Beginner lifter report: the first four weeks in Bodywise

Aggregate figures from Bodywise Coach users who described themselves as beginners when they set up the app: how often they trained, whether they were still logging in week four, and how their recorded working loads changed. Compiled by Chris Mann Dip.IOPN, founder & lead performance nutritionist.

What we can and cannot conclude

• These figures describe what happened in this Bodywise sample only.
• Bodywise users choose to use the app, so they are a self-selected group, not a representative sample of UK lifters or of beginners generally.
• This is observational app data. It cannot show that the app, a plan or any behaviour caused a result.
• An increase in recorded load is not a measured strength test.

Methodology

• Included: active accounts whose onboarding answer to training experience was “Never trained consistently” or “New beginner”, with at least one completed session.
• Excluded: admin accounts, inactive accounts, other experience answers or no answer, and anyone whose first session was less than 28 days before the report date.
• Completed session: marked complete, with a completion time and at least one set marked complete.
• Day 0: the person’s first completed session. Week one is days 0–6; week four is days 21–27.
• Frequency: completed sessions in days 0–27 divided by four; median across people.
• Load: same exercise only (the exercise actually performed), heaviest completed-set load in week one against weeks two to four. Only people with at least one such comparison count.
• Country: not used. Few users have confirmed a country, so no UK-only figure is published.

Limitations

• Experience level is self-reported and reflects the current onboarding answer, which a person can change later.
• Only logged training counts; sessions done without logging are invisible.
• Loads depend on what people type in, and on equipment and units they choose.

Privacy and aggregation rules

Nothing is published unless at least 25 people sit behind it. A share is withheld if fewer than 5 people fall on either side of it, and when one frequency band is withheld the next-smallest is withheld too, so hidden values cannot be worked out by subtraction. The figures use no names, locations, messages or health records, and no individual rows or dates are ever published.

How to cite this report

Bodywise Coach (2026) Bodywise beginner lifter report: the first four weeks. Version 2026-09-30 (methodology 2.0). Available at: https://bodywise.io/uk-beginner-lifter-report.

The figures refresh as the sample grows, so please quote the version you used. For how adding load fits into training, see progressive overload explained.