Is there a free app that tracks both macros and workouts?

MyFitnessPal and Cronometer handle macros; Gladiator Lift handles workouts with depth. Most lifters use both — Gladiator Lift for programming and performance, MyFitnessPal for food logging — and cross-reference the data to adjust nutrition around training.

How many calories should I eat on a training day vs rest day?

Most approaches recommend 10 to 20 percent more calories on training days than rest days, with the bulk of the increase coming from carbohydrates timed around the session. Exact numbers depend on training intensity, body size, and goals.

What macros should lifters prioritize?

Protein is the most critical macro for lifters — 1.6 to 2.2g per kg of bodyweight daily. After protein is set, carbohydrates fuel training performance and recovery. Fat intake should not drop below 0.8g per kg to support hormonal health.

Does Gladiator Lift have a nutrition tracker?

Gladiator Lift focuses on workout programming and performance tracking. For nutrition, it integrates well with apps like MyFitnessPal. Using Gladiator Lift for training data and a dedicated macro app for nutrition is the recommended approach.

Is counting macros necessary to make progress in the gym?

Not strictly necessary, but tracking macros for at least a few months teaches you what you are actually eating and builds intuition that improves your food choices long term. For athletes with specific body composition goals, macro tracking is one of the most effective tools available.

Best Free Apps for Tracking Macros and Workouts Together

Quick answer: No single free app perfectly handles both macros and workouts, but pairing Gladiator Lift (for training programming and performance) with MyFitnessPal or Cronometer (for macro tracking) gives you a complete, free system — and knowing how to read data from both helps you train harder and recover faster.

Nutrition and training are inseparable for anyone serious about performance or body composition. You can follow the best periodized program in the world and make slow progress if your nutrition does not support it. You can eat perfectly and plateau if your training is not structured. The athletes who make consistent, reliable progress are the ones who treat both as a system — tracking both, reading the data from both, and adjusting both based on what the numbers show.

This guide covers the best free options for tracking macros and workouts, how to make them work together, and what signals to look for in your combined data.

Why Track Both Macros and Workouts?

The case for tracking workouts is straightforward: if you do not record your sets, reps, and weights, you cannot verify that you're applying progressive overload. You might feel like you're working hard, but without a log you have no way to confirm that this week's training was actually more demanding than last week's.

The case for tracking macros is similar but one level removed. Food affects your ability to train, your ability to recover, and your body composition trajectory. If your squat is stuck at the same weight for three months, you might assume it's a programming issue — but if you're eating 1,200 calories a day, the real problem is inadequate fuel. You'd never know that without tracking food.

When you have both data streams, you gain the ability to ask and answer questions that would otherwise be guesswork:

"Why did I feel weak in Wednesday's session?" Check Tuesday's calories.
"Why is my scale weight not changing even though I'm training hard?" Check your weekly caloric average against maintenance.
"Why am I always exhausted by Friday?" Check your carbohydrate intake on training days.

These are the kinds of conclusions that change your training trajectory when you act on them.

The Nutrition-Performance Feedback Loop

The most useful relationship between nutrition and training data is the feedback loop between performance metrics and nutritional inputs.

When your performance is trending upward (more weight lifted, more sets completed, better recovery between sessions), your nutrition is likely adequate. When performance plateaus or regresses despite consistent training, nutrition is frequently the cause — either insufficient total calories, inadequate protein for recovery, or poor carbohydrate timing.

The reverse is also true: when you're eating in a caloric surplus but not seeing strength gains, training stimulus is likely insufficient. The surplus is being stored rather than used to build muscle.

Tracking both creates visibility into this loop. Without data from both sides, you're troubleshooting with half the picture.

Key performance indicators to track:

Weekly average calories and macro distribution
Training volume (sets multiplied by reps multiplied by load) per week per muscle group
Session RPE (rate of perceived exertion) — an indirect measure of recovery status
Bodyweight trend (weekly average, not daily fluctuation)
Strength trends on main lifts (estimated 1RM)

Gladiator Lift provides the training side of this picture with depth — session RPE, volume tracking, strength trends, and training load summaries. Pair it with a macro tracker and you have the complete dataset.

What to Look For in a Combined Tracker

If you want one app for both:

Look for apps that offer genuine food databases (not just barcodes of processed food), macro breakdown by meal, and workout logging that goes beyond "cardio for 30 minutes." The weakness of most "all-in-one" apps is that they're mediocre at both rather than excellent at either.

If you're willing to use two apps:

Prioritize depth over integration. A dedicated macro tracker with a robust food database plus a dedicated workout app with real programming capability is almost always better than a mediocre all-in-one.

The main requirement is that the two apps do not require manual data entry twice. Ideally they share data through integrations (Apple Health, Google Fit) or you develop a fast daily routine of logging both.

Best Free Apps Compared

App	Macro Tracking	Workout Tracking	Free Tier Depth	Notes
Gladiator Lift	No	Excellent	Strong	Best-in-class for lifting programming
MyFitnessPal	Excellent	Basic	Good	Best food database, limited workout depth
Cronometer	Excellent	None	Strong	Best micronutrient detail, no workouts
Hevy	No	Good	Good	Social logging, no nutrition
Lose It!	Good	Basic	Moderate	Better for weight loss focus
FitGenie	Good	Moderate	Limited	AI macro adjustments, moderate workouts

Gladiator Lift + MyFitnessPal is the recommended free combination for most serious lifters. Gladiator Lift handles periodized programming, progressive overload, strength standards, and session analytics. MyFitnessPal handles food logging with its industry-leading database of over 14 million foods.

The workflow: log your meals in MyFitnessPal throughout the day. At the end of each week, review your average daily calories, protein, carbs, and fat. Compare these to your training output from Gladiator Lift (did you hit your session targets? was RPE appropriate?). Adjust the following week accordingly.

Cronometer is the better choice over MyFitnessPal if micronutrient tracking matters to you — it shows detailed vitamin and mineral data from logged foods, which is useful if you're monitoring iron, zinc, vitamin D, or omega-3 intake alongside your macronutrients.

Making Two Apps Work Together

The friction of using two separate apps is real but manageable with a simple daily process:

Morning: Log weight (for weekly average tracking). Note sleep quality if relevant. Pre-workout: Log your pre-workout meal in MyFitnessPal. Check your Gladiator Lift session for today's prescribed work. During workout: Log sets in Gladiator Lift in real time. Use the built-in rest timer and weight suggestions. Post-workout: Log your post-workout meal. Note session RPE in Gladiator Lift. Evening: Log remaining meals. Check daily macro totals against targets. Weekly review: Compare average macros against training performance trends. Make one adjustment if needed — not five.

The key to making this sustainable is keeping the review simple. You're not optimizing a rocket trajectory; you're asking one question per week: "Is my nutrition supporting my training, or working against it?" One data point drives one adjustment.

Macro Targets for Different Training Goals

Macro needs vary based on training goal, body size, and phase of training. Here are evidence-based starting points:

Strength/powerlifting (maintain weight):

Calories: 35 to 40 kcal/kg bodyweight
Protein: 1.8 to 2.2g/kg
Carbs: 3 to 5g/kg
Fat: 1 to 1.5g/kg

Muscle building (lean bulk):

Calories: 40 to 45 kcal/kg bodyweight (5 to 10% surplus)
Protein: 1.6 to 2.0g/kg
Carbs: 4 to 6g/kg
Fat: 0.8 to 1.2g/kg

Body recomposition (losing fat while maintaining/building muscle):

Calories: 28 to 32 kcal/kg bodyweight (modest deficit)
Protein: 2.0 to 2.4g/kg (higher than normal to preserve muscle)
Carbs: 2 to 4g/kg (prioritize timing around workouts)
Fat: 0.8 to 1.0g/kg

Competition prep / cut:

Calories: 25 to 30 kcal/kg bodyweight (aggressive deficit — short-term only)
Protein: 2.2 to 2.6g/kg (critical for muscle retention)
Carbs: 1.5 to 3g/kg
Fat: 0.7 to 0.9g/kg

These are starting points, not prescriptions. Your actual maintenance calories depend on your metabolism, activity level outside the gym, and training volume — all of which vary significantly between individuals.

Reading the Data and Adjusting

After four to six weeks of tracking both macros and workouts, you'll have enough data to make informed adjustments. Look for these patterns:

Strength improving, weight stable: You're in a good position. Nutrition is supporting training. Continue the current approach. Strength plateauing, weight stable: Consider a modest caloric increase (200 to 300 kcal/day) prioritizing carbohydrates. Assess whether training volume or intensity needs to increase. Strength declining, fatigue high, weight stable or dropping: You may be in a caloric deficit without intending to be. Increase total calories, especially carbohydrates on training days. Weight increasing faster than desired, strength improving slowly: You're likely in too large a surplus. Reduce daily calories by 200 to 300 kcal and reassess in four weeks. Weight increasing, strength improving well: Classic lean bulk — this is the ideal scenario. Continue unless weight gain rate exceeds 0.5% of bodyweight per week.

The data from Gladiator Lift and your macro tracker makes each of these patterns identifiable in a few minutes of analysis. Without that data, you'd be left guessing — and most people guess wrong, stalling progress for months or years as a result.

Start tracking both today, give it six weeks, and you'll have more insight into your own physiology than most gym-goers accumulate in years of training.