Thanks for sharing, interesting...
Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
21–30 of 40 posts
Re: Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
#22Very cool! I like the simplicity of it. Right now I'm working on something similar for myself (and some of my family), but maybe other people find it potentially interesting too? Essentially I'm building a webapp that each time I use it will arrange random ~5-7 lower back exercises from a list of ~25 for a total of 10 minutes session. Then it will guide me (only time and name of exercise) through the workout session…
I’ve also been toying with a timer based app that incorporates some randomness, which I feel is usually missing or poorly handled in fitness apps. Some random exercises and variable-range durations should improve motivation and give your body a better workout.
To quote Arnie: “You have to shock the muscle, and you have to trick the muscle. The body will adapt to anything you do, so you have to keep it guessing. That’s how you grow.”
Re: Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
#23Congrats. How did you decide the amount of exercises and when do you log it? How much do your exercise file grow? I can't count how many times I have thought about something like this and have decided to build one for myself which includes my liquid, meals, workout, and fun cardio habits. I will be using indexDB for when I'm offline and just a small database.
Thanks! I tried to use a multi-sport cross section of exercises and recovery routines to show some of the things you could do with it, but all the exercises are ones that are related to sports I do to keep it grounded in reality.
I was thinking it would be fun to do git branches with some more well-known and popular routines for different goals to give people a nice range of potential starting points.
As far as how long I let it grow: I used to keep years and years of data, but this app will not be my place for that going forward. This will be for a maintenance/marginal gains habit, and Golden Cheetah will be for running/cycling performance management where peaking actually matters.
Good luck with your own app! I love the idea of an offline capable local db.
Re: Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
#24Very cool! I like the simplicity of it. Right now I'm working on something similar for myself (and some of my family), but maybe other people find it potentially interesting too? Essentially I'm building a webapp that each time I use it will arrange random ~5-7 lower back exercises from a list of ~25 for a total of 10 minutes session. Then it will guide me (only time and name of exercise) through the workout session…
I actually built something similar last week
https://bestefforttools.com/workouts
I wanted something to create realistic yet slightly randomised warm ups and finishers - similar to CrossFit wods but more structured.
Behind the scenes I use a formula that estimates a total work capacity.
Feedback welcome!
Re: Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
#25Very cool! I like the simplicity of it. Right now I'm working on something similar for myself (and some of my family), but maybe other people find it potentially interesting too? Essentially I'm building a webapp that each time I use it will arrange random ~5-7 lower back exercises from a list of ~25 for a total of 10 minutes session. Then it will guide me (only time and name of exercise) through the workout session…
I guess this should be easy to build on val.town or https://bolt.new/
Re: Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
#26https://www.strong.app/ For folks looking for something more robust to track their workouts.
I was a strong user for years but I would now suggest https://www.hevyapp.com/ . It has everything strong does but also a web app where you can create your programs on. Most importantly for this crowd, you get a rest api to your data if you spring for the cheap premium plan. Csv export is free though I’m pretty sure
Quite like hevy app too
Re: Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
#27I love the idea of this type of app, but feel like local storage is too fragile to be the system of record. Any way to backup to disk or cloud storage?
My application [0] I used daily for 13 years stores the data in localStorage and I had several unpleasant data loss incidents - mostly me cleaning storage of the wrong browser tab. Thankfully, a simple JSON dump/import feature enables a good enough degree of reliability. Thanks to it, I didn't lose any data in 5 years, but now I have a questionable habit where I defensively export data before every major edit or deployment.
Simple localStorage replication has been an interest of mine for many years and I explore available solutions multiple times a year, but none of these ticks all the boxes - no server to maintain; free; optional for users; bring your own storage; the app stays a web page; cross-browser. I wish browsers had a file system API that allowed the app to read/write to specified directory or a file in background, which users may sync with their tool of choice, like Google Drive.
Re: Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
#28I love the idea of this type of app, but feel like local storage is too fragile to be the system of record. Any way to backup to disk or cloud storage?
My application [0] I used daily for 13 years stores the data in localStorage and I had several unpleasant data loss incidents - mostly me cleaning storage of the wrong browser tab. Thankfully, a simple JSON dump/import feature enables a good enough degree of reliability. Thanks to it, I didn't lose any data in 5 years, but now I have a questionable habit where I defensively export data before every major edit or depl…
Add your browser data directory to your backup folders list, and restore that folder in case of a localStorage loss, that should do it.
Re: Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
My application [0] I used daily for 13 years stores the data in localStorage and I had several unpleasant data loss incidents - mostly me cleaning storage of the wrong browser tab. Thankfully, a simple JSON dump/import feature enables a good enough degree of reliability. Thanks to it, I didn't lose any data in 5 years, but now I have a questionable habit where I defensively export data before every major edit or depl…
Add your browser data directory to your backup folders list, and restore that folder in case of a localStorage loss, that should do it.
If that works for you - I am glad, however, this approach won't work across different browsers and OSes.
Re: Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
#30I loved how you minimized functionality in your project! It's inspiring.
Over the holidays, I built a simple habit tracker that lets you track any event's start and end time.
In the process, I upgraded my personal homepage to Next.js 15, added Payload CMS and NextUI, and experimented with React Server Components and Actions.
Check it out: https://mojica.de/tracker
You can create new event types by entering activities in the top text field. Events are automatically started for new types.
There are a few minor bugs to fix in the new year:
- Event cards don't display correctly on iOS.
- Using no email during registration doesn't work (someone registered without an email, and the field is unique).