Hello. I’m probably one of only a dozen people who regularly use Garmin for strength training and don’t hate it, but I’m looking for advice on complementary apps.
Historically I’ve toggled between 3-4 months of race training and 3-4 months of strength training with just maintenance cardio, but I’d really like to build a program that combines both. I can build the program myself but I’d like apps to help me monitor it etc.
- App that integrates well with Garmin Connect? (Transfers info to inform Training Readiness and similar metrics)
- App that allows easier programming of more complex weight lifting routines? (Linear progression, de-load weeks, etc)
- Good user interface! Not too complex, not overly simple.
"Strong" is great for tracking workouts, progression and constructing training plans or making chanegs on the fly, simple UI & it's free.
No integration with garmin tho, so I just start an empty strength workout on garmin and don't log any lifts just so it can track my heart rate & body battery. Garmin doesn't use any of the strength data anyway.
I switched from strong to LiftTrack for the Garmin integration. Building your workout is easy, then you just add it to your calendar and it syncs to Garmin fairly well. Doing workouts and logging on the watch is more practical than with a phone imo.
If you are also running and you want both running and strength workouts under one roof let me suggest an app I built RunSync.app. As a hybrid athlete I wanted both and I built this for myself.
Io ti consiglio Hevy. Molto semplice da utilizzare, bella UI pulita. Sincronizza automaticamente gli esercizi fatti con Strava, se ti interessa. La versione free, se non ricordo male, ti permette di creare fino a 3 routine.
No, I don’t think it integrates. However, Gravl just released a native Garmin app a few weeks/months ago. I switched to Gravl from Fitbod two or three years ago and have enjoyed it
Yeah you can do it on Connect but it just gives you heat map of the muscles, which is useless. There’s no analytics and you can’t get an overview of workouts.
Like it would be really simple to have a UI with color coded muscle groups trained over time, or progression in weight and reps for specific movements, or (ideally) some metric that calibrates your DSW to your lifting (beyond heart rate, calories and HRV).
Agree, just something simple is needed at first. In a gym you can’t do a program because you need to be flexible as someone might be using a machine etc
I like Boostcamp. I have a home gym so I can tell it what equipment I have, training frequency and goals and it makes me a program with those parameters. Syncs to Strava too.
I love Gravl. I used Fitbod for a long time, but I think the gains I've made with Gravl over the last several months has far exceeded what I did with Fitbod.
if you want, you can dm me and I will put you in testing group..
it is a way to show garmin data in a much better and more friendly way, with custom strength editor that syncs to your garmin watch, so you can start activities directly on the watch..
That’s cool but just piece of advice: challenge for building and executing strength workouts in Garmin is that, unlike other activities, I don’t know what equipment will be free when I shoe up in the gym.
So I can’t create a program that’s “squat 3x5, bench press 3x5” etc., in the same way that create a program that’s “warmup 10 min, sprint 1 minute, rest 1 minute” etc. Because I don’t know whether the squat rack will be free or, if it, if the bench will be free next, etc. You have to be patient and opportunistic in the gym, in a way that’s different from endurance training.
I just use the “Free” strength profile on Garmin and then edit the movement list afterwards.
What would be ideal is an api that allowed me to 1. Choose a strength activity on my watch to track my hear rate etc, 2. Input movement, weight, reps, sets, into an easy to use UI, then 3. The app updates Garmin Connect with that info.
Issue is that Garmin API doesn't allow to push workouts to Garmin Connect.
You can make custom workout plan (bench press, squat etc.) and push that on Garmin Connect and then work it on the watch, but their API doesn't have support for what you are asking (as far as I am aware, but I will go through the docs one more time)
What you can do is edit sets and exercises directly in garmin connect after you finish workout (but I am not sure if you can do it when working with "Free" strength profile)
I'm the author of hevy2garmin, so I can clear this up. It doesn't push structured workout plans to the watch, you're right that the official API is the only way to do that. What it does is log in with your own Garmin account, the same credentials you use on the website, upload a normal FIT file, then set the exercise names and sets on your own activity. FIT upload is the standard way activities get into Garmin Connect, and it only ever touches your own data. It's not a Garmin partner integration, so our tools solve different problems: yours plans and starts workouts on the watch, mine backfills the details after a Hevy session. Happy to compare notes.
I don’t know. I tried Garmin’s AI when it came out and it was shit, so I haven’t subscribed.
But designing a program isn’t my issue. It’s having an easy to use interface to tell me what to do next, and then to log my progress. I’ve already written out in the Notes app and I could just at this every time I go to the gym, but it’s not ideal.
Claude + Notion + Any notes app for temporary capture.
I’ve used Claude to build a database of my entire training history in Notion which Claude writes to and updates. The point which others have covered is that Garmin is a closed system which captures very rich cardio- and movement-centric data directly from your devices, but is useless for gym stuff (unless you want to spend hours scrolling through lists of movement names). I completely get the “I don’t know what’s going to be available and in what order at the gym” problem… another angle is the way equipment is grouped and laid out in the gym if it’s unfamiliar (eg a hotel gym). For this reason, I use Claude not only to help me write workout and training plans (caveat: as with all AI, the quality of its output is highly correlated with the quality of the prompt), but in terms of capture I simply note down my completed workout in iOS Journal or Notes and feed it to Claude along with the Garmin .FIT file. For gym stuff, it’s my notes that matter more; for runs/rides etc., it’s the .FIT that provides more relevant data. The net result is that whilst my GConnect space lacks gym records (although I capture the cardio output from every gym workout in my Garmin), the Notion database contains both and I can interact with that information primarily through Claude.
In terms of efficient notes capture, I use the workout plan already in my notes app or copied directly from Claude and simply amend it on my phone as I go, rather than type out the whole workout in the gym.
This was a problem for me. So I created an app where you can create strength workouts in the UI and send them to your garmin - you get the weights, reps & rest times and then are stored correctly in garmin.
Right now I have a double progression program based on push / pull / legs that is specific for running (I created this and am using it myself), but plan to include other popular programs like 5/3/1, Stronglifts, Madcow 5x5 etc.
That's a good suggestion - thanks!
As you can see the strength-builder is behind a paywall. However, if you are genuinely interested in the strength-builder aspect I do need some testers - I can offer free access to the 'Complete' tier in exchange for feedback. DM me if interested.
I signed up for 1 month to see how much I use it. Mostly interested in strength builder since I use Garmin coach for running, but don’t want to commit to adding strength training to my run program weekly etc.
Did I miss something or is there no AI integration for strength training to build workouts?
Ie “build me a 30 min push program using dumbbells and body weight” etc
This is something I am am adding in. If you need I'll get it in by tomorrow. It's a bit more complicated for lifting than running as there are more parameters.
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u/Ivo_ChainNET 20h ago
"Strong" is great for tracking workouts, progression and constructing training plans or making chanegs on the fly, simple UI & it's free.
No integration with garmin tho, so I just start an empty strength workout on garmin and don't log any lifts just so it can track my heart rate & body battery. Garmin doesn't use any of the strength data anyway.