Muscle activation, 0–10
The activation score says how hard each muscle works in the exercise, relative to the other muscles in it. Scores are produced in the seto catalogue with the help of an AI model that analyses the movement — joint actions, range of motion, where the load sits.
They are estimates, not EMG measurements. Use them to compare exercises with each other, not as a lab value for your body.
Sets, reps and rest for each goal
Each goal — strength, muscle growth, power, endurance — gets its own dose: sets, reps, rest between sets and a target effort. The doses follow the ranges widely used in strength training (low reps and long rest for strength, moderate reps for muscle growth, high reps and short rest for endurance) and differ by exercise: a heavy compound lift gets longer rest than an isolation exercise.
Effort is shown as reps in reserve — how many more clean reps you could still do when you end the set. It is RPE turned around: RPE 8 means 2 reps in reserve (see the RPE guide).
How well an exercise suits a goal
The labels “best fit”, “great fit” and “good fit” come from a per-goal rating of each exercise, produced in the same AI-assisted pass. “Best fit” marks the goal the exercise serves best and appears only when there is more than one goal to choose from.
Substitutes and easier or harder versions
These are calculated, not hand-picked. A substitute has the same movement pattern, the same type of exercise and a similar muscle profile — the activation scores compared as a whole — and needs different equipment, so each group answers “what if I don’t have this”. Easier and harder versions come from the same pool, ordered by level and technique.
Bodyweight exercises are ordered by a physical number instead: the share of your bodyweight the first rep demands — about 64% for a push-up, about 100% for a pull-up. These are anthropometric estimates of the load at the working joint, not a measurement of you.
Updates and corrections
Each exercise page shows the date it last changed. If a number looks wrong, write to [email protected] — corrections go into the same catalogue the app uses.
seto gives general training guidance, not medical advice. With an injury or a medical condition, check with a qualified professional first.