Does StrongLifts work with Garmin?

No, StrongLifts has no Garmin watch app. Its own site lists iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Android.

What does work is a lifting app with its own Garmin watch app. BulkForged, ours, looks like this:

What does StrongLifts say about watches and integrations?

The StrongLifts site names one watch, the Apple Watch, and lists no Garmin integration.

• Its app page says: "Stronglifts is available for both iOS and Android devices."
• The same page says: "You can install it on your iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch."
• Its support site has an Apple Watch section, on logging sets from the watch.
• Its integrations section has two articles, Apple Health and Health Connect. Garmin is not on the list.

So this is not a fault on your watch, and no setting fixes it.

What still works with StrongLifts and a Garmin?

You can log in StrongLifts on your phone while the watch records a Strength activity for heart rate.

• The two records stay separate. Your sets live in StrongLifts and your heart rate lives in Garmin Connect.
• On Android, StrongLifts can send workouts to Health Connect.
• Its support site lists what goes: "Stronglifts will export the name of your workouts, workout duration, and calories burned."
• Your sets, reps and weights are not on that list.
• On iPhone, it sends workouts to Apple Health. Heart rate goes too, "only when logging workouts with your Apple Watch".

What logs sets on a Garmin today?

Six options put your sets on the wrist.

• Garmin's built-in Strength activity. No app needed. It counts reps from wrist movement and lets you enter the weight after each set.
• Gravl. iPhone and Android, with a Connect IQ watch app that mirrors the workout on the phone.
• BulkForged. Android, with a Connect IQ watch app that runs the workout on the watch itself.
• Kilo. Android, with a Connect IQ watch app that also posts the workout to your Garmin profile.
• Rack. iPhone only, with a Connect IQ watch app that saves the workout as a native Garmin activity.
• Strength Tracker (LiftSync). No phone app. You build your workouts at liftsync.fit and run them from the watch.

Details for each are in Best strength training apps for Garmin watches.

How does BulkForged handle it?

BulkForged is our app. Its Garmin watch app is free from the Connect IQ store.

• The watch shows the exercise, the target weight and the target reps for each set.
• Logging a set takes three presses: confirm the weight, confirm the reps, done.
• The rest timer starts on its own and vibrates when rest is over.
• The whole workout runs offline on the watch. It uploads when the watch has a connection.

• Your phone can stay in the locker. See Phone in the locker.
• The watch or the phone can start, log or finish a workout. They sync every 5 seconds during a workout.
• With Coaching, the app sets your next targets after the session and records why each one moved.

See it on video: a whole exercise logged on a fēnix, phone in the bag.

Does StrongLifts raise the weight for you?

Yes, StrongLifts adds weight for you when you complete all your sets.

• Its app page says: "Stronglifts automatically increases the weight for you over time if you complete all sets successfully."
• The same page says: "You can control how much weight it adds, and how often it does so."
• Its support site says the weight does not go up after failed sets.
• By default, three failed sessions in a row on a lift drop its weight by 10%, the support site says.
• Its app page says the whole StrongLifts 5×5 program "is prepared and planned for you".

Does BulkForged have a 5x5 program?

Yes, BulkForged has its own 5x5 program, Mehdi's 5x5, and you can log it on your Garmin.

• Three days a week, alternating two full-body days.
• Day A is squat, bench press and barbell row. Day B is squat, overhead press and deadlift.
• Five sets of five on every main lift.
• With Coaching, complete every working set at the listed reps and the weight goes up next time.
• When you cannot complete all five sets, the weight holds. BulkForged does not drop it for you.
• A deload week lifts lighter without lowering your targets.
• Every change is written to a log you can read. Any target can be edited.
• Find it under Workouts, then Named programs.

BulkForged is not affiliated with or endorsed by StrongLifts or any program author.

See it on video: A 5x5 workout app that puts the weight up for you.

Can I bring my StrongLifts history?

No, BulkForged imports files from Hevy and Strong, and StrongLifts is not one of them.

• Start the 5x5 program and type your current weights into the targets.
• Any target can be edited. With Coaching, the app carries on from your number.
• Coming from Hevy or Strong instead? See the switch guide.

What are BulkForged's limits?

BulkForged is Android only today, and its watch app runs on 60+ Garmin watches.

• Android only today. iPhone is coming soon, with a waitlist.
• 60+ Garmin watches: most of the fēnix 6, and the fēnix 7, 8 and 9; epix; Enduro; MARQ; tactix; quatix; D2 Mach 1 Pro; Forerunner 165, 170, 255, 265, 570, 955, 965 and 970; Descent; and the AMOLED Instincts. No Venu or vivoactive. See every supported model.
• A session is saved in BulkForged, with every set and weight. It is not a Garmin Connect activity, so it records no heart rate. See what's saved where.

Where do this page's facts come from?

Every statement about StrongLifts comes from its own website and support site, read on 5 October 2026.

• BulkForged is our app, so weigh this page accordingly.
• We read stronglifts.com/app and support.stronglifts.com.

Related: Named programs, What coaching includes, Adding your watch.