Switching from Strong or Hevy

Your training history comes with you. Export a CSV file from Strong or Hevy, import it into Anvil Workout in one step, and your old sets are there for your next workout, your records and your stats. Anvil is a one-time purchase, with no subscription.

How the import works

It takes three steps, and nothing is saved until you have seen what will come across.

1. Export from Strong or Hevy. In Strong, open Settings from your profile and choose Export Strong Data. In Hevy, go to Profile, then Settings, then Export & Import Data, and export your workouts. Save the CSV file somewhere your iPhone can open, such as the Files app.
2. Open the import in Anvil. It is under Import Workout Data in Settings. A new install also offers it when you first open the app, and on the home screen until you have a program.
3. Pick the file and read the preview. Anvil recognises which app the file came from, counts its workouts, sets and exercises, and lists anything it can't bring across. Import it, or cancel and keep the file as it was.

If Anvil says it doesn't recognise a Strong file, export it again with Strong set to English. Anvil reads the column names Strong writes in English.

What comes across

Every workout you logged, with its name, date and length. Each exercise, set, rep and weight, in kilograms or pounds, shown in whichever unit you lift in. Your RPE, and the notes you wrote on an exercise. From Hevy, warm-up, drop and failure sets keep their type, and supersets stay together. Sets from Strong come in as working sets.

Exercise names are matched to Anvil's own. Strong and Hevy put the equipment in brackets, so "Bench Press (Barbell)" joins Anvil's bench press when the equipment matches, while a dumbbell bench press stays its own exercise. A name with no match becomes a custom exercise, filed under its muscle group.

Because your old sets and your new ones share exercises, the history works from your first workout in Anvil. Each set shows what you lifted in the matching set last time, your personal records carry on, and Stats and the estimated one-rep max include everything you bring.

Your file, column by column

Both exports are one row per set. Anvil finds each column by its name, so a file with its columns in another order, or with columns Anvil doesn't use, reads the same.

In Anvil	Strong's column	Hevy's column
The workout's date, name and length	Date, Workout Name, Duration	start_time, title, end_time
The exercise	Exercise Name	exercise_title
Each set, in order, with its reps	Set Order, Reps	set_index, reps
The weight, shown in your unit	Weight, Weight Unit	weight_kg or weight_lbs
The set's type	No column, so every set is a working set	set_type
RPE, from 1 to 10	RPE	rpe
Supersets, kept together	No column	superset_id
The note on an exercise	Notes	exercise_notes
Left out: the note on a whole workout	Workout Notes	description
Left out: a set with only a time or a distance	Seconds, Distance	duration_seconds, distance_km, distance_miles

If your Strong file has no Weight Unit column, Anvil reads its weights in the unit chosen in Anvil's Settings, so set kilograms or pounds there before you import.

What can't come across, and how you'll know

Anvil records a set as reps and weight. Sets logged only as a time or a distance, such as planks, carries and cardio, have nowhere to go, so they are left out. So are notes written on a whole workout (notes on an exercise are kept), and rows with an unreadable date or no exercise name. The preview lists each of these, and how many, before you decide.

Your routines stay behind. The import brings the workouts you did, not the programs you planned, so start from one of Anvil's built-in programs or build your own. Your history is there either way.

Import each file once, because importing the same file again adds its workouts a second time. And Anvil can't read its own CSV export back in, so that export is a copy of your history to keep, not a backup to restore from.

Then you pay once

Anvil Workout is a one-time purchase. There is no subscription and nothing to unlock later, and every feature is included on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. It supports Family Sharing, so up to six family members can use it. There is no account to create, and your workouts stay on your devices.

Anvil Workout is an independent app and is not affiliated with Strong or Hevy.