Use Weight values for mastery / experience calculation and suggest weight values to progress
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Hubert Kowalski
Current mastery calculation is based off of reps and hold times. This doesn't work for weight based exercises since difficulty scale for them isn't reps, but 1 RM max (or theoretical 1 RM based off of repsxweights)
The data for mastery (or rather strength level) can be taken/inspired by data from strengthlevel.com or exrx.net (or similar)
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Elon
Having the computer calculate weight, based on one's body weight, is asking for a bunch of problems. Some muscles are inherently stronger than others. Furthermore, the further the weight is from the fulcrum (joint) the harder the weight is to lift. A straight arm shoulder raises would be harder than a bent arm shoulder raises. So unless you want to manually set the parameters for each exercise, trying to adjust the weighted exercises' difficulty based on a few parameters is doomed to flop.
If you do want the computer to automatically calculate a weight for a specific exercise you might want to have a spot where a person can put in their 1 rep max for each exercise. Like this depending on the person's goal the computer can choose different weight amounts and reps, for that exercise. The computer may suggest to check the 1 rep max every once in a while and they may get new achievements after increasing their one rep max.
Louis Deveseleer
Elon: "unless you want to manually set the parameters for each exercise" -> that's exactly what I'm thinking of doing! That's why this task will be pretty large.
Relying on people inputting their 1RM would make that feature less convenient, and basically unavailable for beginnerss who don't know what would be a good value to shoot for or don't even know what 1RM means. Even more experienced athletes appreciate knowing what they should shoot for, based on some average value for people similar to them in age and weight.
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Elon
Louis DeveseleerGood luck with the big task. I'm sure people will appreciate it a little bit. The advantage of having a one rep max impute is that custom workout templates can then be built on top of it. Say one wants to build a drop set template. The builder will state what percentage and how many reps are in each set. After that any beginner can use that template without knowing what they're doing. All they have to do is learn what one rep max is.
Slightly off topic, if you're trying to calculate weighted exercises hardness. Maybe you can make a new category labeled as variable. This variable category will include easy through hard based on the user's decision. The weighted exercises can show up in all pregenerated workouts who have that equipment selected. Weighted exercises don't really have a skill tree as beginners and a strong man may both do shoulder presses. So the label is just to help weighted workouts fit into your app structure.
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Elon
On a side note, I have a way to make your huge task easier. This hack can only work after a one rep max is fully integrated into the app. The trick is, you have to collect the data from many users to find their one rep max, on all included exercises. You can then graph this data to get the average weight per exercise, the ratio of weight difference between different exercises, and so on. After initial data extraction you can add people's weight into the equation and see if you can find a ratio between the person's weight, how much they can lift in that exercise, and their fit level. Finally if your programming is good enough you can have all your extracted numbers spit back out into the app giving people goals to reach for their weight.
Ps. A person's weight is overrated. Gymnasts are known to be some of the strongest athletes pound for pound. Small Chinese weightlifters are lifting way over their weight class compared to western lifters. I've seen some of these relatively small Chinese lifters lift 260 lb. And a small old lady may lift up a heavy car in a time of need.
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Hubert Kowalski
Elon You didn't get my point at all and probably haven't checked the sites mentioned.
Currently the app will say that "you've mastered the bench press" if you've done 30+ reps of it in single session, even if that was just a bar. That's clearly incorrect for weighted exercise. That's why I suggest gauging "mastery" of weighted exercise using strength standards.
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Elon
Hubert Kowalski Why does it always have to be about you? Maybe I was responding to Louis, which I was.
I get it, you got an email and read my response. My response made no sense and you want to explain that doing 30 + reps of bench presses with one weight doesn't mean one mastered bench presses. I completely agree with you. At least Louis may be adding a too hard too easy button where one may be able to regress their skill tree.
Louis Deveseleer
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Louis Deveseleer
Totally agree with you! Thanks for the links.
I actually mentioned something about it recently on the task https://feedback.calistree.com/requests/p/weight-field-keyboard-add-weight-value-helpers , which will be a first step in the direction of integrating weight exercises better.
Adding such weight scales that depend on the user profile (age and weight), and use that to make weight recommendations and calculate experience levels, would be amazing to add to the app!
It just feels like a really big task, so I've stayed away from it so far. My goal is to take care of it this year.
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Gerard van Papendrecht
Louis Deveseleer, mentioned this already before, but you were not considering it (yet). However if you are planning to update weight and recommendations for weight and number of reps.
Just maybe consider that with high number of reps cardio becomes also a consideration. So any strength exercise might slip to a certain percentage of cardio effort at high reps. Could be as simple as:
1, up to 10 reps, no cardio effort
2, 10 to 20 reps, cardio effort becomes around 15%
3, 20 to 30 reps, cardio effort becomes 30%
4, 30 to 50 reps, maybe 60%
6, above 50 reps, maybe 100% cardio
Louis Deveseleer
Gerard van Papendrecht Thanks, I'll keep that in mind and will try to take into account "high rep cardio effect" if possible!
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Hubert Kowalski
Gerard van Papendrecht that also depends on exercise... I mean - 10 bicep curls to failure might not be cardio, but 10 RDLs with decent weight sure is cardio since it's a whole-body exercise.
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Gerard van Papendrecht
Hubert Kowalski, but 30 reps per set (warmup, single exercise), would already be more cardio.
Fully agree that RDL is great cardio (and strength). Not doing weights often, but RDL I do like. Mostly 3 to 5 sets build up like this (warmup to strength based), 20 reps with 60 kg, set 2 20 reps with 80, than with 100. As I'm not too regular 20 reps with 120 is rare and 3 reps with 145 is max
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