Frequently Asked Questions

No. noBS Workout is a genuine one-time purchase — no subscription, no recurring charges, no in-app purchases to unlock anything.

Your purchase includes future updates too, at no extra cost.

Tabata is a form of high-intensity interval training — 20 seconds of maximum effort followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated across multiple sets — shown to improve both aerobic and anaerobic fitness more efficiently than steady-state cardio.

The original 1996 research by Dr. Izumi Tabata found that this protocol improved VO₂ max by up to 15% in just six weeks. The short rest window keeps your heart rate elevated, burning more calories and driving adaptation faster.

noBS Workout runs the real protocol, not an approximation — switch to it any time in Customise → Workout Style.

Three days a week is the sweet spot where science and real life meet — research consistently shows it produces the same muscle and strength gains as training six days a week when total weekly volume is matched, while giving your body 48–72 hours to recover and grow between sessions.

Muscle protein synthesis stays elevated for roughly 24–72 hours after a session. Training again before that window closes can interrupt recovery. Three days lets you hit each muscle group enough to drive adaptation without accumulating fatigue.

It also fits the rest of your life. A sustainable three-day routine beats an ambitious five-day plan you can't stick to.

Fewer, controlled reps with proper load means more time under tension per rep — and that's where the real stimulus for growth comes from.

Time under tension (TUT) refers to how long your muscles are under load during a set. Slowing down and controlling each rep recruits more muscle fibres and increases metabolic stress — both key drivers of hypertrophy.

8 slow, controlled reps creates a stronger growth signal than 15 rushed reps where momentum does half the work. It also reduces injury risk by keeping joints loaded in a controlled manner.

Your heart rate needs time to come back down, and your muscles need time to actually relax before stretching does much good — going straight into a stretch while everything's still fired up from training doesn't give you the same benefit as easing into it.

Think of it like resting a steak after cooking — cut into it too early and everything you were working toward runs straight out. Muscles are similar: give them the 5 minutes to actually let go, rather than stretching against tension that hasn't released yet.

The founder. The presets reflect how he personally likes to train — a favourite combination of compound movements that has worked across gyms, hotel rooms, and everything in between.

On purpose. The moment an app remembers what you lifted last time, it's easy to start chasing that number instead of just training — and that's exactly the kind of pressure noBS was built to remove.

Some days you're strong. Some days you're not. If last week's weight doesn't feel right today, dial it back — nothing here is comparing you to your past self or telling you that's a step backward.

Does it really matter how much you lifted? Pick a weight you can hit your reps with, focus on the activity itself, and move on. Track numbers elsewhere if that's genuinely useful to you — it just doesn't need to live inside your workout timer.

No — and that's deliberate. Wearable syncing, Bluetooth pairing, and extra permissions are exactly the kind of complexity noBS tries to stay out of.

Your watch's own app is already better at heart rate than this one would ever be — wear it alongside noBS if that's useful to you, but the timer itself sticks to one job: telling you when to work and when to rest.

No. "No streaks, meal plans, calorie counters or weight trackers" is the very first thing this app tells you, right in onboarding — that's not a missing feature, it's the whole point.

Counting calories genuinely helps some people and burns others out; either way, it's a different app's job. This one just gets you training.

On purpose. Building and maintaining a proper video or GIF library for every exercise is a whole product in itself — one this app deliberately isn't trying to be. Instead, the search icon next to any exercise lets you look it up yourself, so you're not locked into whatever got filmed or licensed for this app specifically.

It's a bit less polished than a purpose-built library, but it means you can find real instruction for anything, not just what we happened to cover.

Yes. The Customise screen lets you choose between Body Weight, Dumbbells, or Gym equipment, and you can override individual exercises per day if you prefer specific movements — not just for equipment reasons.

If something doesn't feel right for you — an old injury, limited mobility, whatever the reason — swap it for something else in that same day's slot. The library includes gentler alternatives for common trouble spots too, like Machine Chest Press or Svend Press instead of heavy pressing, or Good Mornings and Hip Abduction instead of squats. This app can't tell you what's appropriate for your body — that's between you and whoever you see for it — but the option to swap is always there.

No. Do any day, any order, any time. Day 1 Push on a Wednesday, Day 3 Legs on a Friday — it's entirely up to you. noBS doesn't track streaks or penalise missed days.

Yes — treat the three days as slots, not labels. Customise → Workout Template lets you swap in whichever exercises you actually want for each slot, so "Day 1 · Push" can just as easily become an upper-body day, a full-body day, or anything else that fits your split.

The structure (3 days, Tabata/HIIT timing, sets and rest) stays the same — only which exercises fill each slot is up to you.

Tap the search icon next to any exercise — on its tile during a workout, or right in the exercise picker while choosing one in Customise or mid-workout Swap. It opens a search for exactly that exercise, so you can see how it's done before you commit to it.

Yes. Your workout progress is saved automatically as you go. If the app closes unexpectedly, you'll be prompted to resume exactly where you left off when you reopen it.

Yes — all data is stored locally on your device, which means uninstalling the app removes your workout history and settings. This is a deliberate design choice: your data never leaves your phone and is never stored on a server.

If you want to keep a record before uninstalling, export a backup first from Backup & Restore.

Not automatically — same reasoning as above, no cloud account tying your data together. But you don't have to start fresh: Backup & Restore lets you export everything to a file and bring it back on your new phone, including switching between Android and iPhone.

More than you might think. Both Android and iOS have their own built-in device backup (Google Auto Backup, iCloud Backup) that runs quietly in the background — separate from anything this app does — and it typically covers app data like this one's. If it's enabled on your phone, your workout history can often be restored automatically when you set up a new device, even if the old one was lost, stolen, or destroyed.

It's not instant — it runs periodically, not after every workout — and it depends on that system backup actually being turned on, which is outside this app's control. Worth checking it's enabled in your phone's own settings if you want to be sure.

For a phone swap you're doing on purpose, or just extra peace of mind either way, Backup & Restore in the menu lets you export a copy yourself any time.

Training itself, yes — no internet connection is needed. The app runs entirely on your device, and your workout history, preferences, and everything else are stored locally.

The only thing that needs a connection is the optional exercise lookup (the search icon next to an exercise) — that opens a search in your browser. If you're offline, that search icon simply stays hidden until you're back online — so you likely won't even notice the difference, but we'd rather be upfront about it.

The Privacy Policy and Terms links also point to nobsworkout.app rather than living in the app itself — baking in legal pages you'll look at once, if ever, felt like unnecessary bloat.