Show HN: MuscleWiki Workout Generator – Generate unique workouts

[w0ts0n]

Hey Everyone,

Today marks a big day for the team at MuscleWiki.

We launched the workout generator, using our huge custom dataset of exercises, videos and text, we optimized so users are able to generate millions of unique workout combinations. These aren't just dumb workouts either, anyone with a lick of python can generate millions of workouts. The hard thing to do is generate the 1 workout that you want. The team painstakingly programmed and mapped science based set recommendations and fatigue into those results based on user selection.

There are still a few bugs we are working out, but this took months of work from the whole team. Check it out, use it, share it!

Our coach Ty will be in the comments to answer any questions on how we set things up.

[smeej]

I like it already!

I would love to be able to set how much time I have available for workouts too though. Like, if I want a whole body workout but only have 10 minutes, I know I'm going to get less done, but maybe fewer reps/higher weight.

[tythemuscleguy]

I like that idea! I'll add it to the list of stuff we'll be working on for version 2 :)

[smeej]

I wonder if there's something up with some of the calibration?

I shied away from picking "beginner" and opted for "novice" instead because beginner listed being able to do 1-3 pushups as a guideline, and I can't.

But then when it generated a "novice" workout for me, it had me doing 2 sets of 6-10 pushups. I...can't? I could do 6-10 counter-height pushups probably, but I think the novice level might need to be tweaked to keep the individual exercises easier than it currently is.

[w0ts0n]

Good feedback. We just launched so will adapt as we go!

[tythemuscleguy]

Ty from MuscleWiki here! If anyone is interested in knowing how/why we choose different rep ranges and fatigue levels for Men/Woman or wants to understand our choices, let me know.. happy to answer any questions.

[lemming]

It's a cool idea. The results seem a little off, though.

I chose a full-body workout for a 52-y/o man (me), intermediate level focusing on muscle gain. The program suggests squats for 3x3-5, bench for 2x3-5, hip thrusts for 3x3-5, chin-ups for 3x4-8 etc. Those seem more like strength building rep ranges to me. Then weirdly, I get deadlifts for 3x6-10, which is odd programming for deadlifts. In total, I have 8 exercises for a total of 24 sets, which seems like it would take me a solid couple of hours to do. It's also massively focused on glutes and hamstrings for some reason, I have squats, hip thrusts, deadlifts and nordic curls in the same workout. That just seems like an unreasonable amount of volume.

[grobgambit]

You make it up like everything else in fitness, sometimes pretending there is some kind of bad science behind the ideas. Sometimes not.

Jim Wendler really summed up fitness to me. How to do a deadlift? According to Jim, the weight is on the ground and you pick it up.

[Krasnol]

This is awesome.

After wanting to build up my shoulders, I went to YouTube and looked for exercises. The utter madness I've been served searching for this was staggering. Overhyped bodybuilders promoting pills, fitness influencers, equipment I didn't have, but they knew the best shop for it, etc...

This is clean, straight, I love it.

Starting my workout NOW.

[swatcoder]

In what sense is your workout collection a wiki and how complete is it meant to be?

The bodyweight workouts, for instance, are sparse and rudimentary and the generator comes up with a pretty disjoint and insufficient program at all intensity levels.

That's not to say that you're obliged to replicate Overcoming Gravity or TRX or something, but it's unclear why bodyweight even appears as an option in the genrator at this point, let alone at levels beyond beginner.

If it's not really an expansive wiki and is instead just a collection of your own high-production-value workout descriptions (which seem well made) for contemporary weight training, it makes sense that there's only a narrow "happy path" through the generator -- maybe the presentation should be more focused on that happy path and less overbroad?

[w0ts0n]

Took me a while (and to read your reply) to understand what you were saying.

Don't get hung up on the name. The intention a long time ago was to make it a wiki, but it never happened and the name stuck.

I'm not sure what you mean, bodyweight only exercise selection looks fine to me? Want to give me a concrete example, maybe we have something bugged. We have a bunch more exercise coming to add a little more depth, but our data shows that bodyweight is generally where novice/beginner lifters want to start, so we give them the option. Also things like pull-ups, chin-ups, dips are in no way "beginner" and so if a user selects "all equipment" which is what most people do, they'll get these very important exercises if they are applicable.

its okay if you don't agree, but we have an expert on staff who curated these exercises. I trust him more than some guy on the internet. So if they are wrong, its likely a bug.

ack on bodyweight depth - working on it.

[pandemic_region]

What are you trying to say, genuine question.

[swader999]

This did really well picking out an easy to follow program for strength for my 12 year old. Been doing a lot of research lately on how to train kids for sports and this seemed to really give a modern response on sets/reps for this age and strength goal. Well done!

[tythemuscleguy]

Awesome! We wanted to make sure we could have tailored responses for people of all ages. Glad you like the result for your 12 year old!

[chrismore]

I am not a gym rat, but I do enjoy going if someone else figures out what I am going to do. I get bored if I have to figure out a routine myself. This could be an answer to that. Will try it!

[gruez]

After inputting your information, why is there a countdown before the results are shown? Surely filtering through a few hundred exercises (being generous here) by muscle group doesn't take 5 seconds? Is a delay being artificially added (eg. [1])?

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/02/why-s...

[w0ts0n]

We have a few reasons. But mostly so if we get hit by reddit again, the site doesn't go down from load.

[bogwog]

This is always a red flag for me

[pimlottc]

Found a bug: On the "Fitness Level" step, if you click the "info" icon, and then close it by pressing escape, you end up moving /backwards/ in the process (back to the "Fitness Goal" step).

The same thing also can happen if you double-click the "info" icon on the "Fitness Level" step, or if you close the popup (via mouse) and then click any of the buttons.

[tythemuscleguy]

Forwarding that to the team we'll get it fixed. Thanks for the feedback.

[bobchadwick]

Very cool! It'd be nice to be able to choose muscle by name. I'm interested in tennis-focused strength training and most guides list the muscles to focus on by name. My knowledge of human anatomy is too limited to be able to locate those muscles on a map of a body. If I could search for muscles by name, it'd be easier to indicate which muscles I wanted to focus on.

[w0ts0n]

Once we've nailed the smaller selection we have now. We want to implement "goals" long term. Something like "Get a better tennis backhand"

[pandemic_region]

Really awesome and well executed. I'll be using this for sure.

One thing I don't get is that you click a muscle group and sometimes it turns red and sometimes pink. What is the difference? And then I click on the opposite muscle on the back of the body and the front disappears. A bit of twiddling to get it right. Maybe a small animated intro with how to would help here.

[w0ts0n]

Thats a bug. We think its an issue with mobile active tag. Looking into it!

[babyamirgg]

I am using this for a long time and I find it very useful. This app has been very very helpful for me. I love it! Keep up the good work.

[yzbq11c]

Very cool! Something I've been thinking about prototyping is essentially this but with a presentation / 'workout mode' view. Something like the full screen modals you have with demos of the moves, the details of set, etc. Bonus if I can shout 'Next' at it from across my basement and have it go to the next move.

[eltondegeneres]

The muscle group importance weighting seems off. I created a barbell workout for "Chest, Lats, Traps (mid-back), Traps, Forearms, Calves" on beginner and it includes no lifts for pecs, just accessory work like wrist curls and calf raises. Is this because bench press is considered an intermediate lift?

[throwaway14356]

very nice. I've recently grown fond of an analogy with programs and the command line. People seem to view health and fitness more from a cli pov while you really need a whole program, scheduled events, interrupts, exceptions, and logs. Let there be logs!

[mbil]

Cool app. For the dumbbell exercises could it recommend weight?

[powerset]

Fascinating!

> anyone with a lick of python can generate millions of workouts

Are you offering an API for the workout generator?

Any plans to generate workout plans for a week/month and incorporate rest days?

[_whiteCaps_]

I would love something that could give me exercises to strengthen my knees. Didn't see an option to click that in the setup.

[iknownthing]

Looks cool, curious why it's called "wiki" though

[w0ts0n]

Originally I built the site on mediawiki... just a choice I made back in the day that stuck. Don't get too hung up on it!

[closetkantian]

I like it. Good work.

[Galanwe]

The intrusive ads made me leave immediately.

[w0ts0n]

Yeah, I hate ads too :( Unfortunately we have to run ads to support our business.

We don't mind ad blockers, I suggest Brave! But if you do want to help support our team, we also offer a premium subscription that removes ads and unlocks other features like tracking.

[I_o_IllI__o_I]

This is really cool, and in particular it's helpful that it lets you select what tools you have available for your workout. I tried creating a bodyweight only routine and all the exercises look well picked to me.

Just my .02 - I would prefer if the dummy you click on to select which muscle groups you wanna train to be gender neutral, or have a separate selection for all genders, if that is relevant for the exercises provided.

[add-sub-mul-div]

The AI shovelware spam will continue until morale improves.

[Philpax]

There is no AI here.