Building a Program

Create training programs with the program builder.

Building a Program

The program builder is a spreadsheet-like editor for creating structured training programs.

Creating a New Program

1. Go to Dashboard > Programs
2. Click New Program
3. Enter a name and description

Program Structure

Programs are organized into weeks, with training days nested inside each week:

Program
├── Week 1: Base Building
│   ├── Day 1: Upper Body
│   │   ├── Block A (Superset)
│   │   │   ├── A1: Bench Press — 4×8 @ RPE 7
│   │   │   └── A2: Barbell Row — 4×8 @ RPE 7
│   │   ├── Block B (Straight)
│   │   │   └── Overhead Press — 3×10 @ RPE 7
│   │   └── ...
│   ├── Day 2: Lower Body
│   │   ├── Block A (Straight)
│   │   │   └── Squat — 5×5 @ RPE 8 [STR]
│   │   └── ...
│   └── Day 3: ...
├── Week 2: ...
└── Week 3: ...

Existing programs are automatically migrated into “Week 1” — no action needed. Everything carries over exactly as it was.

Managing Weeks

Programs are organized into weeks. You can:

• Add a week — click Add Week at the bottom of the program
• Duplicate a week — copies all days and exercises in that week
• Remove a week — deletes the week and all its days (with confirmation)
• Reorder weeks — see Reordering below

Collapsing Weeks

Click the chevron icon on any week header to collapse or expand it. Programs with 4 or more weeks default to collapsed so the builder stays manageable.

Week Metadata

Each week has two optional fields you can set from the week header:

• Deload toggle — marks the week as a deload week (shown as a yellow “DELOAD” badge). Visible to athletes in the app and in exports.
• Week notes — a free-text field for focus areas, intensity guidance, or coaching cues (e.g., “Build to a top single”, “Volume accumulation — keep RPE conservative”).

Day Numbering

Day numbers reset within each week (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 per week), so athletes always know which day of that week they’re on — regardless of total program length.

Reordering: weeks, days, blocks, exercises

The builder uses grip handles (the ⋮⋮ icon) for every drag-to-reorder gesture. Each grip moves a different unit, so dragging is always predictable — you’ll never accidentally merge or delete something while reordering.

Grip	What it moves	Where it is
Week grip	The whole week (and all its days)	Next to the week title
Day grip	A training day (and all its blocks/exercises)	Next to the D1 / D2 label inside each day card
Block grip	A multi-exercise block / superset (and all its exercises)	Next to the block label A / B / C on multi-exercise blocks
Exercise grip	A single exercise within its block, or — when the exercise is alone in its block — the whole single-exercise block	At the very left of every exercise row

Days between weeks

Drag a day’s grip handle from one week into another to move the entire day across. Day numbers re-sequence automatically in both weeks.

Empty weeks

A newly-created week starts with a single empty Day 1. If you drag the only day out, the empty week shows a dashed drop zone reading “Drop a day here, or click + Add Training Day below” — drag any day from another week onto it, or click Add Training Day to create a fresh one.

Single-exercise vs multi-exercise drag

When every block has a single exercise — the most common shape for non-superset programs — dragging an exercise grip moves the whole block. So if your day reads Bear Crawl / Bench Dips / Cable Front Raise (each in its own block), dragging Cable’s grip to the top reorders to Cable / Bear Crawl / Bench Dips. No supersets are created.

When a block has 2+ exercises (a superset, triset, etc.), the exercise grip is constrained to within that block. Use the block grip on the block label to move the whole superset around. To pull an exercise out of a superset, delete it from the block and add it elsewhere.

If you want to merge two single exercises into a superset, don’t drag — use + Superset with… under the exercise (see Exercise Blocks). Drag is always for moving things, never for grouping them.

Adding Training Days

Click Add Day to create a new training day. Each day has:

• Name — e.g., “Upper Body A”, “Pull Day”, “Competition Squat”
• Day Number — ordering within the program

Adding Exercises

For each exercise, you can set:

Field	Description	Example
Name	Exercise name	Barbell Bench Press
Sets	Number of sets	4
Reps	Target reps (or range)	8 or “6-8”
RPE	Rate of perceived exertion (single, range, or per-set)	@8 or @7.5-8
RIR	Reps in reserve (single, range, or per-set)	3 or 1-2 or 0, 1, 2
Rest	Rest period in seconds	180
Back-off %	Percentage drop from top set	10
Notes	Coaching notes	”Pause at bottom”

Reps can be a range like “8-12” — this gives athletes flexibility while maintaining the intent.

Intensity (RPE or RIR — auto-detected)

The intensity column accepts both RPE and RIR — type either format on any row and it routes to the right field automatically:

• @8, @7.5-8, @9 — stored as RPE
• 2 RIR, 1-2 RIR, 0, 1, 2 RIR — stored as RIR
• Bare numbers ≤ 4 are interpreted as RIR; everything else as RPE

You can mix units within the same program — coaches commonly prescribe RPE for the main lifts and RIR for accessories on the same day. There’s no per-program toggle — the parser handles both cases.

RPE and RIR Ranges

RPE and RIR fields accept more than a single value:

Format	Example	Use Case
Single value	@8 / 3 RIR	Fixed intensity target
Range	@7.5-8 / 1-2 RIR	Intensity window across sets
Per-set values	7, 8, 9 RPE / 0, 1, 2 RIR	Progressively harder sets

Per-set RIR values like “2, 1, 0” work well for straight sets where you push closer to failure each set. Ranges like “@7-8” are better for giving athletes a target zone when loads vary.

Exercise Metric Presets

Not every exercise uses sets × reps × weight. Select a metric preset to change the columns for each exercise:

Preset	Label	Columns
Strength	STR	Sets, Reps, Weight, RIR/RPE
Timed	TMD	Sets, Duration, Weight, RIR/RPE
Distance	DST	Sets, Distance, Weight, RIR/RPE
Cardio	CRD	Duration, Distance, —, RPE
Timed Hold	HLD	Sets, Duration, —, RPE
AMRAP	AMRAP	Sets, Time Cap, —, RPE
EMOM	EMOM	Rounds, Reps, Weight, Interval

The default is Strength (STR). Change the preset by clicking the metric badge on any exercise row.

Use CRD for conditioning work like rowing or cycling, HLD for planks and carries, and EMOM for interval training.

Exercise Blocks (Supersets, Circuits)

Group exercises into blocks to create supersets, trisets, giant sets, or circuits.

Converting a single exercise into a superset

The fastest way to make a superset is to start from a single-exercise block and add a second exercise to it:

1. Find the exercise you want to pair
2. Click + Superset with… below the exercise row
3. Pick the second exercise from the picker that opens

The block automatically gains the superset chrome — block label A / B, type selector (“Straight Sets” by default — change to Superset, Tri-set, etc.), and rest fields. Add more exercises with + Add exercise to A.

Creating a Block

1. Click Add Exercise at the bottom of any training day to create a new single-exercise block
2. Or use + Superset with… above to convert an existing exercise into a multi-exercise block
3. Select the block type:

Type	Description
Straight Sets	Default — exercises performed individually
Superset	2 exercises alternated with no rest between
Tri-set	3 exercises performed back-to-back
Giant Set	4+ exercises performed back-to-back
Circuit	Multiple exercises cycled through for rounds

3. Add exercises within the block — they’re automatically labeled A, B, C, etc.

Block Rest Settings

Each block has two rest options:

• Rest Between — seconds of rest between exercises within the block (e.g., 0 for true supersets)
• Rest After — seconds of rest after completing all exercises in the block before moving on

For antagonist supersets (e.g., bench press + barbell row), set Rest Between to 0 and Rest After to 90–120 seconds.

Video Demonstrations

Add a YouTube or video URL to any exercise for athlete reference.

1. Click on an exercise row to expand it
2. Toggle Video URL on
3. Paste the YouTube link (e.g., https://youtube.com/watch?v=...)

Athletes see a play button next to the exercise name in their IronLedger app, linking directly to the video.

Program Metadata

Optionally set program-level information:

• Goal — e.g., “Hypertrophy”, “Strength”, “Peaking”
• Phase — e.g., “Accumulation”, “Intensification”
• Block Length — e.g., “4 weeks”
• Nutrition — any dietary notes

Templates

Toggle Is Template to save a program as a reusable template. Templates can be duplicated and customized for individual athletes.

Tags

Add tags to organize programs (e.g., “beginner”, “powerlifting”, “12-week”).

Grid view (snapshot)

Click the Grid button at the top of the weeks section to switch from the default List editor into a read-only week × day matrix. Each cell shows the day name, exercise count, and the first three exercise names. Useful for scanning a long block at a glance — switch back to List to keep editing.

Folders

Group programs in your library into folders for easier scanning across blocks, athletes, or specialties.

1. Go to Dashboard > Programs
2. Click New Folder in the top right and name it (e.g. “Powerlifting templates”, “Block 1 — Hypertrophy”)
3. On any program card, open the ⋮ menu and pick a folder under Move to folder

Programs without a folder show under an Unfiled section. Deleting a folder is non-destructive — programs inside flow back to Unfiled.