How to Use BASE45
A quick glossary — these terms appear throughout the app.
- Mesocycle
- — a training block, typically 4–6 weeks, generated from a program template.
- Program Template
- — the blueprint defining which days you train and which muscle groups each day targets.
- RIR (Reps in Reserve)
- — how many more reps you could have done at the end of a set. Used to calibrate loading week to week.
- Progressive Overload
- — BASE45 automatically adjusts your targets each week based on your logged performance. You don't calculate anything manually.
- RSM (Raw Stimulus Magnitude)
- — a calculated measure of the training stimulus each exercise produced.
- SFR (Stimulus-to-Fatigue Ratio)
- — how much stimulus an exercise produces relative to the fatigue it creates. Visible in analytics.
- Open the nav menu (hamburger button, top left) and tap Programs.
- Pick an existing template, or create your own — define your workout days and which muscle groups each day targets.
- Tap Create Mesocycle on the template. Choose specific exercises for each day and set a start date.
- Your schedule is generated. Upcoming sessions appear on the Home screen.
Tip: set the mesocycle start date to the day before your first workout day of the week for clean weekly data alignment. For example, if your first workout is Monday, start the mesocycle on Sunday.
Tip: The in-app tutorial walks through these same steps interactively on your first login.
- Open today's workout from the Home screen. It shows target weight, reps, and sets for each exercise.
- Log what you actually did — even if it differs from the target. Accuracy here is what drives good progression.
- Optionally add per-exercise notes. Notes carry forward through the mesocycle, so they're useful for cues, modifications, or how an exercise felt.
- Tap Mark Workout Complete when done.
During your workout you'll be prompted for quick ratings at specific moments. These directly influence what BASE45 prescribes for your next session.
When each prompt appears:
- After the first set (from week 2 onward): RIR prompt — how many reps you had left. May also ask if you want to adjust reps for remaining sets.
- After the last set of an exercise (if not the last for that muscle group): joint soreness and muscle burn for that exercise.
- After the last set for a muscle group: pump, effort, and recovery for that muscle group.
Scale reference:
| Feedback | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recovery | Didn't get sore | Recovered a while ago | Recovered recently | Still sore |
| Joint Soreness | None | Some / short-lived | Moderate / lingering | Extreme / didn't go away |
| Muscle Burn | None | Some | Moderate | Extreme |
| Pump | None | Some | Moderate | Extreme |
| Effort | Targets felt easy | Hit targets but closer to failure than expected | Couldn't quite hit targets at target RIR | Couldn't complete the targets |
Effort is the hardest scale to calibrate early on. Rate it as honestly as you can — the app learns your tendencies over time.
After your first week, BASE45 uses your logged sets and feedback to automatically adjust targets for the next session — weight, reps, or both. You don't need to calculate anything.
Log honestly and give accurate feedback. The more consistently you do that, the better the progression model works for you.
Home screen — the metric tiles at the top show workouts completed this week, weekly volume, and your target RIR for the current week. The three radar charts below (Weekly Load, Avg Weekly Stimulus, Avg Weekly Fatigue) show muscle group balance at a glance.
Exercise Analytics — tap any exercise on the Exercise List to see volume trends, max weights by rep range, and set history across mesocycles.
Long-Term Analytics — the Analytics page shows overall training volume, muscle group balance, and monthly/yearly summaries.
Go to Create Exercise in the nav menu. You'll need:
- Exercise name (must be unique)
- Primary muscle group
- Whether it uses added weight — and if so, the smallest weight increment you use (e.g. 2.5, 5)
Custom exercises are immediately available when building a mesocycle.