Coach's Vault is a competition prep companion for bodybuilders and physique athletes. It tracks macros, weight, training, posing, check-ins, and show day logistics all in one place. It connects to Claude AI for a personalized coaching chat and AI-generated workouts.
All data is stored locally on your device using SwiftData, nothing goes to a cloud server.
When the app opens you'll see a motivational quote. Tap LET'S GET IT to enter. Tap the gear icon (top right of the Home tab) to open Settings and configure your competition profile before using any other features.
Competition: Shows a full prep countdown. Requires Competition Date, Show Name, and Division. Unlocks Show Week checklist, peak week protocol, and prep cycle archiving.
Maintain, Build, or Cut: For athletes without an upcoming competition. Set an optional Goal Date to display a days-to-goal countdown. Add a goal outcome description (e.g. "Hold 185 lbs through summer") to keep it visible on the Home screen.
Once height, age, gender, goal weight, and activity level are set and at least one check-in is logged, tap Suggest Macros from Check-Ins to let the app calculate personalized targets. The app saves your settings and queues a recommendation card on the Home screen for you to review and accept. See the Macro Suggestion Engine section for the full calculation method.
When a completed prep cycle is archived in Program History, a section appears here with a Seed Settings from This Prep button. This pre-fills your division, goal weight (same as last stage weight), and starting macros scaled to your current body weight using the actual deficit rate that worked last time. A 50 kcal hunger buffer is added if your last cycle rated hunger as Difficult.
Set minimum rest time (hours) per muscle group. The Training tab uses these to flag under-recovered groups. Defaults: Legs/Glutes/Full Body = 72h, Chest/Back = 60h, Shoulders = 48h, Arms/Calves/Core = 36h.
A list of durable facts about you, preferences, injuries or limitations, what has worked, and goals. Every active fact is sent to both the Chat coach and the AI workout generator, so guidance and programming reflect you over time. This is different from a single chat conversation, which only the AI remembers within that one thread.
Adding facts three ways: (1) Tap + to write one yourself and assign a category. (2) In the Chat tab, long-press any message and choose Remember this to save it. (3) Tap Scan conversations for facts to have Claude read your recent chats and propose new facts, review the suggestions, keep the ones you want, and tap Add Selected.
Toggling and editing: Each fact has an Active switch, turn it off to stop sending it to the AI without deleting it. Tap a fact to edit its text or category; swipe to delete. Facts in the Injury and Preference categories are the strongest signal: the workout generator avoids movements that conflict with a stated injury or strong dislike, as long as it still fits your selected training goal.
Paste your Anthropic API key here to enable the Chat tab and AI workout generator. It's stored securely in the iOS Keychain and shared across your Praxis Training apps, enter it once and your other Praxis apps that use Claude pick it up automatically, with no re-entry.
Competition mode: Shows a large days-out number, show name, and current phase. Updates daily automatically.
Maintain / Build / Cut mode: Shows your goal type (MAINTAINING, BUILDING, CUTTING) in large text with your goal description below. If you set a goal date, a secondary days-to-goal countdown appears beneath.
A radial ring chart showing today's logged calories and water oz vs. your targets. The ring color changes with day type: Training (orange), Rest (blue), Refeed (purple), Standard (orange).
To the right of the rings a calorie summary shows your daily target, percentage consumed, and kilocalories remaining (or over, in red if exceeded).
Below the rings, a progress bar row for each macro, Protein, Carbs, and Fats, shows logged vs. target in grams, percentage consumed, and grams remaining. Bars turn green when you hit 100%.
Appears automatically after a check-in is logged when the app calculates a macro recommendation that differs meaningfully from your current targets. Shows a before/after table for calories, protein, carbs, and fats with directional arrows and the reasoning (weeks to show, trend rate, TDEE). Tap Apply Macros to update your targets immediately or Dismiss to clear it. You can also trigger this manually via Settings → Suggest Macros.
If you use Cellular Keys (peptide tracker by Praxis Training LLC) on the same device with the same iCloud account, today's supplement schedule syncs here automatically. Shows each item, dose, time, and taken status.
Tap Log Macros to record today's nutrition. Re-opening the form pre-fills your existing entry so you can edit it.
Appears when a refeed protocol is configured. Shows "Today is a Refeed Day," a countdown to the next refeed, or an overdue warning.
Shows the date of your most recent check-in and a Log Check-In link. You can check in as often as you like, daily weigh-ins, mid-week measurements, or any time you want to capture data.
Tap Generate to open the AI meal plan generator. Choose from six day types: Training Day, Rest Day, Carb Load, Depletion, Show Day, or Reverse Diet. When Reverse Diet is selected the plan uses that week's specific reverse diet macro targets automatically, no manual entry needed.
Tap to open the Reverse Diet tracker. Displays your current week's macro targets, a progress bar through the protocol, weekly weight log, and status badge (On Track / Gaining Too Fast / Too Slow). If no protocol is active, tap Start Reverse Diet Protocol to configure one. See the Reverse Diet section for full details.
Opens your document library, PDF and text files from your coach or imported by you.
Opens the Show Week section with access to the Show Day checklist/timeline and the Peak Week Protocol. Only visible when a competition profile is set up.
Opens the archive of all completed prep cycles. Shows cycle count badge when archives exist. Tap any cycle to view full stats, lessons learned, and individualized recommendations for your next prep. Tap + to archive the current cycle. See the Program History section for full details.
When your competition date has passed, a banner appears prompting you to archive the current cycle. Tap Archive This Prep to open the close-out form and capture your results before starting a new program.
The app calculates personalized daily macro targets using your body measurements, activity level, show timeline, and real check-in trend data, not generic population averages.
Step 1: BMR is calculated using the Mifflin-St Jeor formula, the most validated equation for physique athletes. Requires age, height, weight (from your latest check-in), and gender.
Step 2: BMR is multiplied by your activity level multiplier (1.2 to 1.9) to get your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE).
Step 3: The required daily deficit is calculated from your goal weight, current weight, and weeks remaining to show. Formula: (lbs to lose × 3500) ÷ (days to show).
Step 4: If you have 3 or more check-ins, the app compares your actual weekly loss rate to the required rate and adds or removes up to 150 kcal to correct your pace.
Step 5: Macros are set at protein = goal weight × 1.2g (held constant), fat = 22% of calories, carbs = remainder.
The suggestion is a recommendation, not an automatic change. You review the before/after numbers and tap Apply Macros to accept or Dismiss to ignore it.
Opens from Meal Plan → Generate on the Home tab. Claude builds a full day of eating matched to your macro targets and day type. Requires an Anthropic API key in Settings.
Set the number of meals before generating (3–6). The AI distributes your macros across that many meals with suggested times.
Type any foods to avoid. The AI will not include them in any meal.
Generated plans are saved automatically. Swipe to delete. Tap any saved plan to view it again.
Tap the swap icon on any meal to get three macro-matched alternatives. Alternatives maintain the same protein, carb, and fat targets as the original meal.
A reverse diet is a systematic post-competition protocol that increases calories gradually, 50–100 kcal per week, to restore your metabolic rate and normalized hormone levels while minimizing fat gain. Protein stays constant throughout. Carbs and fats rise each week.
Access via the Reverse Diet row on the Home tab.
Tap Start Reverse Diet Protocol and fill in the setup form.
The setup form shows a live table of the first 6 weeks of projected macros as you adjust parameters. Use this to verify the endpoint lands where you want it before saving.
Select Reverse Diet as the day type in the Meal Plan Generator and the AI will build a plan using your current week's exact targets. It applies gut-sensitivity guidelines for the early weeks: no cruciferous vegetables, legumes, or excessive fiber; carbs from familiar prep sources; protein from consistent prep staples.
Tap the ••• menu (top right of the tracker) to edit protocol parameters or end the protocol early. Logged weight data is preserved when you end.
Tap Import from Apple Health to auto-fill today's macros, water, sleep, HRV, and resting heart rate. Grant access at Settings → Privacy & Security → Health → Coach's Vault.
Tracking these over weeks reveals when your deficit is too deep before the scale shows it.
Sleep (hrs), HRV (ms), Resting HR (bpm). Auto-filled from Apple Watch when you import from Health.
Seven segments accessible via the horizontal scroll bar at the top.
Log a check-in any time, there is no weekly limit. Tap + (top left) or Log Check-In on the Home tab. Each check-in captures weight, body fat %, measurements in inches (chest, waist, hips, glutes, quads, arms, calves, shoulders), up to 3 progress photos, notes, and coach feedback. Weight and body fat can be imported from Apple Health.
Tap any check-in row to view the full detail. Tap Edit (top right) to correct any field, including the date, weight, measurements, notes, or photos. Existing photos display as thumbnails; tap Remove Existing Photos to replace them, or pick new ones to add. Coach feedback edits are not re-indexed to avoid duplicates.
Swipe left on any check-in row to delete it.
Every time you save a new check-in, the Macro Suggestion Engine runs automatically. If a meaningful adjustment is detected, a Macro Adjustment card appears on the Home screen.
Trend chart showing actual weigh-ins (orange curve), a linear regression trend line (dashed gray), your goal weight (green line), and competition date marker (red). Body fat % charted below when available. A metrics card shows current weekly rate and projected show day weight.
History of your daily macro logs. Useful for spotting consistency patterns across weeks.
Automated trend analysis: On Track / Losing Too Fast / Losing Too Slow / Gaining / Insufficient Data. Shows weekly rate, a recommendation (e.g., increase calories by 100–150 kcal), projected show weight, and lean mass estimate. Requires at least 2 check-ins.
Body composition trends, body fat %, lean mass, and individual circumference measurements over time. Toggle to Muscle Recovery to see a body map color-coded by how recovered each muscle group is, based on your per-group recovery windows in Settings.
How recovery is calculated: The recovery clock for a muscle group is driven only by sets you actually completed. A workout that was prescribed or saved but never performed (zero completed sets) does not reset recovery for that group. The recovery window also scales with the intensity of your last performed session: more completed sets = a longer window, fewer = shorter. If you complete only part of a prescribed workout, only the sets you finished count toward the recovery time.
Conditioning assessment, self-rate muscle group fullness, conditioning, separation, and stage readiness across the final weeks.
Log posing practice sessions with duration, areas to work on, notes, and an attached video clip from your camera roll. Tap Watch Clip to play back inline. A Routine Timer is available for timed posing rounds.
Three segments: Sessions, Progress, PRs.
Record a resistance training session: add exercises with sets, reps, and weight. Add session notes and overall feel.
Exercise cards: Opening a session shows one card per exercise with its name, target body part, and set progress (e.g. 2/4). Tap a card to open that exercise on its own screen with just its sets and metrics. Swipe a card left to Delete the exercise; swipe right to set it as the current movement on Watch.
Priority order: Exercises are listed in training priority: primary compound movements (squats, presses, rows, deadlifts) appear at the top and accessory/isolation work (curls, raises, extensions) at the bottom. AI-generated workouts keep the exact order Claude programmed them in; manually built sessions are ordered automatically by movement type.
Add an exercise mid-workout: Tap Add Exercise at the bottom of the exercise list to change things up on the fly. A sheet opens with a searchable list of exercises you've done before (each showing its muscle group); tap one to add it, or type a new name and tap Add "…" to create a custom movement. Added exercises start with three empty sets and drop to the bottom of the list as accessory work.
Per-set tracking: Inside an exercise, each set tracks reps, weight, completion time, PR detection, and a tag. Tap the tag chip to label a set as Warm-up, Working, Top Set, Back-off, Drop Set, Failure, or AMRAP, useful for separating warm-ups from working sets in your history. Add sets with Add Set; swipe a set to delete it.
Smart weight prefill: Each set is pre-filled with the weight you used last time for that exact movement and machine. The app only suggests a progressive-overload increase once you've hit the top of your rep range at a manageable RPE (8 or lower) on the same weight for two sessions in a row: a deliberately conservative, injury-aware rule. When you've earned it, the bump (about 2.5% of the load, capped at +5 lbs upper body / +10 lbs lower) shows in bold red and is tagged Progressive Overload. Otherwise it repeats last time's weight in *black italic*. Type your own number and it switches to normal text; completing the set accepts whatever is shown.
RPE: Tap the RPE chip on any set to log how hard it felt (6–10). The progression engine reads it: grinding sets at RPE 9–10 won't trigger a weight increase even if you hit the reps, so you only add load when you genuinely have room.
Session Date: Tap the date field at the top of any session to change it. Useful if you plan tomorrow's workout tonight, set the date before logging so history stays accurate.
Start Workout / Stop Workout: Tap Start Workout to begin a running elapsed timer visible at the top of the session. The timer counts up in MM:SS format (H:MM:SS for sessions over an hour). Tap Stop Workout to record the total duration and reset the counter. Your screen stays on automatically while viewing an active workout session so the display never locks mid-set.
Rest timer: Visible as a persistent banner above the tab bar whenever a rest period is active. Remains visible even if you navigate to another tab. When you background the app, the timer moves to the Dynamic Island (iPhone 14 Pro and later).
Delete an unstarted session: long-press any session row in the history list and choose Delete Session. Only sessions with zero completed sets can be deleted this way.
Delete an exercise: swipe an exercise card left and tap Delete. If the exercise already has completed sets, you'll be asked to confirm first so you can't lose logged work by accident.
Equipment picker: On an exercise's screen, tap the dumbbell chip to assign the specific machine or implement you used. A full-screen picker opens with a search bar at the top and a scrollable list of your saved gym equipment (from Settings → Gym Equipment), type to filter by name, type, or muscle group. Tap an item to select it, or choose None to clear it. This keeps a record of exactly which station you trained on, useful when a gym has multiple variations of the same machine.
Set completion time: When you mark a set complete by tapping the circle, a timestamp appears just left of the checkmark showing the time of day the set was finished. Use these timestamps to track your true working pace and rest intervals across the session. Un-checking a set clears its timestamp.
Record cardio with type, duration, distance, and calories burned.
Configure body parts, available equipment (auto-loaded from your gym equipment list), duration (30–90 min), intensity (Light/Moderate/Heavy), and goal (Hypertrophy/Definition/Weight Loss/Strength/Endurance). Claude generates a full program with sets, reps, rest periods, and coaching notes. Tap any exercise block for alternatives. Tap Save to Log to add it to training history.
Builds from your gym: When you have equipment saved in Settings, the generator tries to build the entire workout from machines you actually own, naming the specific machine for each exercise. If a needed movement can't be covered by your equipment, it substitutes a barbell, dumbbell, cable, or bodyweight alternative and marks it as a substitution rather than inventing a machine you don't have. Selecting specific equipment chips narrows it to just that subset; selecting none uses your whole inventory.
Learns your preferences: Each time you assign a piece of equipment to a logged exercise (via the dumbbell chip in a session), the generator remembers it. Future workouts favor the machines you actually use for each muscle group, as long as they fit the selected training goal. It will still override your usual picks when the goal calls for it (for example, barbell compounds for a Strength session). Workouts generated on equipment you own carry that equipment into the log automatically, so the preference builds over time without extra taps.
Charts individual exercise strength trends, see your top set weight over time for any exercise. Only completed sets count toward trend calculations, volume totals, and recovery windows. Logging a set without marking it complete does not affect any metric.
Personal records tracker. The app automatically flags new top weights per exercise.
A categorized task list for competition day. Load the default checklist or add custom items. Check items off as you go. Use the reset button (↺) to uncheck everything for rehearsal or a future show.
An hour-by-hour schedule. Tap Load Default Template for a pre-built flow from 4 AM wake-up through Finals at 6 PM. Add custom events with a time, title, category, and notes. Swipe to edit or delete. Tap the checkmark to mark an event complete on the day. A progress bar shows completion across all events.
A 7-day countdown plan (Day 1 = 7 days out through Day 7 = show day). Auto-generated on first use. Each day shows carb loading targets, water manipulation guidance, and sodium protocol. Tap any day for full detail and editable notes.
Program History archives completed prep cycles with structured outcome data across 19 fields. Over time it becomes a personalized database of what actually works for your specific body, and automatically converts that data into actionable recommendations for your next prep.
Access via the Program History row on the Home tab or tap + from inside Program History to archive a cycle.
When your show date passes, a banner appears on the Home tab. Tap Archive This Prep to open the close-out form. The form auto-populates your start weight (oldest check-in), weeks of prep, check-in count, and training session count. You enter the remaining fields.
Tap any archived cycle to see the full breakdown: hero stats (start weight, stage weight, total lost, avg weekly loss, weeks, sessions), peak week macro snapshot, and all 19 structured fields color-coded green/orange/red.
This is the most valuable section. The app reads every structured data point and generates specific, evidence-based adjustments for next time, derived entirely from your own experience, not generic advice. Examples:
After archiving, open Settings. An Import from Past Prep section appears showing your most recent cycle. Tap Seed Settings from This Prep to pre-fill division, goal weight, and scaled starting macros for your next prep.
An AI coaching assistant powered by Claude. Add your Anthropic API key in Settings to activate it.
The assistant has full context about your competition profile, macro targets, training history, check-in feedback, and any coach notes stored in the Vault.
Previous sessions are stored and accessible from the chat history list.
A personal document library for files related to your prep. Import PDFs, text files, or images from your device or iCloud Drive.
Categories: Training, Nutrition, Peak Week, Posing, Supplements, Other. Use category chips at the top to filter.
The AI chat reads indexed chunks from Vault documents automatically, upload your coach's nutrition plan, training program, or posing feedback so Chat can reference it directly.
Coach's Vault reads from Apple Health, it never writes to it.
iOS prompts on first use. If denied: Settings → Privacy & Security → Health → Coach's Vault → enable each data type.
Coach's Vault includes an Apple Watch companion app for real-time workout tracking. Your full exercise program mirrors to the Watch so you can log sets, monitor heart rate, and track rest periods without touching your phone.
Your workout dated for the current day is sent to the Watch automatically, so you can leave your phone behind. Open CoachVault on the Watch and, if a workout is set for today, you'll see Today's Workout with its title and exercise list and a Start Workout button, tap it to track the whole session on your wrist. Everything you log syncs back to your iPhone's training log the next time the two are together. Only the workout dated for the actual day is pushed; if none is set, the Watch shows “No workout yet” with a Refresh button.
This stays current automatically, it updates whenever you open the iPhone app, generate a workout for today, or tap Refresh on the Watch.
You can also push a session on demand: open CoachVault on your Apple Watch first (it must be running and in range), then on iPhone open any Training Session from the Training tab and tap the Watch button (⌚ icon) at the top. The full exercise list transfers to your Watch immediately.
If the Watch button is grayed out or shows an unavailable alert, open the CoachVault app on your Watch and try again, both devices must be nearby with Bluetooth active.
Tap Done after finishing a set. The Watch plays a haptic confirmation and the rest timer starts automatically using the rest period configured for that exercise (default 60 seconds if none was set).
Use the < > chevron buttons at the bottom of the screen to move between exercises manually. This is useful if you need to skip an exercise, do them in a different order, or revisit a previous one.
Inside an active session on iPhone, tap the small circle (it fills to a target icon) to the left of any exercise name to mark it as the current movement. The Watch immediately jumps to that exercise and lands on its first incomplete set, so when you tap Done on the Watch the set is logged against the right movement. Starting a Watch workout automatically marks the first exercise as current.
Set counts stay in sync: If you add or remove sets for an exercise on the iPhone during an active workout, the Watch updates its "Set X / N" count to match in real time. Completing a set on either device advances both.
Tap End (top right) when the session is complete. The Watch sends a summary back to your iPhone, average heart rate, total active calories, and session duration. This data is automatically appended to your training session notes on iPhone. Tapping End on the Watch also stops the running workout timer on the iPhone (recording its elapsed duration) and clears any active rest timer, so you don't have to stop it separately on the phone.
The companion app records the session as a Traditional Strength Training workout in Apple Health. Heart rate and active calorie data stream live from Watch sensors throughout the session. You can review the recorded workout in the Fitness app or Activity rings after you tap End.