Logging a workout should feel like training: focused, simple, and in your control.
Over the last while, we’ve been rebuilding parts of OpenLift’s workout experience to make it faster mid-session, easier to review after, and clearer for both beginners and experienced lifters.
Progress doesn’t always show up as a new PR. Sometimes it’s a steadier waistline, a healthier trend in body weight, or the confidence that comes from seeing the same effort add up over time.
OpenLift’s Measurements feature is built to support that kind of progress: calm, consistent, and motivating. You can log key body metrics, attach notes and context, add progress photos, set goals, and view trends that help you stay grounded in what’s actually happening.
One of the biggest decisions when building fitness software is where to store user files - progress photos, exercise videos, profile pictures, and other assets. Most apps lock you into their preferred cloud provider or don't support file uploads at all. We built something different: a flexible object storage system that works whether you're running on a laptop, self-hosting with MinIO, or scaling with Cloudflare R2.
Your workout log is more than just a record - it's a goldmine of insights waiting to be discovered. We've been building comprehensive analytics tools that help you understand your training patterns, track meaningful progress, and make better decisions about your programming. Here's what we've learned about turning workout data into actionable intelligence.
One of the hardest things to get right in fitness software is progression - how do you make an app that can look at your workout performance and intelligently suggest what to do next? We've been working on what we call "Progression Playbooks," and we think we've found an approach that actually works in practice.
We've been quietly working on something we're pretty excited about: a comprehensive program planning system that handles the complexity of structured training programs without making your head spin. Let me walk you through what we've built and why we think it matters.
We've been working on OpenLift, a self-hosted fitness tracking platform designed for people who take their training seriously and value control over their data. After months of development, we're ready to share what we've built and our vision for making fitness software that actually serves lifters.
Note: This is our development community platform (openlift.dev) focused on technical documentation and developer resources. For general updates, progress tracking, and user-focused information, visit our main site at openlift.app.