WHOOP is adding custom Journal behaviours and one-rep max estimates

WHOOP has a pretty big batch of new features lined up for the next few months. The Journal is getting much more personal first, while November brings better live workout tracking, automatic one-rep max estimates and a completely revamped community section.

The Journal gets much more personal

Custom Journal Behaviors are due in September or October. You will be able to create whatever you want to track, then see how it affects your Recovery over time.

WHOOP gives examples such as a no-phone morning, a stressful commute or trying a new supplement. But the real appeal is that you could make these much more specific to your own routine. That might be eating late, training in the evening, changing your caffeine cut-off time or testing a different recovery routine.

It removes one of the obvious restrictions of the WHOOP Journal⁠. Until now, the feature has been useful for finding relationships between behaviours and Recovery, but only if the thing you wanted to track already existed in WHOOP’s list.

Logging should get easier as well. You will be able to speak or type naturally to the Journal and tell WHOOP what you did. The app will identify the relevant behaviours and log them rather than making you work through them manually.

WHOOP is also merging Journal, Daily Outlook, Check-ins and Day in Review into one daily experience. You will start with the Journal, get insights and check-ins during the day, then finish with an evening reflection.

Live workout tracking is getting a rethink

November brings a much bigger update to Track Activity. WHOOP will start recommending activity targets based on your goals and recent data, although you will still be able to change those targets yourself.

The live workout screen is also being rebuilt. It will show progress towards your target, time accumulated in heart rate zones and other live workout metrics, along with improved map controls.

WHOOP is even adding pause and resume. It is hardly an exotic feature, but it means the app will finally be able to distinguish between Moving Time and total elapsed time when you stop during a run, ride or other workout. Activity Details gets an upgrade afterwards, with splits, target performance, Moving Time and more detailed workout stats.

WHOOP will estimate your one-rep max

Strength Trainer is getting another substantial addition in November. WHOOP will automatically estimate your one-rep max for supported weighted exercises, without requiring you to actually attempt a maximum lift.

Once you log your weighted exercises, WHOOP will use that information to estimate your current strength and track how it changes over time. It will also show how intense each set was relative to your estimated strength.

That builds nicely on the recent Strength Trainer overhaul⁠, which added muscular load, exercise history and personal records. One-rep max gives you another way to see whether you are actually getting stronger rather than simply accumulating more Strain.

WHOOP has also been experimenting with AI-generated strength workouts⁠, so there is an obvious direction forming here. The app increasingly knows what you have lifted, how hard it was relative to your current strength and how well recovered you are before the next session.

The final part of the November update is Community. WHOOP users will be able to follow friends and family directly without setting up a team, then see whatever Sleep, Recovery, Strain and activity information that person chooses to share.