PareFit

Today’s gym list.

Every gym app tries to do too much.
This one doesn’t.

PareFit is your list of what to do at the gym. It opens to today. Tap an exercise to start a set; the app times your rest. That’s it.

Today’s exercise list — Thursday, Upper. Six exercises with weights and notes.

Rest timer mid-set — Chest Fly, 31.5 kg, with the inspirational phrase ‘The pause is the lift.’ above a 98-second countdown.

Rest-day scene — watercolor of an open book and a steaming cup of tea, with the line ‘Read a book.’

Ⅰ

What it does

Just enough.

Opens to today’s plan automatically.
Times your rest between sets — 120 seconds — and buzzes when it’s up, even with the screen off.
Holds one note and one photo per exercise — your machine, your weight, your cue. No stock images.
Syncs through your iCloud on every Apple device signed in to your Apple ID.
Open it on a rest day and get a gentle reminder that the gym can wait.

Ⅱ

What it doesn’t

Conspicuous absences, on purpose.

Track sets, reps, or weights over time.
Read or write to Apple Health.
Streaks or social sharing.
Collect any data about you. I don’t even have a backend.
Give you a bunch of options to set. There aren’t any.

Ⅲ

What I leaned on

Two citations.

Schoenfeld et al. (2016) compared 1-minute and 3-minute rest periods in trained lifters and found longer rests produced greater muscle growth. PareFit uses 120 seconds — the working compromise between the two. Long enough for recovery, short enough to keep you on task.

The curated plans are aligned with the 2026 ACSM Position Stand on resistance training — every major muscle group hit at least twice a week, compound work first, isolation last. PareFit isn’t a substitute for a coach or a doctor.

Ⅳ

Why I made this

A note from the maker.

I came to the gym late, and I’m still not entirely at home in there. When I started going alone, I realized I needed something to hold the plan.

Every gym app I tried was too fiddly: full of trends, charts, streaks, nudges, beeping. I just wanted a list I could touch with my finger, that wasn’t quietly logging my body to a server. So I made it for myself. Maybe someone else will find it useful too.

— uncle ❧

Ⅴ

The price

$4.99 Pay once, use forever. All your devices.
No subscription. No upsells. Nothing bugging you.

Download on the App Store

If PareFit doesn’t fit you, try Strong, Hevy, or Stronglifts. They do more, in case more is what you want.