Muscle Points are Kanvie's simple, unified way of expressing how much actual training stress you applied to your muscles during a workout.

Muscle Points are not a scientific unit, but a practical metric inspired by strength-training research, %1RM models, and volume-load concepts. They help you understand which muscles you worked, how intensely, and how your training evolves over time.

How Muscle Points Are Calculated

Each set contributes Muscle Points based on:

• Exercise type (different muscles receive different percentages)
• Amount of weight lifted
• Number of repetitions
• Intensity relative to your maximum (True Maximum or Estimated 1RM)
• Individual muscle contribution

At the core, every set you log during an exercise session uses the following principle:

Then, we compute the total Muscle Points for each muscle during that set:

1. Relative Intensity

The Relative Intensity reflects how heavy the set is relative to your maximum capacity:

Where Max is:

• Your True Maximum, if provided
• Otherwise, it is equal to the highest estimated 1RM across the sets logged for this exercise during this session. It is calculated using the selected formula: Epley, Brzycki, Lander, or Lombardi.

This normalizes points across lifters of different strength levels; two lifters performing the same relative effort get comparable points, regardless of their individual absolute strength.

2. Repetition Factor

The Repetition Factor accounts for diminishing returns with high-repetition sets:

The constant (6) controls how quickly diminishing returns occur. This ensures high-repetition sets are meaningful but don't artificially dominate the score.

Examples

3. Share of Muscles

Muscle Points for a set are distributed across the individual muscles targeted by the exercise according to their relative contribution:

• The muscle distribution is pre-defined by Kanvie for each exercise.
• Each muscle receives a portion of the total Muscle Points awarded for the set based on its contribution.
• Contributions are expressed as fractions (from 0-1) and automatically scaled so the total points are correctly distributed. All fractions equal 1 if added up.

Examples

Given a set that has 15 Muscle Points in total, we get the following Muscle Points for the given distribution of the muscle contribution:

4. Full Example

Let's assume a person logs a bench press exercise with one set:

• True Maximum: 100 kg
• Set: 50 kg x 10 repetitions
• Muscles: Chest (0.6), Triceps (0.3), Front Delts (0.1)

4.1 Relative Intensity

4.2 Repetition Factor

4.3 Set-level Muscle Points

4.4 Points Per Muscle

Assuming a distribution of the individual muscle contributions similar to the previous example, we would now get the following points per muscle for the 31.25 Muscle Points of this set:

True Maximum vs Estimated 1RM

Kanvie uses the following hierarchy to calculate points:

1. True Maximum provided → overrides everything
2. No True Maximum provided → uses the highest estimated 1RM from your logged sets of this exercise session
3. Muscle Points are then computed using the formula above

Learn more about estimating the 1RM.

Tracking Muscle Points With Kanvie

In the Kanvie app, you get quick and easy estimates for your Muscle Points while working out. You can see the Muscle Points awarded for each muscle and track your progress across time.

Learn more about tracking your Muscle Points using your diary.