The RepCanvas exercise library is a searchable catalogue of compound and isolation lifts, organised by muscle group and filterable by equipment. It feeds the program builder, the workout logger, and the per-exercise history pages - there is one source of truth for what each exercise is and how it has been performed.
What’s in the library
The library covers the canonical hypertrophy and strength lifts grouped under the muscle they primarily train: chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves, abs, forearms, and traps. Each exercise carries enough metadata that the picker can narrow the list down quickly - equipment, body position, grip, and execution style are all attributes you can scope on without typing.
The library is shared across all RepCanvas accounts. Editing the library record itself is not possible - that would change the exercise for every other lifter. Instead, attribute edits scoped to your program (a different bench angle, a different grip, a custom name) attach to your program’s instance of the exercise. The shared library stays canonical.
Browsing exercises
The Exercises tab is a flat alphabetical list scoped to your library, organised by muscle group. Each row shows a muscle-tinted dot, the exercise name, and a small subtitle covering the equipment and source. Filters at the top let you narrow by muscle group and search by name; an additional filter sheet covers equipment.
Tapping into an exercise opens two sub-views: an instructions tab where written cues are available, and a history tab that lists every set you have ever logged for that exercise, with personal records marked. The history tab is the most-used surface - it’s where you check whether your top set today beats your best in the previous training block.
The exercise picker in the program builder
The Exercise Picker, used inside the program builder, is a cascading drill-down rather than a flat list. You start at muscle group, then optionally narrow by exercise type (compound vs isolation), variant, equipment, and setup. Each step shrinks the candidate list. For most lifters, two or three taps lands on the exact lift they want.
If the picker doesn’t surface your lift, the Add a custom exercise affordance at the bottom takes you to a small form. Enter a name, pick a muscle group, and the exercise is added to your library. Refine attributes (equipment, grip, default rep range) any time after.
Custom exercises
Anything you create lives alongside the rest of the library and is fully editable. The intent is that the library should never feel restrictive - a niche cable variation, a piece of gym equipment with a brand name, or an exercise you’ve named idiosyncratically all belong here. Custom exercises also feed your strength trends and personal records like any other exercise; there is no second-class treatment.
Where to read next
- Building a custom program covers how to compose a program day by day from the library.
- How programs are structured explains the microcycle and mesocycle layers that hold your exercise selections.
- Strength trends shows how each exercise turns into a long-running progress signal.