← All guides

Get fitter and keep it up

Guides · Start with your goal · General fitness

General fitness is about feeling and moving better, week after week, without chasing a number on the scale. The training itself is simple. Keeping it going when life gets busy is the real work. This guide covers how much activity is enough, what tends to get in the way, and how Strathlon helps you keep the habit.

Before you start: this is general fitness education, not medical advice. If you have a health condition, or you're unsure whether a new programme is safe for you, speak to a qualified professional first.

On this page

  1. The science, briefly
  2. What gets in the way
  3. How Strathlon helps you keep going
  4. Use your numbers to decide
  5. Losing fat and building muscle together
  6. Your sport, and where to read more
  7. Staying safe
  8. References

1. The science, briefly

  • How much is enough. UK and World Health Organization guidance asks adults for at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, or a mix of the two, plus muscle-strengthening work on at least two days a week.[1][2] Moderate means you can still talk but not sing.[6]
  • What it does for you. Regular activity is good for your heart, keeps you strong as you age, and helps with sleep and mood.[2] It also eases low mood and anxiety, even in people without a diagnosis.[3]
  • Fitter doesn't have to mean lighter. Your weight can stay much the same while you get fitter and stronger. For this goal, Strathlon keeps your calories close to maintenance, with a little more on training days, and sets your protein at 1.8 g per kg of body weight.

2. What gets in the way

  • Life gets busy. Work, family and travel push sessions out, and a routine that slips for a week can quietly stop.
  • Nothing seems to change. When the scale is the only measure and it barely moves, motivation fades, even though you are getting fitter.
  • One missed day isn't the problem. In a study of people building a new daily habit, missing a single day did not hold them back.[4] Just be back for the next one.

3. How Strathlon helps you keep going

  • A plan that fits your week. Your gym days follow one weekly pattern placed around any sport days you've set. With double days turned off, if not every gym day fits around your sport, the Plan tab tells you how many did.
  • Progress you can see. On Progress, the Consistency tile shows up to 12 weeks of training as blocks with your longest streak, and Sessions shows the last seven days against your own average.
  • Quick food logging. On the AI Coach tab, photograph your plate, a pack's barcode or its nutrition label, or type what you ate, then tap Add to Tracker. That keeps you close to your target without weighing everything. These logging tools are part of the AI Coach subscription; without it you can type your day's calories into the Tracker yourself.

4. Use your numbers to decide

  • Ate more than usual? Go for a walk or do something active, then log it: on the Plan tab, tap Add activity. Your target for the day rises by the app's estimate, so you can see the day is still close to balance.
  • Watch the training, not just the scale. Consistency, Sessions and Strength history on Progress tell you more about this goal than your weight does.

5. Losing fat and building muscle together

If you picked both Fat Loss and Muscle Gain, Strathlon treats that as recomposition: changing what your body is made of rather than what it weighs. Your calories sit close to maintenance, with a little more on training days, and your protein is high, at 2.3 g per kg of body weight, the same as Muscle Gain.

Recomposition works best for people who are new to lifting, returning after a break or carrying more body fat, and it is slow for lean, experienced lifters.[5] Because you may lose fat and add muscle at the same time, the scale can barely move while your shape changes. Progress photos on the Photos tab, how your clothes fit and rising lifts show it better than your weight. There is more in body recomposition.

6. Your sport, and where to read more

If you play a sport, set your match and practice days so your gym days are placed around them. Each sport has its own fuelling and strength guide.

7. Staying safe

  • Under 18, or your answers to the food questions in setup suggest care is needed? The app keeps your calories at maintenance.
  • Pregnant or breastfeeding? The app sets no calorie target at all and asks you to follow your midwife's or doctor's guidance on eating.

None of this replaces medical advice. If you have a health condition, or you're unsure whether a plan is safe for you, speak to your GP or a registered dietitian first.

References

The figures in this guide come from the sources below. Where a number reflects a professional body's guidance, the citation names that body and its country. Facts about how Strathlon works come from the app itself.

  1. UK Chief Medical Officers' Physical Activity Guidelines. Department of Health and Social Care (United Kingdom), first published 2019. At least 150 minutes of moderate activity, 75 minutes of vigorous activity or a mix each week, plus muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days. gov.uk
  2. Bull FC, Al-Ansari SS, Biddle S, et al. World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2020;54(24):1451–1462. Issued by the World Health Organization (WHO, international). PMC7719906
  3. Rebar AL, Stanton R, Geard D, et al. A meta-meta-analysis of the effect of physical activity on depression and anxiety in non-clinical adult populations. Health Psychology Review. 2015;9(3):366–378. PubMed 25739893
  4. Lally P, van Jaarsveld CHM, Potts HWW, Wardle J. How are habits formed: modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2010;40(6):998–1009. Missing one opportunity to perform the behaviour did not materially affect the habit formation process. doi:10.1002/ejsp.674
  5. Barakat C, Pearson J, Escalante G, Campbell B, De Souza EO. Body recomposition: can trained individuals build muscle and lose fat at the same time? Strength and Conditioning Journal. 2020;42(5):7–21. doi:10.1519/SSC.0000000000000584
  6. National Health Service (NHS, United Kingdom). Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64. Describes moderate activity as being able to talk but not sing. nhs.uk

This is general educational information rather than medical, dietary or coaching advice. Figures are population-level guides from published research, and individual results vary. Anyone with a health condition, a history of disordered eating, or who is pregnant or postpartum should consult a qualified physician or registered dietitian before starting or changing an exercise or nutrition programme. See our Terms for more.

← All guides · Lose fat · Build muscle · Get fitter · Fuel your sport · Help · Home