METHOD
We have no advisory board. So here is the maths instead.
Every training app claims a method. Almost none publish one. We have no clinicians on a masthead and no federation logos to borrow, so the only honest thing to show you is the logic itself — the scale, the formula, and the rules that decide whether your next set goes up, holds, or comes down.
01 / 04 · THE SCALE
Five points, not ten.
Effort is logged on a 1–5 scale, and the default target is 4. Ten-point scales ask for a precision nobody has mid-set; five points is the resolution people can actually report accurately, which matters more than the granularity you lose.
- 1Easy. Many reps left.
- 2Comfortable. Clearly more in the tank.
- 3Working. A few reps left.
- 4Hard. One or two left. The default target.
- 5Maximal. Nothing left, or form broke.
02 / 04 · THE FORMULA
What actually moves the weight.
Two numbers decide the next session: how your reps compared to the target, and how your effort compared to the target. Their sum is the surplus.
surplus
S = (R − T) + (G − rpe)
next weight
w′ = w × (1 + clamp(S, −3, +3) × rate)
- R
- reps you completed
- T
- reps the session asked for
- G
- your target RPE (default 4)
- rpe
- the effort you reported
- rate
- how fast your goal progresses
- clamp
- caps a single jump at ±3
The clamp is the part worth arguing about. One extraordinary session should not reset your training weight — capping the surplus at ±3 means a single outlier moves you a little, and a trend moves you a lot. Results are rounded to the increment your equipment actually has, because a prescription of 41.7 kg is not a prescription.
03 / 04 · THE RULES
Six rules, and three things it watches.
- 01Top of range, below target RPE → increase.
- 02Top of range, at target RPE → small increase, or repeat once.
- 03Reps done but above target RPE → hold.
- 04Reps missed → hold or reduce, depending on how far short.
- 05Form breaks down → reduce, regardless of reps.
- 06Pain reported → stop the movement and substitute.
Form
Whether the last reps held technique, not just whether they happened.
Pain
Distinguished from effort. Pain substitutes the movement; effort does not.
Rep speed
Velocity decay across a set — the earliest signal that a weight is too heavy.
Pain is treated as categorically different from effort. Hard is a number; hurt ends the movement.
04 / 04 · THE LIBRARY
818
exercises the coach can actually prescribe.
A progression formula is worthless if it can only reach movements you cannot perform. Every exercise carries its equipment, grip setup and coaching notes, so the coach can substitute within a movement family when the rack is taken or the gym is a hotel room.
Counted from the shipped database at build time, not estimated, and excluding retired movements the coach cannot prescribe. It is the only number on this site we ask you to take on trust, so that is how we arrived at it.
What this page does not claim.
No outcome statistics
We have not run a trial and we are not going to imply one. There is no percentage on this site describing how much stronger or faster you will get, because we have not measured it.
Not medical advice
XR Health tracks lab markers and adherence alongside training. It does not recommend protocols and never surfaces a dose. Those decisions belong with you and your clinician.
No borrowed authority
No advisory board, no federation logos, no press quotes. We have none of those yet, and a fabricated one is worth less than an empty space.
A method, not a guarantee
Autoregulation adapts to what you report. It cannot know what it is not told, and it does not replace a coach who can watch you move.