It used to be virtually impossible to track your strength training and receive the appropriate amount of credit for your big lifts at the gym. Whoop Strength Trainer changed everything.
Since this feature was added to the Whoop experience in April 2023, I’ve been able to use it to combine routines, identify trends in training intensity, and gain more accurate insight into my strains. .
Below, we’ll explain why the strength trainer is a must-have for Whoop fans, some tricks to use while tracking, and some missing features to keep in mind.
Why you should use Whoop Strength Trainer
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The biggest reason to use Strength Trainer is for more accurate strain calculations.
For this reason alone, I always recommend using a strength trainer rather than tagging your workouts as “weightlifting” (or similar).
Otherwise, you can get quite distorted results, as shown above. On the left, I performed a workout and tagged it under “Weightlifting.” This was a longer, more intense (HR-wise) session than my right-hand strength trainer’s workout, but with a lower strain score.
And this also affects the usefulness of the Whoop platform.
Whoop thinks the day was a 6-9 load. In reality, let’s say you push yourself to a suitable level and the load feels closer to the 12-15 rep range.
In that case, Whoop’s idea of how you’re physiologically responding to the load won’t be as accurate as you could hope for.
Why are my strains more accurate in Strength Trainer?
Heart rate has traditionally played a big role in workouts tracked on Whoop, which is why cardiovascular workouts like running typically have higher tension scores than weightlifting or CrossFit workouts.
But as you know, it’s not just your heart that works hard during weightlifting exercises. Muscles need time to recover. Instead, Strength Trainer calculates strain by evaluating exercises, sets, reps, and weight.
This also includes biometric information from Whoop, as well as gyroscope and accelerometer data.
5 Tips for Using Whoop Strength Trainer
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After using a strength trainer for almost a year, I’ve learned a lot.
Things have changed a bit since this feature was first rolled out, but the core idea of starting and ending each set with a tap on your phone remains the same.
While there are some basics you’ll understand right away, like customizing your workouts to the order you normally walk in the gym and combining exercises into supersets, there are some basics you’ll understand quickly that you might not otherwise understand using a strength trainer. Here are five tips to help you. .
1. Workout “intensity” is partially based on location
Before you start your workout, your strength trainer will ask you if your tracker is placed on your left or right wrist. There are no other options because the “Intensity” % you see after completing a workout is based in part on accelerometer and gyroscope data.
We wear the Whoop with the bicep strap and have had no issues with tracking, but the company says that the strength trainer is not compatible if you are wearing Whoop Body clothing, for example. It shows that there is no gender.
If this is an important indicator for you, then make sure to wear Whoop on your wrist.
2. Select the correct unit of measurement
We’ve already mentioned this in our Whoop tips and tricks guide, but we suspect (and we hope) that we’re not the only ones who have spent a significant amount of bandwidth converting Pounds to KG. ), so I repeat it here. vice versa.
To change the units of measurement, open Whoop and select Details > My Account > Profile Information > Units. simple.
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3. Compare your efforts using Whoop Coach
Since its release in 2023, we’ve found Whoop Coach’s usefulness to be quite mixed, which is to be expected considering the feature is still in beta.
However, we find that AI can provide some very interesting insights into how your efforts compare to previous workouts.
Once your effort has been calculated, simply go to a specific workout and ask Whoop Coach something like, “Compare this effort to other workouts.”
If you’re setting up a custom workout like we are, Whoop Coach will analyze key stats between your last workout and the average of your other workouts. It’s quite beautiful.
4. Easily share your workouts
This is a bit of a pain as it only works if you have a friend who is also a Whoop subscriber, but now you can easily share your workouts with a QR code.
From the “My Workouts” section of the app, simply tap the three-dot icon for your chosen routine and select “Share workout via QR.”
A code will then pop up that your friend can scan directly so you don’t have to spend time creating the same workout. Alternatively, you can share via text or a link within her Whatsapp message.
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5. Add cardio intervals
If you like to punish yourself with superset cardio finishers and other HIIT-related traumas, you’ll be happy to know that you can incorporate these into your custom workouts.
Whoop is well-equipped in this department as it supports the addition of assault bikes, ellipticals, running, rowing, spin, and Stairmaster sets.
What Whoop Strength Trainer Doesn’t Do
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While Whoop 4.0 is the best choice for anyone looking for a wearable to track their weightlifting, the Strength Trainer still leaves a lot to be desired.
Below are our current wishlists and things to keep in mind if you are considering becoming a Whoop subscriber based on this feature.
Lifting progress is not tracked
Our biggest complaint with strength trainers is that they don’t show progress over time.
You can track all your reps, sets, and exercises, but this data is currently only used to calculate strain.
It seems natural to see a long list of your exercise history, allowing you to closely compare your progress. But for now, there are no dice.
Trends are not accentuated over time
Similarly, lifting trends and training effects are not emphasized.
For example, Whoop could theoretically tell you if your workouts are more intense or if your lifts are typically heavier in the morning or afternoon.
It may also take into account how physiological markers (recovery scores) tend to influence your workouts.
However, there isn’t a lot of cross-pollination in Strength Trainer at this point.
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Progress is not provided automatically
Gradual overload is one of the core principles of strength training, and Whoop’s strength trainer allows you to increase or decrease weight based on feel.
In a way, this is effective and allows you to learn to listen to your body and decide what weight is right for you that day. However, considering this is a difficult skill to master, a few nudges from Whoop can’t go wrong.
Presumably, Strength Trainer uses existing data to notice, for example, how the number of repetitions steadily increases when you lift the same weight over several weeks of exercise.
Blind spots are not taken into account
Building custom workouts is currently quite labor-intensive and requires relative experience to avoid blind spots.
Personally, I don’t tend to mix up push-pull leg routines too much – I really only swap out exercises every 1-2 months – but I still like how Whoop takes some of the load on this section. I would appreciate it if you had one. strength trainer.
It’s great to see a heat map of each muscle you use in your custom workouts, as well as suggestions for exercises you can incorporate or swap out to maximize your results.
There is no training plan to follow
Whoop has successfully catered to beginners and those short on time with its preloaded plans, but those plans are also quite limited.
There’s a fun novelty to diving into Rory McIlroy’s strength training or Virgil van Dijk’s explosive gym sessions, but these tend to be very short and you’ll eventually incorporate them into a broader plan. need to try.
We’d like to see Whoop develop this part of the strength trainer to include multi-week workout plans based on exercise goals, time, and past experience, similar to those found on exercise platform FIIT, for example.
