How Sterka's strength engine makes each call — the arithmetic behind the loads, sets, and rest it prescribes.https://sterka.app/https://sterka.app/blog/ten-days-off-doesnt-erase-your-training/https://sterka.app/blog/ten-days-off-doesnt-erase-your-training/How long does it take to lose muscle after a training break, and what does that mean for your first session back?Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://sterka.app/blog/upper-lower-split-what-it-doesnt-decide/https://sterka.app/blog/upper-lower-split-what-it-doesnt-decide/An upper lower split decides your week's shape: which muscles train on which day, how much rest each area gets, and which lift you meet fresh. It decides no numbers at all, and that gap is the difference between a split and a program.Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://sterka.app/blog/recovery-is-per-muscle-or-its-theater/https://sterka.app/blog/recovery-is-per-muscle-or-its-theater/Muscle recovery time is not one number. Sterka tracks it per muscle, each on its own half-life, because a single whole-body readiness score cannot tell a cooked chest from fresh legs.Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://sterka.app/blog/if-you-run-531/https://sterka.app/blog/if-you-run-531/The 5/3/1 program mapped part by part onto Sterka's engine: the 90% training max, the four-week wave, the AMRAP set that sets your next training max — or the fixed single that replaces it where near-max work is held back — the ×0.9 reset, and the four reads a spreadsheet has no way to make.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://sterka.app/blog/rest-isnt-a-suggestion/https://sterka.app/blog/rest-isnt-a-suggestion/How long you rest between sets is set by your goal, by whether the lift is a compound or an isolation, and by the load actually on the bar.Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://sterka.app/blog/a-deload-is-the-plan-working/https://sterka.app/blog/a-deload-is-the-plan-working/A deload week cuts your working sets to roughly half. On the wave's scheduled week the load comes down with them; on a plateau, cadence or on-demand deload, the weight stays exactly where it was.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://sterka.app/blog/why-your-workout-app-never-adjusts/https://sterka.app/blog/why-your-workout-app-never-adjusts/Rate a month of sessions as easy, flag a muscle as still fried, and next week arrives unchanged. That is not a bug. Here is what an engine that reads your logged sets has to do instead.Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://sterka.app/blog/how-much-does-a-personal-trainer-cost/https://sterka.app/blog/how-much-does-a-personal-trainer-cost/One-to-one strength coaching runs roughly €150 to €200 a month. Here is what that money buys, broken into the four duties a good coach performs, and which of them software can honestly take over.Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://sterka.app/blog/why-week-3-is-one-heavy-single-not-a-1rm-test/https://sterka.app/blog/why-week-3-is-one-heavy-single-not-a-1rm-test/On the Get Stronger goal, the peak of an intensity block's four-week wave is a 1+ AMRAP at 95% of a deliberately conservative Training Max — or a fixed heavy single where near-max work is held back. A calibration rep, not a one-rep-max test.Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://sterka.app/blog/why-your-training-max-is-90-percent-on-purpose/https://sterka.app/blog/why-your-training-max-is-90-percent-on-purpose/The strength Training Max is seeded at 90% of an already-conservative estimated 1RM — a deliberate double discount, so the week-3 peak lands in a productive zone instead of a number you cannot move: a 1+ AMRAP at 95% of that Max, or a fixed heavy single where near-max work is held back.Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://sterka.app/blog/how-many-sets-how-close-to-failure-how-often/https://sterka.app/blog/how-many-sets-how-close-to-failure-how-often/The 2026 ACSM position stand is the newest consensus on how to train for muscle and strength. Here are the four numbers it lands on (weekly sets, load, reps in reserve, frequency) and what Sterka does with each.Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT