When you hit the gym, do you still carry a notebook or crumpled sheet of paper to all the stations and machines? Don't. With workout apps galore, there are better ways to keep track of your sets and reps. The iPhone app Jefit Workout (free; also available for Android) gives you simple tools for crafting weight-lifting workouts and keeping track of the details as you complete your routines. You can log sets and reps, as well as how much you lifted. A calendar helps you plan your workout days and rest days. Jetfit Workout isn't especially rich with features, and the design is cluttered, but it gets the job done.

The Jefit Workout app is free, with a Pro version costing $4.99. I'll have more about the differences between the two in a moment.

Jefit Features and Navigation

The main page of the app offers four primary points of entry into the app: routine, exercises, logs, and stats. Below those four options, you'll also see settings, sync, and social.

Jefit's routines section lets you create and save workouts. The interface isn't especially pretty, but the customizations here are rich. You can set a weekly workout schedule and even name the different days of the week according to the routine, such as making Monday "Arms" day and Wednesday "Legs" day. Any days you don't schedule appear as Rest days.

Each day can have its own routine, which you build from a long list of included exercises in the app. To get to the exercises, you have to choose a part of the body first, and then scroll through a long list of moves targeting the related muscles. Some of the exercises are specific to weights or resistance machines you'd find in a gym, and others you could do at home with no equipment at all. I wish there had been an option to say eliminate all machine-related exercises, or only show exercises that use equipment you might have on hand. For example, I'd love to say, "Only show me exercises that use a mat, yoga ball, dumbbells, or no equipment," so I could more easily find exercises that are relevant to what I can do at home.

Creating custom workouts is fun, but doing the workout is less fun—though not for the reason you might think! One of the main complaints I have with Jefit is that there's too much "next" button pushing. When I start a session, I want to see the timer automatically count down the time, either calling out the number of reps I set as my goal, or counting backward from the amount of time I preset for this activity. Jefit instead has you tap a stopwatch button or countdown button (the same button toggles between those two choices). When you're done, you have to tap again. At least there's a button called "Save and Start Rest Timer," which ends the current exercise and counts down a little rest period before automatically launching the next set. When you get to the next set, though, you have to tap again to start the timer or countdown.

Tap, Tap, Tap
Constantly tapping a screen interrupts my workout flow, although it's something I see too often in workout apps. Even Touchfit: GSP (free with optional $9.99 per year membership), one of my favorites apps for coaching me through challenging workouts, has a signature "touch in" feature after each exercise, where you tap to rate whether it was easy, challenging, difficult, or impossible. At least with Touchfit, those taps go to good use. They dynamically inform the app so it can customize your workouts to be challenging but not beyond your abilities.

Touchfit has much more explicit training on how to complete moves than what Jefit offers. Touchfit includes videos, which you can play at any time from a library in the app, and which play as you workout. Jefit just has little animated GIFs that show a drawn human going from the start position of the move to the end position. It's similar to what SworkIt Pro (99 cents) in that way.

Another way Jefit is similar to Sworkit is that both lack any real audio coaching or feedback. Apps that include these options seem much better suited to people who need a little motivation to keep going, as I do. I like hearing "almost there!" or "halfway through," which is how I make it through the brutal tummy-tightening exercises in Runtastic Six Pack Abs (free with optional $4.99 in-app upgrade for the full version).

Jefit does show you logs of your sessions on a calendar, which I like to see, and comes with a few social features as well. You'll see a few ads on the free Jefit app, but I found them fairly unobtrusive.

Price

The $4.99 Pro version ditches advertisements (which are fairly unobtrusive in the free version) and comes with a few additional features, most of them related to information that the app will chart out for you. For example, Pro users can see "total volume" graphs, which show the weight you're lifting, times repetitions, times the number of sets performed. Pro users can also duplicate routines they've created so they can easily create variations on them.

Jefit for Sets and Reps

Jefit is best described as a sets-and-reps counter. It's great at doing just that, and very good at letting you customize workouts for your week, but don't expect it to coach you through moves or motivate you with words of praise. If all you need is an app to replace that crumpled piece of paper with your routine, sets, and reps, it's exactly the app you should download. If you're looking for more, however, try Touchfit GSP or Editors' Choice GAIN Fitness (free with optional in-app purchases). If you're just getting started working out and need something a little gentler, try the rather impressive Johnson & Johnson Official 7 Minute Workout App.