How to Track Your Gym Workouts With Apple Watch

Most people use their Apple Watch for running or cycling. But for strength training, it's arguably even more useful.

Here's why, and how to set it up properly.

The problem with your phone at the gym

Your phone is a distraction. You pick it up to log a set, you see a notification, you reply to a message, and suddenly two minutes of your rest time have disappeared.

That's not a discipline problem. That's a design problem. The phone isn't built for the gym.

Your Apple Watch is.

What you can do with RepEight on Apple Watch

RepEight's companion Apple Watch app lets you:

• Log sets directly from your wrist, tap to record reps and weight without touching your phone
• Track rest timers, know exactly how long you've been resting between sets
• View your active workout, see which exercise you're on and your previous performance
• Control your session, pause, skip exercises, or end the workout

Your phone stays in your bag, on the bench, or face-down. You stay focused.

How to start a workout from your wrist

1. Open RepEight on your iPhone and start a workout
2. Your Apple Watch will automatically show the active workout
3. Tap the set button on your watch when you complete each set
4. Enter your reps and weight using the watch's digital crown or quick-tap options
5. Your rest timer starts automatically

The session syncs between your iPhone and watch in real time, so when you're done, everything is already logged.

Rest timer, the underrated feature

Rest periods matter enormously for training quality.

If you're training for strength (4–6 reps), you need 3–5 minutes between sets to allow full phosphocreatine recovery. If you're training for hypertrophy (8–12 reps), 60–90 seconds is usually optimal.

Without a timer, most people underestimate their rest periods. They feel recovered and start the next set, but they're only 60 seconds in and still carrying fatigue from the previous set.

The rest timer on your wrist means you can sit down, close your eyes, actually recover, and know exactly when you're ready to go again.

Apple Watch vs. your phone for rest tracking

Feature	Phone	Apple Watch
Rest timer visible	Only if screen is on	Always visible on glance
Logging speed	Unlock → find app → log	One tap
Distraction risk	High	Low
Works with gloves	Awkward	Manageable

The watch wins on every dimension that matters for a focused training session.

Getting the most out of it

A few tips that make the watch experience significantly better:

Set your most-used weight increments in the RepEight settings. If you always add 2.5kg, you can pre-load that so logging is one tap instead of a scroll.

Keep the workout screen as your watch face during training. You can do this in the Watch app on iPhone, set a specific "Workout" watch face that opens straight to your active session.

Use the complication to open RepEight straight from your watch face. No scrolling through apps.

Does it work for every type of training?

RepEight's watch app works best for:

• Strength training, barbell, dumbbell, machine work
• Circuit training, log sets quickly between stations
• Supersets, manage multiple exercises in sequence

For running, cycling, or sports, Apple's built-in Workout app or a dedicated running app makes more sense. But for any gym session where you're moving weight, the watch is your best logging tool.

Why it matters for progress

The fastest way to make progress is to train consistently and track obsessively.

Every rep you log on your watch gets stored. Every session builds a record of where you were and what you need to beat. Over weeks and months, that data becomes a map of your progress.

The watch just makes it easier to log accurately, which means better data, which means smarter training decisions.

That's what RepEight is built for.