6 Weightlifting Apps for Apple Watch

One of the top reasons to use an Apple Watch is the wide variety of fitness and exercise benefits the wearable device offers thanks to its built-in sensors and ease of use.

And while the watch is popular with runners, weightlifters can also enjoy the Apple Watch at the gym. Here are the best Apple Watch apps for weightlifting.

1. Gymaholic

You can leave your iPhone at home, or just in your gym bag, when hitting the weights with Gyamholic. To start, you can select from a wide variety of pre-made workouts to send to your Apple Watch. The options are for everything from beginners to more seasoned veterans. You can easily customize the workouts on the iPhone or even the watch at the gym.

On the watch screen, you can view a full 3D avatar to get a better idea of how to correctly do the weightlifting exercise. Turn the digital crown to see a full 360-degree view. You can also read a quick introduction. During the workout, you’ll tap on the screen after completing a set of reps. It will show you how long to rest before moving on to the next exercise. At the completion of the workout, you’ll see a quick summary of calories burned and more along with the ability to raise the weights by a specific amount for next time. The data will also be shared with Apple Health.

While the app is free, a subscription is needed to unlock a variety of additional features on the Apple Watch and other versions. As a nice plus, the app is available on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV.

Download: Gymaholic (Free, subscription available)

2. Strong

Strong is another great app to craft and track your perfect weightlifting routine. To use the Apple Watch app, you’ll first need to do a bit of fine-tuning on the iPhone version. There are a number of example templates you can customize. More advanced users can also create a template from scratch. Both options feature a huge number of workout choices. You can even select to see workouts focusing on a specific body part.

When you’re ready to start, you can use the Apple Watch app normally without any iPhone nearby. You can see the workout plan and specific routines while logging your progress on each exercise. There are specific instructions if you haven’t done the lift before.

All of the workout data can be logged to Apple Health. If you’re interested, make sure to take a look at other great iPhone apps to connect to Apple Health.

The app is free, but a subscription is needed to unlock additional features including unlimited routines, charts, body part measurements, and more.

Download: Strong (Free, subscription available)

3. Muskle

If you’re looking for a simplistic, and completely free, Apple Watch app to help keep track of your weightlifting progress at the gym, check out Muskle. Only for the Apple Watch, you can leave the iPhone at home. You can create as many workouts as you want and also set the tempo of each extension and contraction.

The app will automatically keep track of reps as you do them. To help make more progress, you can set goals that automatically increase the weight and reps as you push for more and to gain additional muscle.

It also integrates with Apple Health to log your exercise.

Download: Muskle (Free)

4. SmartGym

Another great standalone weightlifting app is SmartGym. Using the iPhone app beforehand, you can create custom workouts that are available to use while at the gym, or even at home. You can even tell that app what equipment you have. It features more than 620 pre-installed exercises with images and animations you can view on the watch screen. During the session, it’s easy to modify the exercise directly from the watch. You'll also see workout info synced with Apple Health.

Thanks to Siri support, you can start a workout with just a voice command. And past lifters, personal trainers can even use the app to manage their students.

The free version of the app gives you access to two routines, 10 histories, and two measures. A subscription will give you access to unlimited histories, routines, and measurements plus a cloud syncing data service.

Download: SmartGym (Free, subscription available)

5. Liftin’

Liftin’ is designed to make workout tracking simple without spending unnecessary time fine-tuning on your devices. To start, head to your iPhone and select workout plan. You can choose from a pre-made template and swap out workouts as you see fit or start completely from scratch. When you’re satisfied, transfer that to your Apple Watch to start your weightlifting workout.

When tracking a workout, tap once on a set to mark it as complete. Tap the screen multiple times to choose another number of reps. The exercise can also be edited on the watch screen. Depending on your results, you can also create rules to automatically adjust the weight, making it easier to see even more results. All data syncs with Apple Health.

You can track up to five workouts per month with the free version. For more, you’ll need a subscription to Liftin’ Premium.

Download: Liftin’ (Free, subscription available)

6. Riker

Riker is a great option to track everything strength related. During weightlifting workouts, using the Apple Watch app, you can find the movements and variants and then enter the weight used and the number of reps. The Apple Watch app, which doesn’t need an iPhone nearby to operate, will also keep track of rest time between sets automatically.

To help see how your body changes over time, you can record body measurements using the Apple Watch. Along with your weight, you can track parts like your arms or chest. All of the data from the completely free app also syncs to Apple Health.

Download: Riker (Free)