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Pick your first program
How to pick a program that fits your week, your goals, and where you actually are right now. Beginner to intermediate, barbell to bodyweight.
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Five minutes, install to first set logged. No account required, no email gate, no tutorial reel to sit through. Here is the whole path.
1. Install the app
Grab Rackd from the App Store or Google Play. The download is small and the install is the install. Nothing surprising.
When you open it the first time, you land on a short welcome flow. There is a sign-in option for Cloud Sync, and there is a Skip button. Tap Skip if you just want to lift today. Rackd is local-first by design: every workout, every set, every PR is written to your device first. You can add an account later when you want sync across phones, or never. That is fine.
2. Pick a program from My Rack
The home tab is called My Rack. It is your shelf. Hit the plus button or open Explore and you will see 15 programs built into the app, free with the install. Classic strength templates like 5/3/1 and 5x5, push/pull/legs splits, dumbbell-only programs, bodyweight programs, glute-focused programs. Three to six days a week, barbell to floor.
Pick the one that fits the days you actually train and the equipment you actually own. Tap Add to Rack. The program is now yours.
If you want a longer think about which program to run, the Programs page on this site has a 30-second picker.
3. Tap Start, log the first set
Open the program in My Rack and tap Start. The first session loads with the lifts in order, target weights pre-filled by Rackd's progression engine, rest timer ready.
Log a set the way you would scribble it on a notepad: enter the weight, enter the reps, hit the check. The timer starts on its own. When it ends, the next set is queued. There are 11 progression systems behind the scenes doing the math for next week, but you do not have to think about any of that today.
4. Watch for the Coach Note
After a set or two you will see a Coach Note slide in. Short, specific, contextual. PR detected. Rep target adjusted. Form cue for the next set. It is the part of Rackd that earns its keep.
That is the setup. From here, show up and lift. The app handles the rest.
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Run your first workout
Tap Start, log your sets, and let the rest timer and Coach Note do the bookkeeping. Here is the full active workout flow.
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What 'the math' actually does
What Rackd computes between sessions: the program rule, the last lift, the next target. Eleven progression systems, one quiet handoff.