Two Plates - Bench Press 100kg/225lb

1 Goal. 2 Plates. A coveted milestone. A timeless test of raw strength: the 100kg/225lb bench press. AI builds a program optimized for you. Familiar chat interface you already know how to use.

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Two Plates | 2pl8s.app

Inspiration

They say the best ideas are those apps you'd use yourself. This is such an app. I've been lifting on and off my whole life and after a few years of health/life issues I felt ready to get back to it early 2026. My top shape of my life was probably about a decade/dozen years ago with a ~110kg bench, ~150kg squat and ~200kg deadlift. I was far from those numbers earlier this year. Due to the due to multiple back surgeries (disc hernia/degratation) in the last decade and an early sufferer covid-19 that lasted years before I could work out again without a headache (not to mention not being able to smell things right for 3+ years).

"Two Plates" - a 100kg/225lb bench press given the moniker for it's two 20kg/45lb plates on each side of a barbell - is a coveted, classic test of strength with a stronghold through generations. It is also fun and motivating with great health benefits overall. I wanted to focus in on getting back to this primarily and also supported by the fact that my back is not doing that well with squats anymore but deadlifts are ok.

I had a look at a bunch of the most popular fitness log and tracking apps. They are all the same. Namely different versions of glorified spreadsheets where you enter your data in a busy small interface and then get stats once you've entered some data. The main differentiator is pricing and the ability to use various programs - sometimes using AI. Also - surprisingly - most of these glorified spreadsheets are paid apps for even the most basic functionality.

I ended up using the same old glorified spread sheet app that I used more than a decade ago - because it is free for just logging. And I supplemented it with a custom AI coach in my preferred AI of choice that was trained on my profile and optimized for what I wanted to do.

This is what Two Plates is.

Two Plates is optimized for one goal - and it is built for YOU. Instead of forcing lifters into a program using one of all the similar apps to log workouts Two Plates will consider you first and build the program for you with the goal of improving your bench press - eventually reaching the coveted Two Plates milestone. And this all happens in a familiar AI chat interface with an integrated coach - contrasting the dozens+ fitness apps that all have the similar log interfaces and a bunch of often irrelevant stats.

What it does

There are two main differentiators in Two Plates compared to other fitness apps:

  • it is built for one goal - bench pressing Two Plates
  • it uses the familiar AI chat interface for logging with an integrated coach feature

To accomplish this Two Plates constructs a complex lifter profile during onboarding - and creates a custom program based on this profile with respect to gender, age, past injuries, experience, training availability etc. The USP for aspiring lifters is the ETA for the Two Plates lift - carefully calculated based on the described factors. During sessions Two Plates utilizes Apple Intelligence (Foundation Models) to offer a basic AI coach that has access to on device data and provides guidance.

How I built it

This is the first app I have built where generative AI has created the majority of the code. Using widely available agentic instructions with detailed Swift knowledge and guidance - combined with careful code review by myself in addition to other agents - the vast majority of business logic in the app is actually done by Generative AI.

There is a quote, I don't recall from where, going something like "all great software starts with the data model". This is something I've taken to heart and the full architecture, data models, dependencies and how it all works together was done by me as a human in a pre planning phase. No Generative AI involved. All models were also created by hand to make sure of their integrity.

Additionally, I have found Generative AI to be ok at basic design tasks. But constructing a good interface that "feels" nice to use for humans and makes sense for people is also not AIs strongsuite. Thus - all design/views were carefully constructed in wireframes and full designs without AI. AI's only been used to do some scaffolding for simpler designs - but it's all been subject to human tweaks afterwards. This is improving but after all AI is not (yet) in human form with fingers and feeling emotions. This makes app design in particular a clear AI weak point still.

Tech wise Two Plates is an ultra modern Apple app utilizing all the latest APIs:

  • iOS26+
  • SwiftUI
  • SwiftData
  • Swift 6+ strict concurrency and
  • Apple Intelligence

Challenges

Three primary challenges:

  1. New type of product. Two Plates reimagines what workout logging and tracking looks like. These type of unique - revolutionary - products are always challenging since there is nothing to draw inspiration from.

  2. App Review! They seem awfully busy at Apple. Last new app I released was last year, that took about the promised 48hours. Now I ended up messaging Apple after almost two weeks in waiting for review. Two Plates was originally scheduled to be released as #shipaton started but this delayed the process a lot.

3 Marketing! Feel really good about this app. I'd definitely use it. And already at the gym and among friends and network interest has been high and beta testing interest was peak. That said - marketing continues to be maybe the most challenging aspect of app development in 2026. Having a great app does not mean much. Marketing is everything. I'm not great at that and will use the #buildinpublic aspect of this competition to focus on marketing while adding some new features.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

It is a new take on workout logging. Really happy to get this out. Hopefully the way it works can inspire others. People now are used to the chat format. This is the future and can also work with voice only of course.

What's next for Two Plates - Bench Press 100kg/225lb

There are a few things that even used to be defined as MVP that had to be cut. Will see how the reception is and what should be prioritized forward.

1 The big one is some type of AI analysis of your lift. This would be super cool and helpful - but is a very complex feature to get right.

2 Another big one is "virality" that so many so called "app influencers" talk about. This is an app that could definitely benefit from that. For example a social media ready video of your two plates lift.

3 Additionally some iOS27 prep has already begun. The foundation models is a strong point of the app but also a weak point - they are not very advanced and pretty slow. They will be increased to double the tokens on device which helps and Apple will also introduce Private Cloud Compute for a bout 4x tokens for heavier online server calculations. Two Plates AI coach will be adopted to utilize this and defer to PCC when optimal.

4 Also depending on reception is another app - a companion app if you will - focusing on the big lifts instead while also utilizing the same revolutionary AI chat interface for logging and user focused programs.

Built With

  • apple-intelligence
  • cloudkit
  • storekit
  • swift
  • swiftdata
  • swiftui
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