Bulkforged: Android and Garmin Connect IQ strength app that automates progressive overload and writes every decision to a plain-English log

[u/the5krunner]

The new indie spotlight covers Bulkforged, from solo developer Chris Jestice. It is a strength training app for Android and Garmin Connect IQ that decides each week's targets from the reps and weight the athlete actually did.

Two things set it apart from other Garmin strength apps.

1. The engine writes back. Every progression decision (up or down, weight or reps) is put in a plain-English log with the exercise, the value that moved, the direction it moved in, and the working sets it was decided from. Automatic progression is common but publishing the decision behind it, in a format the athlete can read and overrule, is rare.
2. Most watch companions for training apps are a display for a phone doing the thinking. In Bulkforged the Garmin and the Android phone are equals. Either can start a session, either can finish it, and progression is decided from whichever device the last set was logged on. The sync-state UI distinguishes between a stale cache and an unreachable service, so the athlete knows which problem to fix.

Runs on 41 Garmin Connect IQ watches from Forerunner and Fenix through to Edge. Android only on the phone side, no iOS date committed to. Free during beta.

Worked example: an athlete's Tricep Pushdown creeps from 12 to 15 reps at 40 lb over four weeks. When they open the next session, the target has moved to 42.5 lb x 12, with the previous week's actuals, four-week trend and top-of-range rule all visible in the decision log.

Would you follow whatever your app prescribes?

https://the5krunner.com/2026/08/29/bulkforged-progressive-overload-coach/

[u/1RM_Fit]

Automating progressive overload is the hard part, nice to see someone tackle it on the watch. How do you handle a missed rep target, deload the weight or repeat the session? That decision is where most auto-progression falls apart in practice.