How To Customize Exercises

Stronglifts makes it easy to add, remove, replace, reorder, or create exercises.

Adding exercises

  1. Open Stronglifts
  2. Go to Programs > Workouts
  3. Tap on a workout
  4. Tap "Add exercise"

If you're not sure which exercises to add to your workouts, every Stronglifts program comes with options for assistance work. We will recommend exercises, sets and reps based on your goals.

Here's how to access the assistance work...

  1. Open Stronglifts
  2. Go to "Programs" and select one of the default programs.
  3. Pick a template, then tap "Assistance Work".
  4. Select the one you prefer (swipe left/right)

For more information about assistance work, please read the guide.

Replacing Exercises

You can easily replace any exercise in your Stronglifts workouts. When you replace an exercise you will get a list of recommended variations that give you similar results. If you don't like any of the suggested exercise, you can pick any other exercise you want or create your own.

  1. Open Stronglifts
  2. Tap the workout on the homscreen
  3. Tap the exercise
  4. Tap replace

You will see a list of alternative exercises that are similar to the original exercise you were doing. Just select the one you'd like to do. If you don't like any of the exercises in the list, tap the "x" in the top right corner to see all exercises. You can use the search bar to look for specific exercises. or you can tap "create" to create your own exercise.

Reordering Exercises

You can change the order of the exercises in your workout like this...

  1. Open Stronglifts
  2. Go to Programs > Workouts
  3. Tap on one of the workouts
  4. Tap/hold an exercise and swipe it up/down.

The new exercise order will be applied to your future workouts.

Removing Exercises

You can easily remove an exercise from your workout like this...

  1. Open Stronglifts
  2. Go to Programs > Workouts
  3. Tap on a workout
  4. To remove the exercise:
    1. iPhone: swipe left on the exercise and select remove.
    2. Android: tap the three dots next to the exercise, the select "remove".

The exercise you remove will no longer show in future workouts. It will continue to show in done workouts that you've already logged.

Creating Exercises

Stronglifts includes over a hundred pre-built exercises. This exercise list was created based on the most effective exercises you can do and the most popular ones logged by Stronglifters.

If you can't find the exercise you're looking for, you can create it yourself.

  1. Open Stronglifts
  2. Go to Programs > Workouts
  3. Tap on a workout
  4. Tap "Add exercise"
  5. Tap "Create exercise"
  6. Give the exercise a name

Exercises you create will permanently show in the list of exercises.

Deleting Exercises

You can delete exercises that you created like this...

  1. Open Stronglifts
  2. Go to Programs > Workouts
  3. Tap on a workout
  4. Tap on the exercise you created
  5. Tap "Exercise Settings"
  6. Tap "Delete Exercise"

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens after I replace an exercise?

Say you replace Deadlifts with Sumo Deadlifts in workout B.

  • All your future workouts B will have Sumo Deadlifts by default instead of Deadlifts
  • All your past workouts B that you have already logged will continue to show Deadlifts
  • The sets & reps will remain the same when you switch from Deadlfits to Sumo Deadlifts
  • The weight will be adjusted automatically based on formulas we built in the app.

How to replace a barbell exercise with a dumbbell variant?

Simply select the dumbbell variant in the list of exercises.

Example: say you want to replace Bench Press with a Dumbbell Bench Press

  1. Go to the Stronglifts homescreen
  2. Tap on the workout with the exercise you want to replace (Bench)
  3. Tap on the exercise you want to replace (Bench)
  4. Tap "Replace"
  5. Select Dumbbell Bench Press in the list of exercises

If you can't find the exercise you're looking for, you can tap "x" in the top right corner to see all exercises. If the exercise you're looking for is not in the list, tap "create".

Why does the weight change after replacing an exercise?

You can lift more or less weight on some exercises than others. This is due to the nature of the lifts.

Example: you can Squat more than you can Pause Squat or Lunge. The pause typically reduces the weight by 10-20%. With Lunges you're only using one leg so the weight is usually about half what you Squat.

Stronglifts automatically adjusts the weights when you replace one exercise with a similar one. People often asked us how heavy to should start when doing new exercises they're not familiar with. So we came up with formulas to adjust the weight of an exercise based on a similar exercise you have done before.

When you go back to the original exercise, Stronglifts will update the weight again. This time it will continue where you left off last time. Say you were doing Squats 5x5 200lb. You switched to Leg Press for six weeks because of maybe some back issue. Your weight was about 300lb on the Leg Press. When you replace Leg Press with Squats, the weight will update to 200lb so you can resume where you left off.

The goal is to save you time in the gym. You don't need to manually change the weights. YOu don't need to look up your history to find out what you did last time. It's all done for you so you can focus more on lifting.

What if I only want to replace the exercise once?

Say the gym is busy and you decide to do Leg Press instead of Squats. You tap the Squats in the workout screen, tap replace, and choose Leg Press. Next workout you want to go back to Squats. Simply tap the Leg Press, tap replace, and choose Squats. The exercise will be back with your previous weights.

We've had requests to add an option to tell the app if you want to replace the exercise just once or for all future workouts. While such an option might save time for people who only want to do the replacement once, it wouldn't be for those wanting it permanently. The latter seems to be more common. So we've decided to not add such an option for now as it would slow down the process of replacing exercises for the majority of people.

You can however easily replace the exercise again the next workout by simply tapping it on the workout screen and choosing replace.

How do I create an exercise without bar weight?

  1. Open Stronglifts
  2. Go to Programs > Workouts
  3. Tap on a workout
  4. Tap "Add exercise"
  5. Tap "Create exercise"
  6. Give the exercise a name
  7. Tap "Equipment" and set this to "Other"

Exercises in this category don't have any bar or machine weight. You will only see the total weight.