The best workout app for powerlifting depends on how your program is written
Powerlifting training is unusually program-shaped: percentages, top sets, back-offs, RPE, long rests. The right app depends on where the program comes from. This page sorts the options by that question, with each app's fit stated honestly.
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Checked against Boostcamp on the App Store on , Strong on the App Store on and Hevy on the App Store on . Third-party facts can change after that date. Method facts are checked against the shipped product.
Why powerlifting is a special case
Most gym logging is "record what happened". Powerlifting training is written down before it happens, and written precisely. A top set at RPE 8, back-offs at a percentage of it, fixed rest, planned deloads, a peak. The app question is really a program question. Who writes it, and can the app hold it as written?
Three honest answers exist, and they lead to different apps.
If you run a published program
nSuns, GZCLP, 5/3/1 and its variants, Candito, the Reddit programs. Boostcamp ships 130+ coach programs and thousands of community programs with the progressions built in, fills in your weights automatically, logs RPE and RIR, and does all of this on its free tier. Nothing else here matches that for this use. Its limits for a powerlifter are no Apple Watch app and no web app, per its own site, and the paid tier is analytics and exclusive programs rather than core function. See Method vs Boostcamp for the full comparison.
Running one of these programs by hand in a routine logger means recalculating training maxes and percentages yourself every cycle. People do it; it is the worst of both worlds.
If you or your coach writes the program
This is where the prescription detail decides it. A self-written or coach-written powerlifting plan needs, on every set, reps as an exact number or a range, an effort target in RPE or RIR including halves, rest, and often a back-off load defined relative to the day's top set.
Method is built for exactly this shape. Programs are blocks of dated weeks; every set carries reps, RIR or RPE with decimals, rest, tempo, and notes; back-offs can be prescribed as a percentage of the top set, the last working set, or the previous set, resolved from what you actually lift that day; deload weeks are a duplicate-and-bulk-edit away; and the log stays separate from the plan, so you can see where the block went as written. The honest limits are no percent-of-1RM prescription, estimated 1RM as analytics only, no plate calculator, no Android, and no lifting on Apple Watch. How the schemes map is covered in progression schemes and RIR vs RPE.
If your plan is written strictly as percentages of a tested max rather than by feel, Method will not compute those numbers for you, and you should either run it in Boostcamp if it is a published program or keep the percentage table beside you.
If you mostly want a fast log with RPE
Strong logs RPE, groups supersets, and adds two things powerlifters actually touch every session, a warm-up calculator and a plate calculator. Its free tier saves unlimited workouts with three custom routines. Hevy covers the same core with a social feed, a web app, and a cheaper paid tier. Both plan with routines rather than dated programs, and neither describes per-set effort targets in the prescription. The two are compared directly in Hevy vs Strong.
The short table
| Your situation | Strongest fit | Why | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Running nSuns, GZCLP, 5/3/1, or similar | Boostcamp | Programs and progressions built in, free | No watch app, no web app |
| Self-written or coach-written RPE or RIR training | Method | Per-set effort targets with decimals, relative back-off loads, dated weeks, plan kept separate from log | No percent-of-1RM prescription, no plate calculator |
| Fast routine logging with RPE and calculators | Strong | Plate and warm-up calculators, unlimited free workouts | Routine model, no web app |
| The same, with community | Hevy | Social feed, web app, cheapest paid tier | Free tier caps routines at four |
Every claim about the other apps above comes from their App Store listings and sites on the dates listed under Checked against at the top of this page; every claim about Method is checked against the shipped product.
Common questions
- What is the best app for running 5/3/1, nSuns, or GZCLP?
- Boostcamp. Those programs are built in with their progressions, and the weights fill in automatically. Running a published percentage program by hand in a general logger means doing the arithmetic yourself.
- What is the best app for RPE-based powerlifting?
- If a book gives you the plan and you write it yourself, or your coach publishes it to you from a Method Coach Workspace, Method holds RPE or RIR targets with decimals on every set, rest per set, and back-off loads as a percentage of the top set. Boostcamp also logs RPE and RIR. Strong and Hevy list RPE for logging but plan with routines rather than dated programs.
- Can any app prescribe percentage of 1RM?
- Boostcamp's published programs run their own percentage progressions. Method has no percent-of-1RM prescription; it prescribes loads relative to another set in the session, such as 85 percent of the top set, resolved from what you lift that day. If your program is written as percentages of a tested max, run it in Boostcamp or compute the numbers yourself.
- Do I need an Apple Watch app for powerlifting?
- Rarely. Powerlifting logging is between-set phone work, and rest periods are long. If lifting from the wrist matters to you anyway, Strong and Hevy support it; Boostcamp and Method do not log lifting on the watch.
Try Method
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Related reading
Progression schemes you can actually write down: linear, double progression, RIR-based, and relative loads
Progression is the rule that turns one week's prescription into the next. This guide gives four schemes as written prescriptions, shows what each asks you to decide, and maps each to Method's prescription fields so you can build it rather than describe it.
RIR vs RPE: what each means, how they convert, and how Method stores both
RIR counts the reps you had left. RPE scores how hard the set felt out of 10. They convert exactly, and Method keeps one number underneath so switching your preference re-labels everything without losing anything.
Method vs Boostcamp: following a published program versus writing your own
Boostcamp is a free tracker built around a library of published programs with auto-progression. Method is a planner and logger for programs you write yourself, with a web editor and cardio in the same record. This page sets out where they differ.
Hevy vs Strong: an even-handed comparison of the two big gym loggers
Hevy and Strong are the two most popular routine-based gym loggers on iPhone. They overlap heavily, and the differences that matter are platforms, social features, free-tier limits, and price. This page lays them out from each app's own listing.
Method writes and maintains this page. Every statement about Method is checked against the shipped product. If something here is out of date, email contact@methodapp.net. For general references, link to the Method homepage.