Supersets: automatically return to first exercise

Hey Ben,

I'm not sure about this one. Here's why:

We have users who do giants sets (3 exercises) or circuit training (4-5 exercises). For those people, returning to the previous exercise would be a nuisance. They must be able to return to the list and pick the next exercise in their super-giant-circuit-set.

See my point?

yes you have a good point!

but Trisets or more is time consuming too...we don't really have time to manip the app especially with 4-5 exercises...

but with time I'll adopt it you know! ;-)

Glad you see my point :)

What do you mean by: "Trisets is time consuming too...we don't really have time to manip the app especially with 4-5 exercises..." ?

I'm not sure I understand.

I mean when you do a Triset or more with a circuit, you take 2 or 3 min to do it so you have to start almost immediately and have to be fast

Ideally a function where you choose the exercises to superset and it automatically joins the two together would be optimal at the moment it is too easy to enter the details in the wrong exercise or close out the exercise. 

Might I suggest a new page after you click on "Supersets" which asks how many excercises you would like to superset. Then you chose the excercises and the ap automatically moves between them with optional intervals

Great suggestion, love it! I'm marking it +1

Glad to be of service.

May I ask how your algorithm is set up. 

For example does it take into account the details of the first X number of sets only or does it average over all completed sets within an exercise?

The reason I ask is for the inclusion of drop-sets, rest pause, partials etc which can be set up by the user manually.

For example if your first two sets are 20kg for 10 reps followed by 10kg for 10 reps and then 5kg for 10 reps I can see that could lead to some interesting  starting weights on subsequent workouts.  I'm not sure dropsets can be used to calculate 1RM with any accuracy.

The easiest way round this would be to inform users that drop sets should not be included until after the prescribed number of sets have been completed that the algorithm will use (for example 3) and then anything after that is at the users discretion and will not be used for calculation purposes. Just a thought.

Hi Carl,

I think I have just answered my own question- the algorithm takes into account all your sets including drop sets for any given exercise.  I know this because I just ran the workout again today after doing lots of additional drop sets last time and the weight and volume jump was huge (from 2 sets at 20kg to 4 sets at 25kg) - knackered.

Ciao Julian!

Great questions.

Yes, the app takes into account all sets. If you enter 4 sets, however you did them, you'll start from 4 sets for your next workouts. Here's how sets work:

• Sets: Always 2 sets or more; +1 set every 3 workouts; +1 set if you’ve improved more than 4% last workout; -1 set if you’ve improved less than 2% last workout. Sets drop 50% when your 1RM goes down and you deload.

For more info about the workings of our algorithm, check out this article: Building Muscle With Dr. Muscle’s AI: The Science Behind The App.

I plan to implement drop sets at some point in the app, cause they're really effective (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28474868). For now, here's how I would do them:

Don't write them down.

If the app says to do 2 sets, and you did this:

Set 1: 20kg for 10 reps followed by 10kg for 10 reps and then 5kg for 10 reps

Set 2: 20kg for 10 reps followed by 10kg for 10 reps and then 5kg for 10 reps

You would enter:

Set 1: 20 kg for 10 reps

Set 2: 20 kg for 10 reps

That's it.

On your next workout, the app will recommend another weight in another rep range. You can drop that weight at your leisure.

Does that seem good enough for you at the moment?

If the drop sets are based on the first 'proper' sets or on a % of your 1RM, then no reason to 'confuse' (for lack of better term, sorry) the app.

The only problem with this is that you don't record these drop sets in History, if you'd desire so...

Agreed. We'll find a proper way to implement them in the app, so they're recorded.

If you want this feature, please vote for it here: http://muscle.userecho.com/topics/33-automated-drop-set-function/

Note to self:

Spoke with Marc David today and he said:

- Got lost
- Wasn't sure if taping "Finish Exercise" transmitted one or two exercises