Free · Coming to Android
A workout tracker that tells you when to add weight.
Old Iron is for lifting at home, and it’s built around progressive overload. It plans each day, tells you when you’ve earned more weight, and rotates exercises so you don’t plateau. Strength first, cardio included. Everything stays on your phone.
Coming to Android
Privacy policy
Why I built it
I train in a home gym, and I wanted an app that did the thinking a coach would: what to lift today, whether I’d earned more weight, and when a lift had stalled and needed swapping for something else. Most trackers just record what you did. Old Iron decides what you do next.
It’s written in the voice of an old guy at the gym: dry, a bit sarcastic, mostly at its own expense. The jokes are in the copy. The numbers are deadly serious.
What makes it different
How it felt sets the next target. Rate each exercise and it adds a rep, adds weight, holds or backs off next time.
It rotates exercises on purpose. Picks are ranked by how long since you did them, how they felt and whether you’re progressing. Stalled lifts sink.
It knows your gear. Tell it what you own and it only suggests exercises you can actually do, with weight steps that match your dumbbells, plates and cable stack.
It can’t reach the internet. The app has no internet permission. Your training log lives on your phone and in backups you control.
What it does
PLAN
Week planner
Pick a focus for each day: chest, arms, back and shoulders, legs, cardio or rest. Each day comes pre-filled, and you can swap, add or re-pick anything.
PLAN
Coverage meter
Each focus is split into parts (chest is upper, mid, lower and fly). The meter shows what today covers and flags anything required that’s missing.
PLAN
Cardio, core and catch-up
Every lifting day also gets a cardio slot, a core slot for bracing work, and a slot for a muscle that’s falling behind. Skip any of them.
PLAN
653 exercises
Free weights, barbells, Smith machine, cables and bodyweight, each mapped to the muscles it works. Add your own when something’s missing.
TRAIN
Set table
Reps and weight for each set. Change the weight once and later sets follow.
TRAIN
Rest timer
Starts after each set. Leave the app and it keeps counting in a notification with +15 s and Skip buttons, then buzzes when rest is over.
TRAIN
Progressive overload
Rate each exercise: Sucked, Really hard, Felt good or Too easy. Two good sessions at the same weight and it tells you to go up. Three at the same weight and it suggests a variant.
TRAIN
Cardio logging
Minutes, distance and incline or level, with an estimated calorie burn from standard activity values and your body weight.
PROGRESS
Workout summary
Volume, sets, time and cardio, with personal records by estimated one-rep max. A record turns the screen red.
PROGRESS
Charts and trends
Strength trend over eight weeks, an estimated one-rep max chart for each exercise, weekly volume and sessions per week.
PROGRESS
Muscle heatmap
Sets per muscle per day against weekly targets, with the most neglected muscles called out by name.
YOUR DATA
Encrypted backups
Passphrase-protected backups to a folder you choose, by hand or on a schedule. Restore with a one-step undo.
YOUR DATA
Health Connect
Optional. Finished workouts show up next to your Pixel Watch or Fitbit data, and heart rate and calories from your watch appear in the summary.
Real lines from the app
It talks back.
“Rest. Breathe. Reconsider your life choices.”
“Too easy? Bold claim. The plates heard you.”
“Calves: 0 sets. Bold strategy for a man who wears shorts.”
“Up 26% in 8 weeks. Not bad for someone who groans standing up.”
“Done for today. Go home. Wait — you are home.”
“Backed up. Your gains are now immortal. Your knees are not.”
In use
Screens from the current build, with made-up training history.
How a workout goes
01
Set up your gear once. Tick the stations, free weights and cardio machines you have, and add your cable attachments.
02
Plan the week. Pick a focus for each day. It fills itself in; swap whatever you don’t fancy.
03
Train. Start the workout, log each set, and let the rest timer run, even with the app closed.
04
Say how it felt. If you’ve earned more weight, it asks. You can accept, or tap “Keep 45. I’m sandbagging.”
05
Finish and check in. See the summary, then Progress for trends and Body for what you’ve hit this week.
What it doesn’t do (yet)
No watch app. The rest-timer notification reaches your watch, but there’s no tile or wrist logging.
No form videos. Exercises have still pictures in the app, not animations.
It doesn’t import cardio from your watch. It sends workouts to Health Connect, but runs recorded on the watch stay there.
Android only, dark theme only. And it isn’t a coach: calories and one-rep maxes are estimates, not medical advice.
Free
Not a trial. Not a funnel.
I built it for my own training, and it costs nothing. There’s no purchase, no subscription, no “Pro” tier and nothing to unlock. It’s the whole app.
01
No ads
Free doesn’t mean you’re the product. Nothing is selling your attention.
02
No account
No sign-up, no email, no sign-in. Install it and lift.
03
No analytics
No tracking, no crash reporting, no telemetry. The app can’t reach the internet.
04
Your backups
Encrypted with your passphrase and saved where you choose. Lose the passphrase and nobody can open them, including me.
Your training log stays yours
Everything is stored on your phone. Health Connect is optional and also stays on the device. RotherTech never receives a single rep.