How Mitta sets your lift target

Every lift target comes from fixed rules in the app, not from the AI coach. The rules look at four things:

• Your last session with that exercise: the weight you used most, the reps you got on those sets, and the reps in reserve (RIR) if you logged it.
• The rep range in your plan for that exercise, for example 6 to 8.
• The smallest weight step for that exercise. It is 2.5 kg unless the exercise says otherwise.
• Your experience level: beginner, intermediate or advanced.

Tap Why? next to a target and you see the rule that was used and your own numbers. The method underneath is double progression, so this article does not repeat how it works. It covers what Mitta does on top of it.

When Mitta builds a plan, the range depends on the role of the exercise: 6 to 10 reps for main lifts, 8 to 12 for secondary lifts and 10 to 15 for isolation exercises. If your goal is strength, main lifts use 4 to 6 and secondary lifts 6 to 10. A range that would be too narrow is widened so there is room to progress.

These are common ranges, not a magic number. A review of 21 trials found that low and high loads build a similar amount of muscle when sets are taken close to failure, while heavy loads give a bigger gain in maximal strength.³ The ACSM position stand also recommends going up in load once you can do one to two reps more than the target.¹

Take a bench press with 3 sets and a range of 6 to 8, at an intermediate level and a 2.5 kg step. You log what you did, and Mitta uses the weakest set at your top weight:

Adding reps before weight is a sound way to progress: in an 8-week trial with 43 trained people, adding reps and adding load gave similar results.² The last row is why a target can go down. Why a lift target can go down goes into it.

One adjustment on the way up: if every set at your top weight had 3 or more reps in reserve, the target goes up by two reps instead of one, never past the top of the range.

• You went to failure. If every set reached the top of the range but your last set was at RIR 0 (nothing left), you stay at the same weight and repeat it with 1 rep in reserve before going up.
• The next step is big. If one weight step is more than 10% of the weight, as on a light lateral raise, the target first goes 2 reps above the range, then up.
• Bodyweight exercises. You add reps up to the top of the range, then the target is to add weight (belt or vest) or pick a harder variation.
• Pain. If you flagged pain of moderate or more on any set last time, the target is not heavier. It is about 10% lighter, at the bottom of the range, and Mitta shows two alternative exercises. If it keeps happening, see a healthcare professional. How the pain flag works
• Light week. In a light week of a training block (Pro), the target is the weight of your last normal session, at the bottom of the range, with half the sets (rounded up) and 3 to 4 reps in reserve. Light weeks do not count towards your next target. How training blocks work
• Lighter after the check-in. If your check-in shows a short night with low energy, or heavy soreness, and you choose to train lighter, you get 1 set less and 1 rep less per exercise, never below the bottom of the range. How the check-in changes your session

Beginners recover from faster jumps, so for them the weight goes up from the middle of the range instead of the top. With a range of 6 to 8 the middle is 7. If all sets hit 7 reps, the next target is 82.5 kg × 6 instead of another rep at 80 kg. It also goes up right away when every set had 3 or more reps in reserve.

On barbell or machine squats and hinges the jump is two steps (5 kg). The faster rule stops if one step would be more than 10% of the weight, or if in your last 6 sessions you were twice below the bottom of the range. After that it is plain double progression. How your experience level changes your plan

With no history, Mitta has no last session to work from. For a bench press, squat or deadlift (and a few close variations) it uses the lifts you gave at the start. It works out a weight you could do for the bottom of the range with about 2 reps in reserve, rounded down to a weight step, so the first session errs on the light side. For other exercises you get a plain line: pick a weight you can do for the range with 1 to 3 reps in reserve (2 to 3 for beginners).

Estimated 1RM does not set your target. It uses the Epley formula, weight × (1 + reps ÷ 30), and counts reps in reserve as extra reps (up to 4). 80 kg × 8 at RIR 2 counts as 10 reps, so about 106.7 kg. Sets of more than 15 reps give no estimate. Mitta uses it for the progress charts and to spot a plateau: the best estimate of your last 3 sessions is not higher than the best of the 3 before, once there are at least 6 sessions. Beginners see it only if they switch on all numbers. What is estimated 1RM