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Assisted Exercises

Some of the most motivating beginner exercises work backwards from everything else in the gym. With an assisted pull-up or assisted dip, a machine or a band takes some of your client's bodyweight — and getting stronger means needing less help, not lifting more weight.

Assistant Coach understands this. Your client logs how much help they used, and the app shows the journey from "needs a lot of help" all the way to their first unassisted rep — as progress, never as a drop.

Marking an exercise as assisted​

When you create or edit a bodyweight exercise, you'll see an Assisted exercise option:

  1. Turn on Assisted exercise.
  2. Choose where the help comes from:
    • Machine — a weight-stack assist machine (your client reads a number off the stack).
    • Band — a resistance band looped under the knees or feet.

That's the whole setup. There's nothing to configure — no formulas, no targets, no units to pick.

tip

The Assisted option only appears on bodyweight exercises, since that's where assistance makes sense (assisted pull-ups, chin-ups, dips).

How your client logs it​

Your client never sees anything technical — just a simple amount of help:

  • Machine exercises: they type the help amount in their own units (kg or lbs), shown right on the field.
  • Band exercises: they pick a band — Light, Medium, Heavy, or Extra-heavy — so they don't have to guess a number. (If they happen to know the exact amount, they can type it instead.)

Each logged set reads back plainly, like "assisted Medium band × 8" or "assisted 25 kg × 8." No negative numbers ever appear.

How progress shows up​

This is where it comes together. As your client needs less help:

  • their trend line rises, the same way it would for someone adding weight, and
  • a personal-best is celebrated when they use less help at the same reps.

When they reach zero help, they've graduated to a full bodyweight rep — and from there they can start adding weight, all on one continuous progress story for the same exercise.

The copy your client sees always frames less help as a win — for example, "less help than last time — nice progress." It's never shown as a decline.

Good to know​

  • Assistance and added weight don't mix on the same set. A set is either assisted or has weight added — which matches how these exercises actually work.
  • Existing logs are safe. Turning an exercise into an assisted one doesn't change anything already recorded.
  • Bands are an estimate. A band gives slightly different help through the range of motion, so band amounts are sensible standard values. What matters for progress is staying consistent — which the standard bands do.