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Show HN: Workout.cool – Open-source fitness coaching platform

(github.com)
827 points surgomat | 3 comments | 18 Jun 25 12:33 UTC | HN request time: 0.407s | source

I was the main contributor to workout.lol, an open-source fitness app to easily build a workout routine. The project had traction (1.4k GitHub stars, 95 forks, ~20K visits/month), but was eventually sold due to video licensing hurdles. The new owner stopped maintaining it, and the repo went abandoned.

Over the next 9 months, I sent 15 emails to try to save it : no replies. Feature requests & issues were ignored. The community was left with a "broken" tool let's say.

I couldn't just let it die So I built the new version from scratch with the same open-source spirit, but a better architecture long-term vision, more features and no license problems.

It's called : Workout.cool (https://workout.cool). What it offers: 100% open-source, MIT-licensed - 1200+ exercises (with videos, attributes, translations) - Progress tracking - Multilingual-ready - Self-hostable

I'm not doing this for money. I'm doing it because I believe in open fitness tools, and I’ve been passionate about strength training for 15+ years.

If this resonates with you, feel free to: - Star the repo - Share with fitness/tech friends - Suggest features - Contribute code/design/docs

Together, we can build the open-source fitness platform we all wanted to easily build a workout routine and get in shape

Website: https://workout.cool GitHub: https://github.com/Snouzy/workout-cool

1. zeta0134 ◴[18 Jun 25 16:23 UTC] No.44311212[source]▶
As a fitness newbie, my first and most immediate feedback is confusion at the otherwise delightful muscle selection interface, which seems to be required during onboarding before I can see what the product does. I'm loosely aware of "push", "pull" and "leg" groupings, but I'm not personally familiar with what specific muscles each routine is actually meant to target.

This seems to mean the app is currently only meant for those who want to seriously study their anatomy. Would it be possible to ease a novice into things more gently somehow? Perhaps with recommended muscle groups?

replies(2): >>44311561 #>>44311783 #
2. surgomat ◴[18 Jun 25 17:03 UTC] No.44311561[source]▶
Thanks so much for this feedback

The current onboarding assumes a bit too much knowledge up front (didn't expect that).

Bcs yeah, most beginners don’t think in terms of "rear delts" or "lats" they just want to "get stronger", feel better i guess

I'll be adding:

Optional muscle selection (or skipping it entirely)

Beginner-friendly presets like "Full Body", "Upper Body", etc.

OR suggested muscle groups with labels like "Chest + Triceps (Push)" / back-biceps... etc.

The goal is definitely not to make you study anatomy before you can get started lol and your feedback helps to build a smoother, more welcoming flow

Thanks again for that ! And welcome to the fitness journey! Hope to see you soon

3. aio2 ◴[18 Jun 25 17:32 UTC] No.44311783[source]▶
push and pull i can understand struggling on, but if you don't know legs that's kinda on you