VidarFit writes your next session from what you logged in the last one. The check-in you tap before training, the reps you record on each set, and the muscles you’ve worked this week all feed the plan, and the plan changes while you’re still in the workout. This post walks through what the app does at each of those points, from the first screen to the last set, and where you can overrule it.
Before the first set: the Quick Check-In
Each session starts with a Quick Check-In. It opens with your usual setup and a yes. Tap yes and the session builds. If something is different today, like a shorter window, another gym, or a rough night, tap no and it asks about sleep, energy, soreness and time. If you keep more than one training location, it also asks which one you’re at, and the session is built around the equipment saved there.
The check-in assumes a good day by default, so leaving it untouched gives you the full session. Tell it you slept badly and it eases the work. When the app suggests rest, there’s a Train anyway choice, and the session goes ahead.
During the workout, set by set
Most of the adapting happens here. Each set gets one screen where you enter weight, reps and, if you want, how many more reps you could have done (reps in reserve, or RIR). Tap Log set and your rest timer starts.
The app reads each logged set and adjusts the targets for the rest of that workout:
- Say a set was easier than its target and the next set goes up.
- If a working set comes in short, the remaining sets of that lift drop for this workout, and the next session suggests a lighter load. You can keep that number or type your own.
- An increase in weight waits until a set finishes with reps left in reserve.
- A single bad day doesn’t pull your weights down. The app looks for a pattern first.
New workouts start from your estimated strength. When a set is on screen, the weight you lifted last time and the reason for today’s target sit above the number wheels, so you can see where the number came from without opening anything.
Between sessions: recovery and history
VidarFit tracks recovery for each muscle on a curve, and each new session is built around what’s recovered. Only sets you performed count as work, so a set left at zero reps doesn’t hold a muscle back for days afterwards.
Supporting muscles are handled separately from the muscle a lift targets. If your core was worked yesterday, squats still stay on leg day as long as your legs are ready.
When one movement has rough sessions in a row, the app steps that movement back and leaves the rest of the session alone. The plan can also give you an easier week, and the Why on that screen says what triggered it. An easy week lasts a week and ends on its own, and a normal session follows it.
Your own preferences count as well. Give a movement a thumbs-up and it comes back more often on days where it fits. Your equipment, your recovery and the focus of the day still decide what makes the cut.
It explains its changes
Every screen has a Why in the same spot, and that’s where the reasoning lives. If you’re short on time, the session shows what it cut and what it kept. If you’re in an easier week, it shows what triggered it. For any session, it shows why it looks the way it does.
Session length gets the same treatment. Sessions use the time you gave them. Some days can’t fill that time, for example a single-body-part day or a lighter day while you recover, and when that happens the plan tells you which one it is.
Where you overrule it
Every session is shown to you before it starts. From there you can skip a movement once or for good, with undo. You can keep the full session when the app would trim your day. You can also write your own workout, and the generated one stays the default for next time. If you work with a coach, you can pick them to write your training instead of the app. How online coaching works on VidarFit covers what a coach can and can’t see.
Existing history can come with you. Settings imports training history from Strong, Hevy or FitNotes, and body weight from an Apple Health export, and you see exactly what will be added before anything is written. The plan has more to work from on day one when your history is already there.
The goal it adapts toward today
The selectable training goal right now is hypertrophy. We’re getting one goal right before opening the others, so if you start today, that’s what your plan is written for. The research behind each system, including which numbers are still being calibrated, is listed openly on the Science page. An earlier post on recovery-aware training covers the session formats, like EMOM and supersets.
Try it on a sample profile
You can see an example workout without an account. Switch between a full gym, just dumbbells or bodyweight only, change the time from 30 to 90 minutes, and watch the session change. Each movement has its own Why. With an account, the same engine works from your own history, recovery and equipment.
If you’d like to try it with your own training, get started free. You set up your profile once, and after that each session is written for the day you’re having.