a year.

#6 Hevy: a log with a weekly muscle view

Hevy is a workout log first. It shows your sets per muscle group each week, and its Pro tier includes Hevy Trainer, which creates programs and raises weight based on how you perform. Pro is $2.99 a month, $23.99 a year or $74.99 once.

How to train for hypertrophy with any app

1. 1Pick a split you can repeat for months. Push/pull/legs, upper/lower or a body-part split all work. Consistency matters more than the label.
2. 2Give every lift a rep range. 6 to 12 is a common hypertrophy range. Lower for big compound lifts, higher for isolation work.
3. 3Add reps before weight. Stay at a weight until every working set reaches the top of the range, then add the smallest jump your gym allows.
4. 4Take sets close to failure. Most working sets should end with one to three reps left in the tank.
5. 5Log every working set. Without the numbers you cannot tell progress from a good day. Mark warm-ups so they do not count.
6. 6Lighten a lift that stalls. Three weeks with no added reps or weight is a common point to take a lighter week.

How to pick

• You have a split you like and want each lift progressed for you, with the fastest logging: SayLift.
• You want a full program generated, with suggestions before every set: Alpha Progression or MacroFactor Workouts.
• You want a new workout built each day: Fitbod.
• You want the lowest price for a basic log: Hevy.

Who SayLift is for

SayLift is for iPhone lifters training for size who already know their split and want two things handled: logging and the next weight. Say the session, check it, save, and the coach tells you which lifts go up next time.

It costs $4.17 a month (billed $49.99 a year), $7.99 a month or $3.99 a week after a 3-day free trial. Get SayLift on the App Store.