+3
Completed

Show selected exercises shown at the top of the screen when creating custom workouts

Barrett Roberts 5 years ago updated by Carl Juneau, PhD 5 years ago 1

When editing workouts I would suggest that you have the currently selected exercises shown at the top of the screen where you add exercises. It’s cumbersome to select exercises then have to go to the next screen to see the list. Just a suggestion.

Answer
Carl Juneau, PhD 5 years ago

Thank you for your suggestion Barrett. This was released in a recent update. I'm marking it as completed.

+3
Completed

Start timer for side 2 after you've said that you've finished side 1 for unilateral exercises

Jamie Thompson 6 years ago updated by Carl Juneau, PhD 5 years ago 3

In unilateral exercises, after the allotted sets on one side, the timer starts counting down for the start of the next side, but that happens before you’ve either chosen ‘finish side 1’ or ‘add extra set’. It would seem to make sense to start the timer for side 2 after you’ve said that you’ve finished side 1.

Say the app suggests for each side a set of 12 followed by a rest-pause set of 4. When you have done the first set of 12 and set of 4 for the left side, the full-screen timer tells you that you are going to do a set of 12 next (ie for the right side). But once the timer finishes, the next thing the user needs to do is either ‘add a set’ for the left side (in which case the number of reps on the timer is wrong) or ‘finish side 1’ for the left side, ie nothing to do with the right side! To me, it would make more sense to let the user decide if the next step is ‘add a set’ or ‘finish side 1’ before running the full-screen timer.

One option would be to treat the end of the allotted sets for the first side the same as you treat the end of a normal bilateral exercise. ie Start the timer at the end of the final allotted rest-pause set of the left side, but don't show it full-screen (only show at the top of the screen) until the user chooses either 'add a set' or 'finish side 1'. That way, you always get the timer when you save a set, but you're not being given an incorrect number of reps for the case where you wish to do an extra set.

Answer
Carl Juneau, PhD 5 years ago

Hi Jamie,

The app now only shows the fullscreen timer after you tap "Finish side 1". Does the current behaviour look good to you?

+3

Revise overtraining protection for split programs

Cristian Coban 6 years ago updated by Carl Juneau, PhD 6 years ago 1

I split my workouts in two workouts UPPER and LOWER. I think many
others do that, even splitting body in more segments. It seems the
machine is not aware whether you work your entire body, or you do
"UPPER" one day and "LOWER" another day. Every time I do a workout
(such as UPPER), the next day (when I want to do LOWER) the machine
admonishes me that "it doesn't make much sense to work out today since
you worked out yesterday". If this is done on purpose, specified by
your training method (let one day elapse between workouts even when you
work only a part of your body), than this is correct. I however doubt
that you advise people who workout body parts to only workout every
other day. That way in a week you get very little exercise per body
part. I rather think that this is due to lazy programming. An AI
(Artificial Intelligence) program like Dr. Muscle should have enough
intelligence to know if it is OK to workout your body part today today
(or not). Easy to program. Perhaps you should add some of your science
here to make this a useful feature (that you can advertise: "Dr. Muscle
will detect and let you know if you are overtraining") . After so many
consecutive days of workout without a pause day, and/or if the program
detects a decrease in performance that may be due to overtraining, at
that point the program should discourage the user from doing a workout.

Answer
Carl Juneau, PhD 6 years ago

Good point Cristian: we built that feature (and those comments) with the full-body program in mind. We could certainly have a separate set of recommendations for users on a split-body program.

+3

Edit exercise setup popup for exercises that don't use dumbbells

Derek Casari 6 years ago 0

Eexercises that you would not use dumbbells on, pop up as "a thing" when asked how much weight you can lift 6 times.

Image 73

+3

Weekly email with a summary of what you did

Carl Juneau, PhD 6 years ago 0

Hi guys!

I got an idea for the app, but would like to know if you're interested before we build it. Would you like to get a weekly email with a summary of what you did that week? Things like:

- How many workouts
- Total sets
- Total reps
- New records (1RM)
- Top 3 exercises you've done the most

And more. 

Would that be of interest to you? If yes, please vote for this feature. Thx!

+3

More guidance into total fitness

Michael Tijerina 6 years ago 0

I like a nice mix of warmup, strength, conditioning, and cool down. I think Dr. Muscle has great potential but a little more guidance into total fitness would be nice.

+3

Summary after your workout about what you need to do next

Jeremy Stephens 6 years ago updated by Jim B 3 years ago 2

I would like to see it give more of a summary after your workout about what you need to do next. Goal for next workout, try to add more weight or do more reps for example, just more intelligence in a summary form (words) about your next work out. It does a good job telling me I went up X % etc... but looking forward to my next work out would be nice.

+3

Update graphical user interface (GUI) in the latest material design

Markus Zinkl 7 years ago updated by Lars 3 years ago 1
+3
Completed

Let me know how many more sets in the exercise after each set

McClure Jones 7 years ago updated by Carl Juneau, PhD 7 years ago 1

Let me know how many more sets in the exercise after each set.

Answer
Carl Juneau, PhD 7 years ago

This has been included in the latest update (see image):



The update is in beta on Android and under review by Apple (give it 1-2 days). Look for a public release early next week. To update, visit the app store app on your phone, search for Dr. Muscle, and tap "update".

Thanks for voting for this suggestion guys. To vote for our next feature, visit: https://muscle.userecho.com/.

+3
Completed

Progression is 0% or even, sometimes, -1%

Bogdan Filip 8 years ago updated by Carl Juneau, PhD 8 years ago 17

Sometimes it sais to do that nr of reps with that weight to build muscle faster and after I do it it shows my progression as 0% or even , sometimes, as -1%. Why is this ?

Response from Carl:

The 0% or -1% progression is because the app rounds down its weight to the nearest 2.5 lbs / 1 kg for safety. The default recommendation is always minimum 1% increase, but because the app rounds down, in some cases, you can get 0% or -1%. You should try to keep beating the app (do 1 more rep that recommended), so you'll always get an increase.

Follow-up response from Bogdan:


Ok but let's say that last time I did a bench press with 100 kg.

     The app is now telling me to do 101 kg for 4 reps. Now I don't know if the app is increasing with 1% or not ( here is another problem becouse I can see the result only after I finish my exercise. Only then the app is telling me if I did -1% or 0 or +1%). 
So just to be sure that I will increase I need to do one more rep , wich in this case means a 25% increase wich is allmost impossibe and most important dangerous.
     I think the best solution would be that the app should not round the weight down and should show me EXACTLY the weight needed to increase that 1%.
     Now , If I don't have small plates ( wich by the way , I do ) I will round down to what I have and do one more rep or round up and do one less, wichever is closer.
     The next best thing would be that if the app rounds down the weight it should advise me before the set or it should automatically increase with one more rep.
     For me is very important to get a small increase every workout. I had a lot of waisted sets when the app reccomanded -1% or 0% and I saw the result only after finishing the exercises.

Answer
Carl Juneau, PhD 8 years ago

The app now always rounds up. Rounding down didn't make sense because of accidental deloads. I'm marking this as "Completed".