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mobieusKnow Building a routine History #400

Revision #400

Approved
All revisions
Author
Patrick Bass
Submitted
Aug 22, 2026 5:28pm
Summary
Workouts: logging sets, building a routine, programs, and what a coach sees
'''A routine is the set of exercises you keep coming back to.''' Loopa does not make you declare one up front. You build it by logging, and the app makes the repeat cheap.
+ This page is about choosing what goes in a session. If you want the session laid out on dates weeks ahead, that is a program — see [[following-a-program|Following a program]].
− This page is about choosing what goes in a session. If you want the session laid out on dates weeks ahead, that is a program. See [[following-a-program|Following a program]].
== Choosing the exercises ==
Every one of the '''453 exercises''' in the library carries its muscle groups, its equipment, its movement pattern and a one-line form cue. Those attributes are how you build a session that holds together:
* '''By muscle group''', when you are filling a gap. If your volume chart is thin on hamstrings, search hamstrings.
* '''By equipment''', when the gym decides for you. A rack you cannot get to is not an option, and a home session is a different list from a gym one.
* '''By movement pattern''', when you want the session balanced rather than long. A day with three pushes and no pull is easy to build by accident and easy to spot this way.
The '''form cue''' is one line, and it is there for the exercise you half remember from a video. It is not a substitute for being taught a lift.
== Exercises you add yourself ==
If what you do is not in the library, add it with the same four attributes. It logs, sets records and counts toward volume exactly like the rest. This is the honest answer for a machine that only your gym has, or a variation you were taught by name.
== Repeating a session ==
The reason a routine sticks in Loopa is that '''last session's numbers are already in the fields'''. When you come back to an exercise, the reps and weight from last time sit in the inputs as placeholders. Matching them means typing nothing. Beating them means changing one number.
So a routine does not need to be written down anywhere for you to run it. Log the same movements again and the app hands you last week's numbers to argue with.
−
− == Saving a routine ==
−
− You do not have to save one. Everything above works without it, and plenty of people never
− bother. Save one when you want the session laid out before you start rather than assembled
− as you go.
−
− There are three ways, and the first two are quicker than they sound:
−
− * '''Copy a starter.''' Loopa ships fifteen ready-made routines. Open one, copy it, and it
− is yours to change. Swap an exercise, change the rep range, delete what you will not do.
− Starters do not count against your saved routines.
− * '''Save a session you have just finished.''' You did the work; the routine is what you
− did. It carries the exercises, the groups and the rep ranges across. It deliberately does
− '''not''' carry the weights. Those are the first thing to go stale, and last session's
− numbers already appear in the fields when you run it again.
− * '''Build one from nothing.''' Add exercises, group them where two are done back to back,
− and set targets per exercise.
−
− '''Groups are how supersets work.''' Two exercises in one group are done back to back, and
− the rest timer runs after the group rather than after each exercise. A group of one is an
− ordinary exercise, which is what most of a routine is.
−
− Targets are all optional. Sets and a rep range are the useful minimum. RPE and percentage
− of your estimated max are there if you program that way, and blank is a perfectly good
− answer if you do not.
−
− Routines are part of '''Premium''', along with the rest of training. If you ever hit a
− limit on how many you can save, archiving one you have stopped using frees the slot.
− Archiving keeps it, it does not delete it.
−
− You can do all of this on the phone or on the web. The web is the easier surface for
− building a long one from scratch, for the obvious reason.
== Mark your sets honestly ==
Warmup, working, drop, failure and AMRAP each get their own mark. Use them. A log where everything is a working set will hand you a personal record off a warmup single, and then every record after it is measured against a number you never really hit.
== Watching whether it is balanced ==
'''Volume by muscle group''' totals what you actually did over the last '''7 days''' and the last '''28'''. It is the check on a routine you designed in your head: the week that felt heavy on chest and thin on legs either was or was not, and the chart settles it.
+ The 28-day view is the more useful of the two. One week is noise — a missed session, a bad night, a deload. A month is a routine.
− The 28-day view is the more useful of the two. One week is noise. A missed session, a bad night, a deload. A month is a routine.
+ Volume and strength analytics are part of Premium. Logging the sets they are built from is free.
− Volume and strength analytics come with Premium, like the rest of training.
== When a routine should become a program ==
Turn yours into a program when you want two things a routine does not give you:
* '''Dates.''' A program lays sessions out on a calendar, so you open today and the exercises and targets are already there.
* '''A progression rule.''' The program decides when the weight goes up, before you are standing under the bar.
Programs and the training calendar are part of Premium.
See also: [[logging-a-workout|Logging a workout]], [[following-a-program|Following a program]], [[working-with-a-coach-on-training|Working with a coach on your training]].

'''A routine is the set of exercises you keep coming back to.''' Loopa does not make you declare one up front. You build it by logging, and the app makes the repeat cheap.

This page is about choosing what goes in a session. If you want the session laid out on dates weeks ahead, that is a program — see [[following-a-program|Following a program]].

== Choosing the exercises ==

Every one of the '''453 exercises''' in the library carries its muscle groups, its equipment, its movement pattern and a one-line form cue. Those attributes are how you build a session that holds together:

  • '''By muscle group''', when you are filling a gap. If your volume chart is thin on hamstrings, search hamstrings.
  • '''By equipment''', when the gym decides for you. A rack you cannot get to is not an option, and a home session is a different list from a gym one.
  • '''By movement pattern''', when you want the session balanced rather than long. A day with three pushes and no pull is easy to build by accident and easy to spot this way.

The '''form cue''' is one line, and it is there for the exercise you half remember from a video. It is not a substitute for being taught a lift.

== Exercises you add yourself ==

If what you do is not in the library, add it with the same four attributes. It logs, sets records and counts toward volume exactly like the rest. This is the honest answer for a machine that only your gym has, or a variation you were taught by name.

== Repeating a session ==

The reason a routine sticks in Loopa is that '''last session's numbers are already in the fields'''. When you come back to an exercise, the reps and weight from last time sit in the inputs as placeholders. Matching them means typing nothing. Beating them means changing one number.

So a routine does not need to be written down anywhere for you to run it. Log the same movements again and the app hands you last week's numbers to argue with.

== Mark your sets honestly ==

Warmup, working, drop, failure and AMRAP each get their own mark. Use them. A log where everything is a working set will hand you a personal record off a warmup single, and then every record after it is measured against a number you never really hit.

== Watching whether it is balanced ==

'''Volume by muscle group''' totals what you actually did over the last '''7 days''' and the last '''28'''. It is the check on a routine you designed in your head: the week that felt heavy on chest and thin on legs either was or was not, and the chart settles it.

The 28-day view is the more useful of the two. One week is noise — a missed session, a bad night, a deload. A month is a routine.

Volume and strength analytics are part of Premium. Logging the sets they are built from is free.

== When a routine should become a program ==

Turn yours into a program when you want two things a routine does not give you:

  • '''Dates.''' A program lays sessions out on a calendar, so you open today and the exercises and targets are already there.
  • '''A progression rule.''' The program decides when the weight goes up, before you are standing under the bar.

Programs and the training calendar are part of Premium.

See also: [[logging-a-workout|Logging a workout]], [[following-a-program|Following a program]], [[working-with-a-coach-on-training|Working with a coach on your training]].

'''A routine is the set of exercises you keep coming back to.''' Loopa does not make you declare one up front. You build it by logging, and the app makes the repeat cheap.

This page is about choosing what goes in a session. If you want the session laid out on dates weeks ahead, that is a program — see [[following-a-program|Following a program]].

== Choosing the exercises ==

Every one of the '''453 exercises''' in the library carries its muscle groups, its equipment, its movement pattern and a one-line form cue. Those attributes are how you build a session that holds together:

* '''By muscle group''', when you are filling a gap. If your volume chart is thin on hamstrings, search hamstrings.
* '''By equipment''', when the gym decides for you. A rack you cannot get to is not an option, and a home session is a different list from a gym one.
* '''By movement pattern''', when you want the session balanced rather than long. A day with three pushes and no pull is easy to build by accident and easy to spot this way.

The '''form cue''' is one line, and it is there for the exercise you half remember from a video. It is not a substitute for being taught a lift.

== Exercises you add yourself ==

If what you do is not in the library, add it with the same four attributes. It logs, sets records and counts toward volume exactly like the rest. This is the honest answer for a machine that only your gym has, or a variation you were taught by name.

== Repeating a session ==

The reason a routine sticks in Loopa is that '''last session's numbers are already in the fields'''. When you come back to an exercise, the reps and weight from last time sit in the inputs as placeholders. Matching them means typing nothing. Beating them means changing one number.

So a routine does not need to be written down anywhere for you to run it. Log the same movements again and the app hands you last week's numbers to argue with.

== Mark your sets honestly ==

Warmup, working, drop, failure and AMRAP each get their own mark. Use them. A log where everything is a working set will hand you a personal record off a warmup single, and then every record after it is measured against a number you never really hit.

== Watching whether it is balanced ==

'''Volume by muscle group''' totals what you actually did over the last '''7 days''' and the last '''28'''. It is the check on a routine you designed in your head: the week that felt heavy on chest and thin on legs either was or was not, and the chart settles it.

The 28-day view is the more useful of the two. One week is noise — a missed session, a bad night, a deload. A month is a routine.

Volume and strength analytics are part of Premium. Logging the sets they are built from is free.

== When a routine should become a program ==

Turn yours into a program when you want two things a routine does not give you:

* '''Dates.''' A program lays sessions out on a calendar, so you open today and the exercises and targets are already there.
* '''A progression rule.''' The program decides when the weight goes up, before you are standing under the bar.

Programs and the training calendar are part of Premium.

See also: [[logging-a-workout|Logging a workout]], [[following-a-program|Following a program]], [[working-with-a-coach-on-training|Working with a coach on your training]].