Mesolab › Guides › Suggested weight

How Mesolab suggests a weight from your history

On a programmed set, Mesolab shows a suggested weight next to the rep range and target RIR. This is where that number comes from, what it is deliberately not doing, and when you should type your own instead.

Updated 29 September 2026 · Describes the current App Store release of Mesolab.

The short version

1. Week one of a block: the suggestion comes from the one-rep max saved with your plan, converted to a working weight for the set's rep range and target RIR.
2. Every later week: it comes from your most recent session of the same exercise, preferring a session where the exercise sat in a similar place in the workout.
3. Deload week: the same evidence, reduced for the deload.
4. Always: rounded to a weight your gym can actually load.

You can tap to use the suggestion or type any weight you like. Nothing is logged until you log the set.

Week one: your saved one-rep max

When you build a plan, each exercise can carry a one-rep max, entered by you or estimated from a set you know. In the first week there is no history in this block to draw on, so Mesolab converts that 1RM into a working weight using the set's rep range and its target RIR. A set of 8 to 12 at 2 RIR asks for a smaller share of your max than a set of 5 at 1 RIR would, and the suggestion reflects that.

If you did not enter a 1RM for an exercise, there is no week-one suggestion for it. Choose a starting weight; the next session will have something to work from.

Later weeks: your most recent comparable session

From week two, the suggestion is built from what you actually did. Mesolab looks back through your completed sets for that exercise and takes the most recent session as the starting point.

"Comparable" is the important word. The third exercise in a session is lifted by a more tired lifter than the first, and a bench press after two other chest movements is not the same set as a bench press done fresh. Mesolab records how much work for the same muscle preceded each exercise, and when it looks for a past session to base today on, it prefers one where the exercise sat in a similar position. When no such session exists it falls back to the most recent one and does not pretend the two are equivalent.

Feedback you give after a workout can also nudge the next suggestion for that exercise up or down. That feedback is optional; without it the history speaks for itself.

The deload

Every Mesolab block ends with a deload week. In that week the suggestion is adjusted down from the same evidence, so the number you see already accounts for the lighter week rather than asking you to remember to back off.

Rounding to real plates

A formula can produce 137.3 lb; a barbell cannot. Every suggestion is rounded to a weight that can be loaded, in 2.5 lb steps by default, so you are never asked to find a plate that does not exist.

What it is not doing

• It is not predicting your readiness. Sleep, stress and soreness are not inputs. If you feel flat, the suggestion does not know; you do.
• It is not a coach's judgement. It is arithmetic on your own record. Its value is that it remembers exactly what you did and asks for a sensible next step.
• It does not learn from other lifters. Your suggestions are built only from your history.
• It does not override you. Type any weight. Logging the set with your own number is a normal thing to do and feeds the next suggestion.

When to ignore it

• Coming back after time off. The history is stale; start lighter and let the log catch up.
• A different bar, machine or setup than last time. Same exercise name, different lift.
• You are unusually fresh or unusually beaten up. Adjust and log honestly; the RIR you record tells the next session what happened. See what RIR means.

Common questions

Why did the suggestion drop?

Usually one of three things: this is a deload week; the most recent session Mesolab could match was a harder position in the workout; or your last logged set at this weight came in with fewer reps or a lower RIR than the block expected.

Why is there no suggestion?

No saved 1RM in week one, no completed history for that exercise, or a Freestyle workout, which has no prescription. Enter a weight; guidance can follow your first logged set.