UPDATE: It’s abundantly clear that there are still imbalances to be fixed here. We are listening to all the feedback and will be incorporating updates as soon as possible. Truly appreciate your patience (and passion!).

Today we are changing the way we calculate points for lifting activities on Fitocracy. Previously, the formula we used was based on the estimated 1 Rep Max (1RM). However, it turned out this disproportionately awarded points to sets to the very first rep in any given set and as a result, some users began exploiting this to maximize their points by splitting up their workouts into many 1 rep sets.



Philosophically, we believe that the largest benefit from lifting occurs within a certain rep range. For example, one cannot expect to optimally progress if they are bench pressing 30 reps on every set. While this stance can often be controversial, we feel that it’s safe to say that the optimal benefit occurs somewhere between 3 and 20 reps. This works nicely as a solution to the 1-rep exploit, because we can create a new formula that shifts points away from the 1st rep and then distributes them more evenly across the subsequent reps. Here's a graph comparing the old (straight line) and new (curved line) formulas.

The trade-off of this new formula is that lifting your true 1RM will earn fewer points than previously. We have added a slightly exponential feature to the weight input to compensate, so that doubling the weight will more than double the points. We will also likely add bonuses for hitting new personal records in the near future.



TL;DR: New lifting formula that decreases points for first few reps of a set.