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How I Use qFIT

So, How Do People Actually Use qFIT?

The best thing about qFIT is how many ways it bends to fit your day — a two-minute morning loosen-up, a full gym session, an at-home discovery workout, or a bedtime wind-down. Here's how the author uses it, scenario by scenario. Think of it as ideas to borrow, not a plan you have to follow.

Open My Checklist Open the Dashboard

A Typical Day

The Common Thread

However you use it, every scenario below is really the same three moves.

1. Pick a List

Open the Checklist or To-Do and choose a Routine or Filter that matches the moment.

2. Filter the Noise

Use ⚙ Options & Filters to hide everything you don't need right now, so you only see what's worth doing.

3. Check Things Off

Knock out a few items whenever you have a minute. Progress adds up on its own — there's no rush.

🌅 Mornings

Wake up, loosen up, and start the day feeling good.

Each morning (in theory!), I wake up, open qFIT, and head to the Checklist:

  1. Go to Checklist → ⚙ Options & Filters and select the Morning Routine.
  2. Glance at the other Filters — make sure they're at their defaults (white, not yellow), then tap Close Options & Filters to close the panel.
  3. Check that the date at the top is set to today (white).
  4. Knock out whatever stretches and massages you feel like — and maybe a couple of exercises.

This wakes me up fast and clears the stiffness that would otherwise take hours to fade on its own — especially after a hard day of biking, running, sports, or the gym.

Prefer your own flow? You can build custom Routines under Edit Routines instead of using the built-in ones.

🏋️ Gym Day

Three ways to work through a session — pick what fits.

Open qFIT and click the qFIT logo in the upper-left to jump to the Dashboard for a quick read on how much you've got left to do. Then take one of these three approaches.

Approach 1 — The Checklist

Open the Checklist and tap ⚙ Options & Filters:

  • Make sure all Filters are at their defaults (white).
  • Optionally set the Category to Strength & Workouts to temporarily hide everything else.
  • Set the Progress filter to Goal Not Met, and keep the Progress / Goal-Days pill turned on.

Close the panel and start knocking things out — look for the magenta pills. Tap a Category or Target to expand it, or use Targets / Exercises under Options & Filters to expand everything at once.

Goals need to be configured for this filter to work. I mostly set goals on Targets (muscles), not Exercises — so to check off a machine I just search for it and check it (often its parent Target too). Want to log details like “3×12 @ 70 lb”? Tap the ⓘ at the end of its row to open its Details page, where you can also watch YouTube shorts and log the Amount for that day.

Approach 2 — The To-Do List

Open To-Do, set your filters, double-check the date, and work down the list. A combo I like: Targets + Exercises · High & Medium Priority · Strength & Workouts · Top 100.

It tracks completions exactly like the Checklist. The date picker and checkboxes turn yellow if the date isn't today. Tap a name to open its Details. (Goals must be configured here too.)

Approach 3 — Routines

Open Checklist → ⚙ Options & Filters, pick a gym Routine, close the panel, and work through it. Try the built-in gym Routines or build your own under Edit Routines. Split Routines are tagged 1/3, 2/3, 3/3 to mark a 3-day split.

Wrapping up. When I finish — or at the end of the day — I head back to Checklist → ⚙ Options & Filters, reset the Filters, choose Completed Today from the Progress dropdown, and look over what I did. The muscles are already checked: checking an Exercise also checks the muscle it sits under and the muscles above that one (Bicep Curls checks Arms: Biceps and Arms). A parent that is not a muscle is still mine to check.

Press Esc to clear

🏠 At Home

Limited gear? Turn it into a chance to discover something new.

At home I've only got some dumbbells, resistance bands, and a few odds and ends — so I use qFIT to try things I normally wouldn't:

  • Open Checklist → ⚙ Options & Filters and select Randomize: On, Never Tried (10 per Category) — it nudges me toward new things.
  • Narrow the Category to Strength & Workouts or Stretching & Mobility, tap Exercises to expand everything, then close the panel.
  • Don't know one? Tap its ⓘ to open its Details, tap YouTube, and watch a short. If it looks good, give it a try and check it off.
  • Like it? Click Edit Exercise and set Enjoyable, Effective, and Priority — then back out and keep going.

Other days I just open the To-Do list, or browse the Checklist with the Goal Not Met filter and do whatever I feel like — always leaning toward things with a goal, high-priority items, and anything I haven't done in a while.

🌙 Bedtime

Wind down, head off next-morning stiffness, and close out the day.

Before bed I open the Checklist and pick the Pre-Bedtime Routine — mostly stretches and massages. This matters most after a hard day: it prevents or greatly reduces next-morning stiffness and soreness, including in the achilles tendons.

Bedtime is also the perfect moment to scan the Checklist and finish checking off anything I did today but didn't bother logging earlier.

Sometimes I glance at the Dashboard or Charts to see how much I got done — and to justify why I feel like hell.

Cheat Sheet — Filters & Terms

Every qFIT term mentioned above, in one place.

Filters & Views

Set these from ⚙ Options & Filters on the Checklist, or as filters on To-Do.

  • Goal Not Met — what still needs doing to hit your goals.
  • Completed Today — everything you've already checked off today (handy for checking parent Targets).
  • Randomize / Never Tried — surfaces a sample of things you haven't done yet.
  • Progress / Goal-Days pill — shows how each item is tracking against its goal.

Terms & Tags

The qFIT vocabulary.

  • Routine — a saved list you pick from the Filter dropdown (Morning, Pre-Bedtime, Gym…). Build your own under Edit Routines.
  • Goal — a target count for a Target or Exercise. Several filters need goals configured; set them fast with Bulk Edit.
  • Magenta pill — you haven't hit that goal yet in its window. A reminder, not a deadline — it clears when you reach the target.
  • Split (1/3, 2/3, 3/3) — Routines that divide a workout across multiple days.
  • Times Completed · Enjoyable · Effective · Priority — per-Exercise settings on its Details / Edit Exercise page.

A Typical Week

An example week, to show how qFIT is meant to be used — not a report of your data.

The great thing about qFIT is that it can be used in so many different ways — and this is how I use it. Think of it as one person's routine to borrow from, not a plan you have to follow. Take the ideas that fit your life and leave the rest.

The Mindset

🧘 No Rush

It's a guide, not a test. Do as much or as little as you feel like — the numbers come down over time on their own.

🔀 Mix It Up

Blend exercise, stretching, and massage. Variety beats grinding the same few targets every day.

⏱️ A Little at a Time

Knock a few things off whenever you have a minute or need a break. It adds up.

A Typical Monday

Here's Monday, start to finish — the other weekdays look a lot like it.

The routine names below are ones I made up for myself. You won't find them on your Checklist — you build and name your own under Edit Routines.

  • Before You Get Up

    I wake up and, before I even get out of bed, I open qFIT, go to the Checklist, and pick my Bed routine from the Routine dropdown (under ⚙ Options & Filters). I do as many stretches and massages as I feel like, then start getting ready for the day.

  • Morning

    Once I'm up and moving, I pull up my Morning routine and knock a few things off — not to check boxes, but because it jumpstarts my day, and certain stretches make me feel better for hours. Flying up and down the stairs and stretching my hamstrings really wakes me up — but that's just me.

    At breakfast I sometimes use the Nutrition Category as a guide for what I should be eating, or for ideas (might as well put fruit on the waffles or make a smoothie).

  • Throughout the Day

    Whenever I have a little time or need a break, I open the Checklist and set Progress to Goal Not Met (I think of it as "what's still incomplete"), then pick a few things off. I go for the magenta ones first — that's the progress pill saying a goal isn't met yet, which is a different thing from the gray HIGH pill sitting next to it — but there's no rush, it's Monday.

    If I don't remember an exercise well, I tap the ⓘ at the end of its row to open its Details, read the How To, and follow the YouTube link to watch a short or two. Then I check a box under Log Your Activity — or, if I'm still in the Checklist, I just check the checkbox there (same thing).

    I do a mix of exercise, stretching, and massage, in whatever order makes sense. Sometimes you have to loosen a muscle before you can work it (hamstrings, for me), and sometimes massage after is what you want if you're sore.

  • Later On

    Toward the end of the day I'm more focused on actually hitting my goals, so I set Progress to Goal Not Met again. Some things I've set to 7 times every 7 days and others only once or twice in that stretch, so I prioritize whatever has the most left to do.

  • Evening & Bed

    At the end of the day I try to knock off anything remaining — hopefully mostly stretches and massage. In bed I'll pull up my Pre-Bedtime routine, or if I'm not ready to sleep, a little more from Bed.

My Magenta Rule

Each day, glance through the list for whatever you're furthest behind on. Those are the exercises whose progress pill has a magenta background and white text, like 1 of 3 in 7 days.

Magenta means exactly one thing: you haven't hit that goal yet in its window. It isn't a deadline warning. qFIT doesn't work out whether there's still time, because that window is a rolling stretch of days that ends today and moves along with you — it never runs out, and it never resets on a Monday. Doing the magenta ones first is just my habit.

Everything else can wait. To see only these, set Progress to Goal Not Met.

Through the Week (Tue–Fri)

Tuesday through Friday look about the same — with a few additions as the week goes on.

📊 Lean on the Dashboard

Later in the week I use the Dashboard to make sure I'm staying active enough — checkboxes and points — and I check the Goals Still to Hit table, which counts the Categories, Targets, muscles, and Exercises whose goals are still unmet. Starting out, these numbers are sky-high; they come down and stay low once you've used qFIT enough. When they're high, I open the Checklist, set the Progress filter to Goal Not Met (under Options & Filters), and work through what's left.

🎲 Use the Randomizer

As an alternative to Checklist filters, I sometimes use the Exercise Randomizer on Home — one random Exercise for each muscle my goals say I most need to train. I click one to see how it's done, do it, and check it off right there.

✨ Try Something New

Each day ideally, or at least each week, I try to do something new. The library has Targets for exactly that (Try a New Exercise, Try a New Sport/Physical Activity), so there's a checkbox to check when I manage it. To find candidates I use the Not Completed in N Days Progress filter — or 🎲 Randomize set to Never Tried. The Try Something New page is the other way in: it suggests ideas you haven't done, and one tap adds one to your Checklist. Often I'll search YouTube to make sure I'm doing it right, and save some personal Notes. This is also when I set options like Visibility and Priority, depending on what I thought of the exercise.

🛠️ Fine-Tune Your Setup

Once in a while I look through everything and tweak settings. The Bulk Edit page is the fast way: check Priority, click ✓ Apply, then go down the list making changes (each one saves as you make it). Be realistic — lots of things would be nice to do every day, but it's never going to happen.

At the Gym

I try to get to the gym once or twice a week — three times ideally, but let's be honest. When I get there I open the Checklist and pick one of my own Gym routines. If I just want to wing it or do full body, I choose Gym (gym equipment), which I've filled with the machines at my gym. You'll want to build your own — I only go to one gym, so my list is no use to you, and qFIT's library has far more machines in it than I've picked.

Usually I just type part of a machine's name to find and check it off fast. Before I leave, I run through my gym routine for the day to make sure I covered everything, and sometimes Progress → Goal Not Met too.

Filters & Routines I Mention

Everything I name above, in one place.

Filters — real controls, on your Checklist

All of these live under ⚙ Options & Filters on the Checklist, in the Progress and Randomize dropdowns.

  • Goal Not Met — what's still left to hit your goals. This is the one I lean on all day.
  • All — the whole list, nothing filtered. Where Progress starts out.
  • Not Completed in N Days — twelve fixed choices, from 2 days up to 365; resurfaces exercises you've been skipping.
  • Randomize → Never Tried — 5 or 10 per Category, drawn only from things you've never logged.
  • Exercise Randomizer — not a filter but a Home card: one random Exercise per muscle you most need to train, checkable right there.

Routines — mine, not yours

These are the ones I built for myself, listed so the story above makes sense. Yours start empty: build them under Edit Routines, and each one becomes an entry in the Checklist's Routine dropdown.

  • Bed — gentle things I can do lying down.
  • Morning — my wake-up jumpstart.
  • Pre-Bedtime — a wind-down before sleep.
  • Gym — a family of them, split by day and body part; Gym (gym equipment) is the catch-all of machines at my gym.

Have Your Own Use Case?

Found a way to use qFIT we didn't think of? We'd love to hear how you fit it into your day.

✉ Share Your Use Case
← Back to Checklist To-Do 📊 Dashboard ⚙️ Edit Routines