Ask ChatRPE to start a live session from your workout plan. It can show the current exercise, prescription, progress, and rest timer while you work through the session.
Report completed sets and changes as you go. When you finish, the coach can archive the session into your training history, where you can review it alongside other workouts.
What a step-by-step session actually looks like
Ask for it in plain language ("start a push day," "walk me through this workout," "guide me through a 20-minute mobility flow") and ChatRPE opens a live session built from what you said. A warm-up is a legitimate session of its own here, and how to warm up before a workout covers what belongs in one. The session carries:
- An ordered list of steps. Sets, intervals, rounds, drills, or miles (whatever the session is made of) with the current one highlighted and finished ones checked off.
- The prescription for the step you are on, like "225 lb × 5" or "8:45 /mi pace," so you are not scrolling back to a plan between sets.
- Progress in the right unit, such as "Set 2 of 5," "Round 3," or "Mile 1.4."
- Timers you asked for, including a countdown rest timer that can restart itself automatically each time you move to the next set.
- What is coming up next, so you can set up the next lift before the rest period ends.
On iPhone, that surface follows you to the Lock Screen and the Dynamic Island as a Live Activity, so you glance at your phone between sets instead of unlocking it and finding your place again. It carries the session title, the current step and its prescription, the next item, a progress bar through the session, and the featured timer, and the countdown ticks on its own rather than waiting for the app to push it an update. In a browser, the same live panel sits above the chat box while the session runs, with the same current step, next-up line, progress, and checklist.
The coaching arrives in words, on the step you are actually on, which is why it works with the phone face-down on the bench between sets.
"Start a live push day: bench 4x5 at 185, incline dumbbells 3x10, cable flyes 3x15, with a two-minute rest timer between sets. Call each set and tell me when to start the next one."
The rest timer runs itself
This is where a guided session beats a standalone rest timer app. You do not start the clock; the coach does, at the moment you report the set is done. If you asked for a two-minute rest, the timer counts down from two minutes and restarts on its own when the session advances to the next set. If today calls for three minutes on the top set and ninety seconds on back-offs, say so and the session uses both.
And it tells you when it is over. On iPhone, a finished countdown fires a time-sensitive alert with sound, scheduled for the timer's own end time, so it reaches you whether ChatRPE is open, in your pocket, or closed, and it respects your mute switch, Focus, and notification settings rather than working around them. That is what makes the rest timer usable when you are not looking at the screen. In a browser the countdown is visual, so keep the tab in view there.
Interval timer app, without the second app
The same mechanism handles interval work. A HIIT circuit, a Tabata block, or a set of running intervals is just an ordered list of steps with timed rounds attached, so "guide me through 8 rounds of 30 seconds on, 90 seconds off" runs as a live session instead of something you configure in a separate interval timer app. Every round is a step with its own countdown, the alert calls the switch, and the finished circuit archives itself.
That makes ChatRPE a workable HIIT timer app for anyone who would rather say the intervals than tap them into a grid, and it is the same live session that carries a beginner run-walk, which the how to start running guide covers as an eight-week progression.
Talk to the session while it is running
A guided workout only helps if it can be interrupted. Tell ChatRPE that the second set moved slower than expected, that the squat rack is taken, or that your shoulder feels off, and the coach adjusts the remaining steps rather than marching you through a plan that stopped making sense. That is the part a fixed timer or a printed program cannot do.
On iOS, you never have to touch the screen to do it. Real Siri App Shortcuts ("Start a workout with ChatRPE," "Log with ChatRPE," "Ask ChatRPE") drive the session by voice, which is covered in full in the hands-free workout logging guide. The start phrase takes the kind of session with it, so "start a run with ChatRPE," "begin a mobility session with ChatRPE," and "start my yoga with ChatRPE" all open the right kind of live session without unlocking the phone. Between sets, "log with ChatRPE, that was an RPE 9" is enough for the coach to reconsider the next prescription.
The session becomes history, not a screenshot
When you finish, ChatRPE archives the session into your workout log under the right activity type, with whatever notes you added along the way. Nothing gets retyped. From there it behaves like every other entry in your Universal Logbook: it counts toward PR detection and streaks, shows up in progressive overload trends, and appears in charts and heatmaps alongside your cardio, bodyweight, and sleep.
Finishing a session avoids re-saving steps already linked to logged entries. If you abandon a session and want no archive, ask to cancel it; if you want a partial workout saved, say what you completed before finishing.
That is the loop most guided workout apps are missing. They can play you through a session, but the session evaporates when it ends. Here, being guided through the workout is the same act as logging it, and because the finished session is structured data, "how many working sets did that put me at this week?" is a question the coach can actually answer, which the sets per week guide makes the case for tracking.
Guided workouts when you are starting out
If you are newer to lifting, the hard part is rarely motivation. It is not knowing whether the next set is supposed to be the same weight, heavier, or dropped. A guided session removes that decision in the moment: the coach names the load, holds the rest, and answers "is this too heavy?" while you are standing at the bar. It can answer technique questions between sets too: "was that deep enough?", and you can send a photo of a rep mid-session, which the how to squat guide covers for the lift most beginners ask about.
Pair it with the beginner workout plan guide to get the program in the first place, or the AI workout planner if you want the whole week built before you walk in. Then start the live session and let ChatRPE call it set by set.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best guided workout app if I already have a program?
One that runs your program instead of selling you a new one. Paste or describe the session you are doing and ChatRPE turns it into a live, step-by-step session (current set, target load, rest timer, and progress) then saves it to your history when you finish, so you are not choosing between following a plan and logging it.
Does ChatRPE work as a workout timer app?
Yes, inside a live session. You can ask for a countdown rest timer between sets, a running clock for the whole workout, or timed intervals for a circuit, and the coach starts, stops, and resets them as the session moves. The timer is visible on the live panel and, on iPhone, on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island, where a finished countdown also sounds a time-sensitive alert so you do not have to watch it.
Can ChatRPE guide a beginner through a workout step by step?
Yes. Ask it to walk you through the session and it will call one step at a time with the load or effort target attached, hold the rest between sets, and answer questions mid-workout, such as whether a weight was too heavy or how a lift should feel. It coaches through text and voice; it is not a video class app, and it does not replace medical advice if something hurts.
What is the best interval timer app for HIIT?
The one you do not have to configure. Instead of building a work/rest grid in a dedicated HIIT timer app, describe the circuit ("8 rounds of 30 seconds on, 90 seconds off") and ChatRPE runs it as a live session: each round is a step with its own countdown, the alert calls the switch on iPhone, and the finished circuit is saved to your history instead of disappearing when you close the timer.
Can I run a guided session hands-free?
On iOS, yes. Say "Start a workout with ChatRPE" to Siri to open the session without unlocking your phone, then use "Log with ChatRPE" between sets to report what you did and move the session forward. The full setup is in the hands-free workout logging guide.
Does the guided session get saved to my workout history?
Yes. That is the point. Finishing the session archives it as a structured entry in the same logbook that holds your other workouts, meals, weight, and habits, so the next session's targets are informed by the one you just finished rather than starting from a blank screen.