Effort, calculated
from every set
Forge is VALDA Pro's effort calculation. It works out how hard each set was from the weight, the reps and your own lifting history, and turns every session into one Forge number, so you can follow your training load over weeks instead of guessing at it.
Part of VALDA Pro, in the app for iPhone and Android.
How hard was that session, really?
You log sets as normal. Forge works out how hard each exercise really was against your own lifting history, adds it up into one number for the session, and shows you where that effort came from. No rating your sets, no guessing.
Every exercise gets an effort score
Back squat · 3 × 5 at 100 kg
7.3 effortKnownRomanian deadlift · 2 × 8 at 80 kg
7.6 effortSome dataWalking lunge · 2 × 10 with 20 kg
7.9 effortCalibrating
Worked out from every set: the weight, the reps and your own history with that lift (RCE: Rate of Computed Exertion). The band underneath shows how sure it is, from Known on lifts it has plenty of history for to Calibrating while it learns a new one. Heart rate from a watch sharpens it; without one, it still works.
The session becomes one Forge number
One scale for every session and every day. Harder sets count for more, longer sessions add up, and the scale climbs towards 50 without ever reaching it, so a big day still has somewhere to go.
See what drove it
Two sessions can land on the same Forge for different reasons. The shape shows where the effort came from: muscular work, cardio, volume or how long you trained.
Follow your load over weeks
Every session lights up the calendar. Three weeks building, then a lighter week: you can see it at a glance instead of guessing whether you're doing too much or too little.
Example session and weeks, for illustration.
Led by your sets
How close to failure
Reps in reserve for every working set, calculated from the load against what your own history says you can do at that weight.
Your hardest work
An exercise's effort leans towards its hardest sets, so easy back-off sets don't water down a heavy top set.
Session length
The same effort held for longer is more load, so the session's effort is scaled by how long it lasted.
Heart rate, in support
When your watch records heart rate, it can raise a set's score and fills gaps the reps alone can't, and the whole session's heart-rate load adds a smaller share.
No watch? Forge still scores the session from what you log. Warm-up sets are left out.
The heat of every session
Illustrative data, not a real athlete. Rest days stay visible, so “empty” is never mistaken for “cool”.
- A Forge number for every session and every day
- A heat calendar of your recent weeks (the last 26 weeks) PRO
- Each session's shape: muscular work, duration, volume and cardio
Forge describes your training. It never tells you what to do.
How Forge scores effort
Forge is built on a well-tested idea from sports science: session load is how hard you worked × how long you worked (session-RPE × duration, Foster 2001). Instead of asking you to rate the session, Forge calculates the effort from your sets.
- Working sets only. Warm-ups are left out.
- Reps in reserve. For each set, Forge estimates how many more reps you had left, by comparing the load with what your logged history says you can do at that weight. Until there's history for an exercise, it leans on heart rate if your watch has it, or a cautious starting estimate if not.
- Effort from 0 to 10. Reps in reserve map onto the effort scale used in strength research (Zourdos et al., 2016): a set taken to failure scores 10, and each rep in reserve takes off one, down to 5. An estimate of no reps left tops out just below 10, which is kept for failure you actually reach.
- Heart rate supports. If your watch records heart rate, it can raise a set's score, within limits. Heart-rate load across the session counts too, at a reduced weight, so a raised heart rate between sets doesn't inflate a lifting day.
- Exercise, then session. Each exercise's effort leans towards its hardest sets. The session's effort leans towards its hardest exercises and is scaled by the session's length.
- One scale. The result goes onto the Forge scale, shared by sessions and days. It climbs towards 50 but never reaches it, and is never shown as “out of 50”.
Forge questions
Is Forge free?
No. Forge is part of VALDA Pro: the Forge number for every session and day, the effort score for each exercise, the session shape and the heat calendar of your weeks. The one exception is pregnancy mode in ValdaFREYA, where the perceived-effort calendar stays free, like every ValdaFREYA feature.
Do I need a watch for Forge?
No. Forge scores a session from the sets you log. A watch adds heart rate, which Forge uses as a supporting signal.
Is Forge based on heart rate?
No. It's led by your sets: how close each one went to failure, and for how long you trained. Heart rate is a supporting signal. It can raise a set's score and fill gaps, such as an exercise you have no history on yet.
Why does Forge never reach 50?
The scale climbs towards 50 without reaching it, so there's no ceiling to chase. A second session always moves the day up, but two hard sessions make a bigger day rather than double the number.
Does Forge tell me what to do?
No. Forge describes the training you've done. It's information, not instructions.