Strong vs Hevy vs Intensiq: which workout log actually fits HIT?
Three apps, three philosophies. If you train high-intensity once a week, only one of them is built for the protocol you're actually running.
Most workout logs are spreadsheets with a logo. Strong and Hevy are excellent at that job. They let you record almost anything, in almost any format, for almost any kind of training. The problem is that 'almost anything' is exactly the wrong product for someone trying to run a clinical High Intensity Training protocol. Here's the head-to-head.
Strong
Strong is the polished, opinionated tracker for bodybuilding splits. Pre-built 5x5 and PPL templates, plate calculators, rest timers. If you train four to six days a week and the goal is volume, Strong is hard to beat. Clean UI, good charts, fast to log.
Where it fails for HIT: nothing in the app understands a single set to failure. Time-under-load isn't tracked. Slow cadence isn't enforced. The progression model assumes you're adding sets, not raising the bar on a single brutal one. You end up using 10% of the app and ignoring everything it's designed to push you toward.
Hevy
Hevy is Strong's faster, more flexible cousin. The social features are charming, the routine builder is generous, and the free tier is genuinely usable. It's the best general-purpose log on the market.
Same blind spot, though: Hevy assumes volume. The default chart shows total tonnage. The notifications nudge you toward streaks. The whole UX rewards showing up four times a week, not showing up once and going to true failure.
Intensiq
Intensiq isn't a log. It's a coach that happens to keep records. The session is decided before you walk in: five Big Five movements, one slow set each, 10/10 cadence, taken to true failure. The app counts the seconds out loud, watches your time-under-load, calls failure when the bar stops moving, and writes next week's prescription the moment you rack the weight.
- Live voice cadence. You can't accidentally use momentum.
- Time-to-failure tracking. The only number that actually predicts strength.
- Auto-progression. Hit 90s at failure, weight goes up; missed it, weight holds.
- Recovery-aware. Tells you if you're too soon, optimal, or overdue for the next session.
Which one should you use?
If you train conventionally. Multi-set, multi-day, hypertrophy-style. Strong or Hevy will serve you well. If you've decided the once-a-week, science-backed HIT protocol is the bet for the next forty years of your life, those apps are the wrong tool. Intensiq is the only one of the three built to actually run the protocol, beyond simply recording it.
A tracker tells you what you did. Intensiq tells you what to do. And then watches you do it.
