Latest Calisteniapp release - v26.8.0

Calisteniapp v26.8.0: more context in your records, now also in German

This v26.8.0 gives you more context on your strength records and adds German to the app languages.

The highlights this month:

• Check estimated strength records (1RM, 2RM, 3RM and 5RM) even if you don’t have an exact mark logged.
• Train with Calisteniapp in German too.
• Updated exercise content and cleaner visual details in Programs and planning.

If you want to know how those estimates are calculated and how to use them, keep reading.

Estimate your strength records

When you train with added weight, knowing how much you can move helps you plan progression. Until now, that reference only existed if you already had an exact mark logged.

With v26.8.0, your personal records can give you that reference even if you haven’t tested that number yet. From your added-weight workouts, Calisteniapp estimates your 1RM, 2RM, 3RM and 5RM. These marks are labeled as estimates: they are there to guide your progress.

What an RM is

An nRM is the heaviest added weight you can complete for n reps with good technique. 1RM is one rep. 5RM is five.

Testing it has a cost: fatigue, more risk, and a day that stops being training. That’s why strength work uses formulas that turn a submaximal set into an estimate for other ranges. They don’t replace a test. They give you a reference for choosing the added weight in your next session.

How we calculate it: the Epley formula

We use the Epley formula, one of the most widely used ways to estimate 1RM in the low-rep range:

1RM = added weight × (1 + reps / 30)

An example. You do 5 pull-ups with +45 kg:

Estimated 1RM = 45 × (1 + 5/30) = 45 × 1.167 = 52.5 kg

That doesn’t ask you to go for 52.5 kg tomorrow. Based on that set, your single-rep ceiling would sit around that added weight.

To estimate another RM, we invert the same formula. A 2RM from that 5×45:

2RM = 52.5 / (1 + 2/30) ≈ 49.2 kg

Same logic, same criteria. If you already moved an added weight for one rep, that mark is the 1RM. The formula doesn’t rewrite it.

Why Epley, and why only up to 10 reps

We chose Epley for three reasons:

• It’s transparent. You can recalculate it by hand.
• It’s invertible. One rule takes you from a 5RM to a 2RM, or from a 3RM to a 1RM.
• It fits the range where it works best: 1 to 10 reps.

Above 10, fatigue, technique and the energy system change. The estimate loses reliability. That’s why the app doesn’t estimate from sets of 11 or more. 15×20 kg can be good volume work; it isn’t a good max-strength test.

On screen we focus on the planning classics: 1RM, 2RM, 3RM and 5RM.

Added weight only, not body weight

This is the most calisthenics-specific decision in the feature.

In a squat, the 1RM is the bar. In a weighted pull-up, the number you usually chase is the added weight: +20, +40, +60. Body weight is already in the movement, but it isn’t the record you log.

If we put body weight into the formula, a change in body composition would look like a change in strength, and the result would stop speaking the same language as your records. That’s why the calculation uses added weight only. You estimate kilos of extra load, which is what you want to progress.

How the app picks the reference

It doesn’t pick a random workout. The criteria are:

1. Only completed sets of the exercise (or its weighted equivalent), with positive added weight.
2. If you already have that exact mark, that one is shown. A real 2RM is not replaced by an estimate.
3. If you don’t, it looks at your best known marks between 1 and 10 reps, estimates the RM you’re viewing, and keeps the highest estimate.
4. It tells you where it came from: “Estimated from your 3RM”.

Keeping the highest estimate answers a concrete question: given your best evidence of strength, what added weight does this RM imply. If a 5RM and a 3RM say different things, the reference is the one that points to more capacity.

That asks for honesty when you log. Epley assumes a set near the limit. Five easy reps with 45 kg are not a 5RM: the estimate would overshoot. That’s why the app labels them as estimates and doesn’t treat them as an official record.

Estimates are for you. They don’t appear on the public detail of a record.

How to use it

Open it on a personal record for a weighted exercise and switch between 1RM, 2RM, 3RM and 5RM.

• If you’ve already done it, you’ll see the podium and the history.
• If you haven’t, you’ll see the estimate, the source and the disclaimer.

It helps you choose the added weight for the next session, translate a solid 5RM into a 1RM or 3RM reference, and plan percentages (for example, work at 80% of your estimated 1RM) with more judgment. If you want an official mark, test it carefully. The estimate is a reference from what you already logged.

Keep logging added weight on your sets. The more consistent those logs are — completed sets, real added weight, 1-to-10 ranges close to the stimulus you want to measure — the more useful that reference will be.

Calisteniapp in German too

We added German to the languages available in the app: interface, content and training cues adapted. If you train in German, you can now do it in Calisteniapp in your language too.

Fixes and improvements

• We updated and corrected exercise content so the cues and searches are more useful.
• We adjusted visual details in Programs and planning screens.
• We included minor fixes and stability improvements.

Thanks for training with us. If something is blocking you (or you notice any issue after updating), write to us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/calisteniapp/), in our Discord community or by email at info@calisteniapp.com.

• Iñaki Tajes CEO and co-founder