Spotter
An autoregulating workout app for the time-starved.
Spotter is a phone-first strength-training app that adapts to a busy clinical schedule, recommending the right session for the time available and autoregulating weight and rest set by set. It answers a concrete question for anyone training around an unpredictable life: can you still progress on limited time? Backed by exercise-science evidence, the answer it operationalizes is yes — as long as weekly volume and frequency floors are met.
The problem
Generic training apps assume a fixed schedule and ignore how much time you actually have on a given day. For a surgical resident, sessions get cut short, skipped, or rearranged constantly, and the real question is whether limited, irregular training can still drive progress. Spotter was built to make 'am I getting enough volume to progress' visible and to fit a useful session into whatever window exists.
What I built
A self-hosted web app with a FastAPI backend, SQLite store, and a static mobile UI added to the phone home screen. It logs lifts with per-set autoregulation (double-progression next-weight suggestions plus adaptive rest), a daily 'Today' recommender that auto-picks the most-overdue session and fits it to the available minutes, a weekly volume gauge scored against evidence-based hypertrophy bands, mobility and handstand-skill progressions, and a nightly automated coaching review. It is covered by a substantial test suite, with pure, unit-tested logic modules for the recommender, autoregulation rules, rest-period mobility, and session composition.
How it works
Each workout is logged set by set; the engine proposes the next load and rest based on reps and effort, and offers in-the-moment same-muscle exercise swaps so the plan survives whatever equipment a gym has. The recommender reads training history to surface overdue muscle groups, shapes the session to a chosen focus and duration, and layers in a readiness tier from a subjective daily check-in plus optional biometric trends — deliberately treating biometrics as monitor-only per the supporting evidence review. A nightly job reads the training database and writes a grounded review surfaced on the home screen.
Where it stands
In daily personal use as the author's primary training tool. The core loop — logging, autoregulation, the time-aware recommender, the volume gauge, mobility and handstand content, and the nightly coach — is live and tested. Remaining work includes deeper biometric sync, logging the zone-2 cardio recommendations so a weekly cardio gauge can exist, and an interactive intensity-level picker.