DEFYN YOURSELF

User Guide

For Defyn v5.22.1. Covers the phone app, the Wear OS watch app and the web dashboard.

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Defyn is a workout log for people who write their own training. You build a program once, and each session you check off sets while the app keeps track of what you lifted last time, how long to rest, and whether you set any records. Over time it shows which muscles you train and which you are skipping.

This guide walks through the app in the order you are likely to use it. If you only read one part, read Your first workout in five minutes.

The guide is online at https://user-guide.defynyourselfapp.com, where a Download PDF button saves a copy to read offline. In the app, Profile → User Guide opens it. Questions go to support@defynyourself.com.

Contents

  1. Your first workout in five minutes
  2. Finding your way around
  3. Settings worth setting first
  4. The exercise library
  5. Building a program
  6. Progression rules
  7. Importing a program with an AI assistant
  8. Running a workout
  9. The rest timer
  10. History: reviewing and fixing past workouts
  11. Progress and personal records
  12. Profile, cloud sync and backups
  13. Health Connect and Samsung Health
  14. Reminders and notifications
  15. Exporting your data
  16. The watch app
  17. The web dashboard
  18. The Tabata timer
  19. Installing and updating
  20. Troubleshooting and FAQ
  21. Glossary

1. Your first workout in five minutes

  1. Open the Programs tab and tap +.
  2. Info: give the program a name, choose how many weeks it runs, and tap Next: Select Exercises.
  3. Exercises: Week 1 Day 1 is selected. Tick the exercises you want for that day (use the search box), then tap Next: Configure Sets.
  4. Configure: for each exercise, set the number of warm-up and working sets, the reps and the weight. Tap Save Program.
  5. Back on Programs, tap your program, check that Week 1 / Day 1 is selected, and tap Start W1D1.
  6. During the workout, fill in what you actually lifted and tap the check mark on each set. The rest countdown starts on its own.
  7. When you are done, tap Finish. The workout goes into History and Progress.

Everything after this is optional: the watch, cloud sync, Health Connect, progression rules and the rest are there when you want them.

2. Finding your way around

When you open the app, it shows DEFYN YOURSELF with Circumstances don't define you and Habits shape you beneath it for about two seconds. Tap anywhere to skip it. It doesn't appear when you come back to an app that was already open, or when you open it by tapping a notification.

The bar along the bottom of the phone app has five tabs:

Tab What it is for
Programs Your programs. Build, import, edit and start workouts here.
Exercises The exercise library: 240+ built-in exercises plus any you add.
Session The workout in progress. Says No active session when you are not training.
History Every workout you have finished, newest first.
Profile Your details, cloud sync, Health Connect, reminders and data export.

A few screens are not on the bar:

The app comes in light and dark themes, or can follow your phone's setting.

3. Settings worth setting first

Open Programs → gear icon. It only takes a minute, and everything else depends on it.

Weight unit

lbs or kg. You can also change it from Profile. Switching units does not convert anything: your saved numbers stay as they are and are shown with the new label. Pick your unit before you log much.

Appearance

Light, Dark or System (follows your phone).

Plates

Enter your bar weight, then tap each plate to set how many pairs you own. This drives two things:

Pounds and kilograms each keep their own plate list, so switching units does not turn your 45 lb plates into odd kilo plates.

The calculator never rounds up. If your plates cannot make the exact weight, it loads the heaviest weight below it and shows the real total in brackets, for example Per side: 45 (135) when you asked for 138. It also finds the loading with the fewest plates, rather than just grabbing the biggest plate each time.

Rest timer

On by default at 1:30. Pick from 0:30, 1:00, 1:30, 2:00, 2:30, 3:00, 4:00 or 5:00, or turn it off. See The rest timer.

Reps in Reserve (RIR)

Off by default. When it is on, each set you check off gets a Rate this set chip. You use it to record how many more reps you could have done: 4+, then 3½ down to 0 (a set taken to failure), in half-rep steps. Leave it unrated if you don't know. An unrated set is stored as not rated, never as zero. Turn this on if you want progression rules to depend on how hard your sets felt.

4. The exercise library

The Exercises tab lists every exercise, with a search box and filter chips for each muscle group (All, Chest, Back, Legs, Shoulders, Arms, Core, Full Body).

Tap any exercise to see a front and back body diagram with the muscle it works highlighted.

What the library knows about each exercise

The library includes around 50 warm-up, mobility, stretching, band, conditioning and kettlebell exercises for the Warm-up, Finisher and Cool-down blocks.

Adding your own exercise

Tap + on the Exercises tab. Fill in Exercise Name, Muscle Group and Equipment. The rest is optional, but worth filling in:

Exercises you created have an edit menu (Edit / Delete). Built-in exercises can't be edited or deleted.

5. Building a program

A program is a number of weeks, and each week has up to seven days. Each day is a list of exercises with their sets, reps and weights. Days you leave empty are rest days.

Start with Programs → +. To change a program later, tap its edit icon and choose Edit, or open it and tap the pencil at the top. The builder has three tabs.

Info

Program Name (required), an optional Description, and Number of Weeks.

Exercises

Choose a week and day at the top, then tick the exercises for that day. The count at the top reads, for example, 5 exercises for Week 1 Day 1. Change the week or day and tick again for the next one. Each day is set up separately.

Tip: if you plan to use progression rules, a one-week program is often all you need, because the rules work out the weight each time. Starting a program over from week 1 is normal.

Unticking an exercise here removes it from every block of that day. To remove only one copy, use the X on its card in the Configure tab.

Configure

Every exercise gets a card with:

Tap Save Program when you're finished.

Blocks: Warm-up, Main, Finisher, Cool-down

Every exercise belongs to a block, and a workout runs them in order: Warm-up → Main → Finisher → Cool-down. New exercises go into Main.

Tap the block name on an exercise card to change it:

Each copy keeps its own history. Warm-up squats remember your warm-up numbers and main squats remember your main numbers, so one never fills in or progresses the other.

A day that only has Main exercises shows as a plain list, with no block headings.

Warm-up and Cool-down sets don't count toward your training balance. Band pull-aparts before you lift don't make your rear delts look trained. Finisher sets do count.

Supersets

A superset alternates between two or more exercises one set at a time: A1's first set, then A2's first set, then A1's second, and so on.

  1. In Configure, tap two or more exercise cards to select them. A bar appears showing N selected.
  2. Tap Superset.

During the workout, each row is labelled A1, A2 and so on, so you always know which exercise you're on. Warm-up sets are not alternated. They come first, before the paired rounds. If one exercise has more sets than the other, it simply continues on its own in the later rounds.

To undo a superset, tap the unlink icon on a member's card.

AMRAP circuits

An AMRAP ("as many rounds as possible") group is a circuit done against one clock. You do the exercises in order, round after round, until the time is up.

  1. Select the exercises in Configure.
  2. Tap AMRAP and enter the time in seconds (600 = 10 minutes).

During the workout you log each round and tap Add Next Round for another. The rest timer does not start between AMRAP sets, because the circuit is meant to run without stops.

A superset and an AMRAP are different things: a superset has a fixed number of sets, each with its own weight, and an AMRAP is one clock with as many rounds as fit. An exercise can be in one or the other, not both.

EMOM circuits

An EMOM ("every minute on the minute") gives you one set at the top of every minute for a set number of minutes. You rest for whatever is left of the minute, so the faster you finish the set, the longer you rest.

  1. Select one or more exercises in Configure.
  2. Tap EMOM and enter how many minutes it runs (10 unless you change it).

With one exercise, you do it every minute. With more than one, they take turns, one per minute: with squats and push-ups, minute 1 is squats, minute 2 push-ups, minute 3 squats, and so on.

The reps and weight on each exercise are what you do each minute. There's no sets field on an EMOM exercise, because the minutes decide how many sets there are. You can change the length later in the EMOM heading above the group.

During the workout the EMOM has its own clock above its sets:

The screen stays on while the clock runs, so it's worth propping your phone where you can see it. The bells only play while the workout screen is open: if you switch to another app, the clock keeps its place and is on the right minute when you come back, but it's silent while you're away.

The rest timer does not start between EMOM sets, because the rest of the minute is your rest. An exercise can be in only one group: an EMOM, an AMRAP or a superset.

6. Progression rules

Without a rule, a program uses the numbers you wrote. A progression rule lets an exercise pick its own weight, based on what you actually lifted last time. Set it in the Progression section of the exercise's card in Configure.

Rule What it does You enter
None Uses the program's numbers. —
Linear Adds a fixed amount whenever you hit your target reps on every set. Add (e.g. 5 lb)
Double Keeps the same weight while you work up a rep range. Adds weight once every set reaches the top of the range. Add, and a rep range like 8-12
% of 1RM Uses a percentage of your best estimated one-rep max for that lift. Percent of 1RM

RIR floor (optional, any rule): the weight only goes up if every set last time still had at least this many reps in reserve. With a floor of 2, a session where you ground out a set at 1 RIR holds the weight rather than adding to it. This needs Reps in Reserve switched on.

What the app does for you

7. Importing a program with an AI assistant

Instead of typing out every week and day, you can have an AI assistant (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and so on) write the program for you.

  1. Programs → the ⤓ import icon.
  2. Tap Copy prompt. This copies a ready-made prompt to your clipboard. It already includes the format the app expects, the names of every exercise in your library, the list of muscles, and your weight unit.
  3. Paste it into your assistant and describe what you want, for example "4-day upper/lower, 8 weeks, intermediate, double progression on accessories."
  4. Copy the JSON it gives you back, then either paste it into Program JSON or save it to a file and tap Open JSON file.
  5. Tap Preview. You'll see the number of weeks, the exercises on each day, and any new exercises that will be added to your library because they aren't in it yet.
  6. Tap Import.

Good to know:

8. Running a workout

Starting

Open a program from Programs (tapping the card or its ▶ does the same). Choose the week and day at the top, check the day's exercises and their suggested weights, then tap Start WnDn.

Weights are filled in like this, in this order:

  1. A weight from a progression rule, if the exercise has one.
  2. A weight written into the program. This is treated as a prescription, so a deload week stays a deload week.
  3. Otherwise, what you did last time for that set.

The session screen

Exercises are grouped under their blocks (Warm-up, Main, Finisher, Cool-down). Each exercise heading shows how many sets are done, such as 2/4.

Each set row shows:

Once a set is checked, and if Reps in Reserve is on, a Rate this set chip appears underneath.

An EMOM has its own clock between its heading and its sets, with Start EMOM, the minute you're on and the countdown to the next one. See EMOM circuits.

Changing the workout as you go

On each exercise heading:

You can also:

You can leave the session screen at any point to check a program or look at History. The workout keeps running, and the Session tab takes you back to it.

Personal records mid-workout

When a completed set beats one of your bests, you're told straight away, with one line for the main record. See Personal records.

Finishing

Tap Finish. The app shows how many sets you completed (for example, 14/16 sets completed) and asks you to confirm. Sets you didn't check off are saved as skipped, not deleted, so your history shows what really happened.

If a workout is left open with nothing logged for 30 minutes, you'll get a reminder to finish it (if that notification is on).

9. The rest timer

Checking off a working set starts a countdown. It appears in a bar under the set list, showing the time left and what you just finished:

The countdown keeps going with the screen off and the phone in your pocket. It also shows as a notification with the same buttons, and you get an alert when the rest is up. The on-screen timer and the notification always show the same time.

Change the length, or turn it off, in Programs → gear → Rest Timer.

10. History: reviewing and fixing past workouts

The History tab lists every finished workout with its date, start time and duration.

Tap one to see Session Details:

Fixing a mistake

Entered 85 instead of 185? Tap the edit icon on the set, correct the Weight or Reps, choose whether it's Completed (counts toward records), and tap Save. You can also Delete this set. Records and progress update to match.

To delete a whole workout, use the trash icon on its row in History. This can't be undone.

11. Progress and personal records

Open Profile → the trending-up arrow at the top.

Training Balance

Sets per muscle over the last 4 weeks, shown as a list and as a shaded body diagram. Every muscle is listed (the nineteen muscles plus Full Body), including ones you haven't trained, because the point is to spot gaps. Muscles with no sets are also listed at the top under Not trained.

Sets on your own exercises that don't have a muscle set are counted separately and flagged, so they aren't silently left out. Give those exercises a muscle in the library to include them.

Warm-up and Cool-down sets aren't counted here. Finisher sets are.

Weekly trend

The same muscles as rows and the last 13 weeks as columns, with sets per week. A row that's dark all the way across is a gap you've had for a long time. A row that's dark on the left and brighter on the right is a gap you're already fixing. The last column is the current week, so it's still filling in.

The arrow at the end of each row (↑ ↓ –) tells you which way that muscle is trending. It's deliberately not coloured red or green, because a drop is often intentional, such as a deload.

Consistency

A heatmap of the last 13 weeks with one square per day. Darker squares mean more volume, and rest days are empty outlines. Above it are your session count and your week streak, which is the number of weeks in a row with at least one workout. Streaks count weeks rather than days, so rest days never break them.

Body weight

The last 30 days of body weight, read from Health Connect (see Health Connect).

Personal records

Each exercise shows its heaviest weight and e1RM (estimated one-rep max). Tap an exercise for its detail screen: heaviest weight, estimated 1RM, number of sessions, and a chart of both over time.

Every completed set is checked against three separate bests:

  1. Heaviest weight you've lifted.
  2. Best estimated 1RM, which gives you credit for doing more reps at a familiar weight. 225 × 8 beats 225 × 5 even though the weight didn't change.
  3. Most volume in one set (weight × reps).

A few rules keep records meaningful:

About the estimated 1RM

The estimate uses the Epley formula (weight × (1 + reps ÷ 30)). A true single is shown as it is. Sets of more than 12 reps don't get an estimate and show a dash (—), because the formula gets unreliable at high reps. The chart line also breaks where there's no estimate, rather than inventing a point.

12. Profile, cloud sync and backups

Profile holds your name, email, gender, birthday, height, current weight and target weight (BMI is worked out for you). Tap Save Profile after changing them.

Cloud sync

Tap Enable Cloud Sync and sign in with Google. After that:

The cloud copy keeps 7 days of point-in-time recovery plus weekly backups for 14 weeks, and is protected against accidental deletion. Without cloud sync, your data lives only on your phone.

Sign Out disconnects the account, clears your data from this phone (the cloud copy stays) and clears the watch.

Privacy and deleting your account

The About card at the bottom of Profile shows which version of the app you have, and has these links:

All of them open in your browser (or email app).

Both pages live at https://disclosures.defynyourselfapp.com, so you can also reach them without the app.

To delete your account yourself:

  1. If you want to keep your history, export it first (Exporting your data). Deleting can't be undone.
  2. In the cloud sync card, tap Delete Account (under Sign Out) and read the warning.
  3. Tap Continue, then choose your Google account again. This second sign-in is on purpose: deletion only goes ahead if you signed in moments ago.
  4. Your cloud account and everything synced to it are deleted straight away, and this phone is cleared as if you had signed out.

Choosing a different Google account from the one you're signed in with stops the deletion and says so. Backups keep deleted data for up to 14 weeks, for recovery only; it is never restored to an account. Another phone you signed in on keeps its copy until you sign out there.

You can also delete your account from the web dashboard.

13. Health Connect and Samsung Health

Health Connect is Android's shared health store. When it's connected, finished workouts are sent there, so they appear in Samsung Health, Google Health / Fit, Fitbit and other apps that read it.

Profile → Connect Health Connect, then grant the permissions.

To get workouts into Samsung Health, also open Samsung Health → Settings → Health Connect and turn syncing on there.

Good to know:

14. Reminders and notifications

Profile → Reminders. Everything here is off until you turn it on, and nothing is sent from a server. It's all done on your phone.

Reminders arrive within a few minutes of the time you pick rather than exactly on it. Android saves exact alarms for clock and calendar apps.

If notifications are turned off for Defyn in Android, this card tells you and offers Open notification settings.

15. Exporting your data

Profile → Export Data → Export to CSV, then choose where to save the file (Downloads, Google Drive, anywhere the file picker can reach). No storage permission is needed.

The file contains every set you've ever logged: date, session, exercise, muscle, equipment, set type, reps, weight, volume, RIR, AMRAP group, EMOM group and minute, and the weight unit on every row. Unfinished workouts and skipped sets are included and marked as such, not left out. It opens cleanly in Excel, Google Sheets and Numbers, accented exercise names included.

16. The watch app

The watch app puts the set you're on on your wrist: the exercise, the set number ("Set 2 of 4"), and the weight and reps. It has a Done button that checks the set off on your phone. When the rest timer starts, the watch counts down too, with −15s, Skip and +15s, and buzzes when the rest is up.

Runs on: Wear OS 3 or later, which means Galaxy Watch 4 and newer, every Pixel Watch, and other Wear OS 3 watches. Older Tizen Galaxy Watches and Fitbit Versa/Sense can't run it, but Fitbit still gets your workouts through Health Connect.

How it works:

Known limits:

Installing it is a manual step for now. See Installing the watch app.

17. The web dashboard

Go to https://reports.defynyourselfapp.com in any browser and tap Sign in with Google, using the same account as the app's cloud sync. (https://workout-application-build.web.app is the same page, if the short address isn't working yet.)

The dashboard shows:

Next to Sign out, Delete account deletes your account and everything synced to it, the same as Delete Account in the app. It asks you to confirm, then to choose your Google account again before anything is deleted.

Opening a row

Rows with a › next to them open. Click one again to close it.

A muscle you haven't trained doesn't open — there's nothing behind it.

An estimate reads — when there's nothing honest to show: a bodyweight set says nothing about a loaded single, and neither does a set of more than 12 reps.

Warm-ups and cool-downs aren't here. Everything on this page counts hard sets only, the same as the phone, so an exercise's history shows your working sets and not the ramp-up to them.

The links at the bottom of the page go to the privacy policy, account deletion, this guide, and the support address, support@defynyourself.com.

It's read-only. You manage programs and your profile in the app. It shows whatever the phone has synced, so a workout logged offline appears once the phone syncs.

If an exercise shows as Unnamed exercise, or a note says some sets have no muscle set, the dashboard hasn't received that exercise's details from your phone. This happens with older workouts on built-in exercises logged before v5.15.2: open Profile in the app and tap Sync Now once, then reload the page.

18. The Tabata timer

The timer icon (on Programs, a program page, or a running workout) opens an interval timer with sounds. The gear on the timer lets you set Warm-up, Work, Rest, Rounds, Sets, Rest between sets and Cool down, all in seconds. The screen shows the phase (WARM UP, WORK, REST, REST BETWEEN SETS, COOL DOWN, DONE!), along with the current round and set.

It's separate from your logged workouts. Nothing it does is saved to History.

19. Installing and updating

Needs: Android 8.0 or later. Health Connect needs Android 9 or later.

Defyn is sent to testers through Firebase App Distribution. Each release sends two APKs with the same version number. The first line of the release notes tells you which one it is:

Updates install over the top of the previous version and keep your data.

Installing the watch app

App Distribution can't install apps on a watch, so this is done with adb from a computer. Before you start, install the same version of the phone app on the phone the watch is paired with.

On the watch:

  1. Settings → About watch → Software info. Tap Software version about seven times, until developer mode turns on.
  2. Settings → Developer options. Turn on ADB debugging and Wireless debugging.
  3. In Wireless debugging, tap Pair new device. Note the IP address, the pairing port and the six-digit code.

(Menu names can be slightly different on Wear OS and One UI Watch.)

Get the APK: in the Firebase console, go to App Distribution → Releases and download the build whose notes start with WATCH APP —.

On a computer with Android platform-tools, on the same Wi-Fi as the watch:

adb pair <watch-ip>:<pairing-port>     # enter the six-digit code
adb connect <watch-ip>:<port>          # the port shown on the Wireless debugging screen
adb devices                            # the watch should be listed
adb install -r wear-debug.apk

Moving from v4 or older

Version 5.0 changed the app's package name, so it installs alongside v4 instead of replacing it. Sign in to cloud sync in the new app so your data comes back, then uninstall the old one.

20. Troubleshooting and FAQ

The Session tab says "No active session", but I'm mid-workout. Start workouts from a program (Programs → program → Start). If the workout was already finished, it's in History.

The weight in a set row isn't what the program says. Look at the program day. If the exercise has a progression rule, the explanation next to it says why the weight changed. If the program doesn't set a weight, the app uses what you did last time.

The plate calculator shows a different total in brackets. Your plates can't make that exact weight. The number in brackets is what you'd actually lift. Add plate pairs under Settings → Plates if you own more.

A set is showing a "sec" field, or no weight field. The exercise's Tracked as setting decides which fields show. For your own exercises, set it under Exercises → edit → Tracked as.

My training balance leaves some sets out. Those sets are on exercises with no muscle set, and they're listed as unclassified. Give those exercises a muscle in the library. Also remember that Warm-up and Cool-down sets are never counted.

No estimated 1RM for an exercise. Estimates only come from sets of 12 reps or fewer.

Heart rate or body weight has stopped appearing. Health Connect removes permissions from apps it hasn't seen for 30 days. Open Profile and tap Grant the missing permissions.

My workouts aren't in Samsung Health. Turn on syncing in Samsung Health too: Samsung Health → Settings → Health Connect.

The watch installed fine but never shows anything. Make sure the phone and watch are on the same version from the same release, that the phone app is open, and that a workout has been started on the phone.

Reminders arrive a few minutes late. That's expected. Android doesn't let training apps use exact alarms.

I'm on a new phone. Install the app, go to Profile → Enable Cloud Sync with the same Google account, and tap Sync Now. Health Connect permissions, reminders and plate settings are stored on the phone, so set those up again.

I found a bug. Email support@defynyourself.com (Profile → Support fills in the version for you), or tell the person who invited you to test. Include the version number, which is on the About card in Profile.

21. Glossary