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Best Hypertrophy App in 2026
Updated
Building muscle comes down to enough hard sets for each muscle every week, kept up and progressed over months. Most workout apps record the sets. Few add them up per muscle, and fewer write the program for you. Here is what a hypertrophy app has to do, and how Ægir Iron (also written Aegir Iron) does it.
What a hypertrophy app has to do
- Count sets per muscle, not per exercise. Research on muscle growth measures volume as hard sets per muscle per week, and about 10 is a well-supported floor (Schoenfeld, Ogborn & Krieger, 2017). A row of bench press trains chest, triceps and front delts, so the app has to credit all three.
- Prescribe rep ranges. Size work is written as "3 sets of 8 to 12", and the next weight is earned when every set reaches the top of the range. That is double progression, and the app has to store the range rather than a single number.
- Hold volume across a block. For hypertrophy the extra sets are the progression. A program that cuts sets as the weight climbs, the way a strength block does, gives you less of what you came for.
- Show what a program trains before you run it. A per-muscle chart of the planned week catches the missing hamstring work before you spend twelve weeks on it.
- Run the split you want. Full body on three days, upper/lower on four, push/pull/legs on six, or a body-part split.
How Ægir Iron handles it
This page is written by Ægir Labs, the maker of Ægir Iron. Here is what the app does for hypertrophy specifically.
The Program Wizard's Strength & Muscle tile asks how the program should lean. "More volume" is the hypertrophy end: more sets and reps, on an upper/lower or push/pull/legs split depending on how many days you train, with loads held near 82 percent of a one-rep max and set counts that never drop as the weights climb. "A bit of both" runs whole-body sessions two or three days a week. Before anything is written, the last screen charts what the week trains per muscle, so you can change it while it is still a plan.
Once you train, the Body Map colours each muscle by its working sets over the last seven days against a target of about 10 for most muscles, so a lagging muscle shows up in red. A compound lift credits each muscle in proportion to how much it works, and warm-up sets never count. The same counting runs on any program before you load it, with the program muscle analyzer. PRs are tracked at every rep count from 1 to 15, so a new best set of 10 on the leg press counts as progress even when your heavy singles have not moved.
Individual lifters get the entire platform free, with no time limit and no card. Only coaches who run a roster pay. Questions go to a person: email us.
Ready-to-run hypertrophy programs
Want a plan now rather than a generated one? These load in a couple of taps, and every session stays editable.
| Program | Split | Days a week | How it progresses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Push Pull Legs Hypertrophy | Push/pull/legs | 6 | Three blocks over ten weeks: 4 sets of 12 at RPE 6, then 4 of 10 at RPE 7, then 5 of 8 at RPE 8 |
| Metallicdpa's PPL | Push/pull/legs | 6 | A main barbell lift on a rep-out that climbs every workout, rep ranges behind it |
| Dumbbell PPL | Push/pull/legs | 6 | Dumbbells, a bench and a pull-up bar, progressing on reps rather than percentages |
| Lyle McDonald's Generic Bulking Routine | Upper/lower | 4 | Every muscle twice a week, double progression, no maxes needed |
| Upper / Lower Split | Upper/lower | 4 | Ten weeks, balanced between strength and size |
| General Gainz Bodybuilding | Body-part | 4 | Rep maxes, then pushing reps toward 20 at the same weight before adding load |
If you want heavy compounds as well as size work, PHUL, PHAT and Jacked & Tan 2.0 run both in the same week. They are on the powerbuilding app page.
Questions
What is the best app for hypertrophy training?
Look for one that counts weekly sets per muscle, prescribes rep ranges with double progression, and does not cut volume as a block goes on. Ægir Iron does all three, writes upper/lower, push/pull/legs and full-body programs around your schedule, and is free for individual lifters.
Is there an app that tracks sets per muscle per week?
Yes. Ægir Iron credits every logged working set to the muscles it trains, in proportion to how much each one works, and shows the weekly total for each muscle against a target of about 10 sets for most muscles. Warm-up sets are left out. It can run the same count on a program before you start it.
Which app has upper/lower or push/pull/legs programs for building muscle?
Ægir Iron has both built in, free. Lyle McDonald's Generic Bulking Routine runs four days of upper and lower, and Push Pull Legs Hypertrophy, Metallicdpa's PPL and Dumbbell PPL run six. On fewer days, the Program Wizard writes one around the days you have: on two or three days a week it trains the whole body each session.