How do I create a custom exercise?

You can create a custom exercise from the Exercises page in two ways: build a brand new one with the New exercise button, or duplicate an existing system exercise and modify the copy. Both options live on the same page and both produce a fully editable custom exercise.

Steps to create a new exercise from scratch

1. In the sidebar, open Training and click Exercises.
2. Before creating something new, search the existing library — Fitsly ships with a large set of system exercises that may already cover what you need.
3. If nothing matches, click New exercise in the top right.
4. Fill in the editor fields (see "What's in the exercise editor" below).
5. Click Save exercise.

The exercise is now in your library and can be added to workouts. Clients you assign workouts to will see this exercise too.

Steps to duplicate a system exercise

System exercises are read-only. To customize one, duplicate it first and then edit the copy.

1. On the Exercises page, find the system exercise you want to start from.
2. Either click the three-dot menu on its row and choose Duplicate, or click into the exercise to open it and choose Copy to Custom in the modal.
3. The duplicated exercise opens in the editor as a new custom exercise.
4. Edit the fields you want to change, then click Save exercise.

What's in the exercise editor

• Exercise name — up to 100 characters.
• Modality — the equipment or style (e.g. barbell, dumbbell, bodyweight).
• Primary focus — the muscle group or movement focus.
• Category — how the exercise is tracked. Pick one: Strength (Weight x Reps), Bodyweight (Reps), Short Distance (Distance x Time), Long Distance (Distance x Time), or Timed (Time).
• Instructions — numbered steps clients see in the workout.
• Default alternate exercises — swap-in options surfaced to clients during a workout.
• Tags — open the Tag manager from the tag icon next to the exercise name to add or create tags.
• Video — choose None, Custom Video (direct upload), or Youtube Video (paste an embed link). System Video only appears as an option when you duplicate a system exercise.
• Images — drag and drop photos.

Uploading a custom video

1. In the editor, set the Video field to Custom Video.
2. Click Upload custom video and pick a file.
3. Wait for the upload and processing to finish before saving.

Videos must be 400MB or smaller. You can upload from desktop or from the coach mobile app — direct uploads do not need to go through YouTube.

Managing tags

Tags are created and edited from the Tag Manager tab on the Exercises page, or from the tag icon next to the exercise name inside the editor. You select tags onto an exercise from there rather than typing them as free text on the exercise itself.

Things to watch out for

• System exercises cannot be edited directly. You will not see an Edit option for them — only Duplicate. Edit the duplicated copy instead.
• Each exercise has exactly one Category. An exercise set up as Timed cannot also be tracked as Weight x Reps. If you need both, create two exercises.
• Custom video uploads are capped at 400MB. Larger files show "Video must be 400MB or smaller." and will not upload.
• A YouTube link must be a valid embed URL — the editor will flag invalid links with "Please enter a valid YouTube URL".
• Saving an exercise while a video is still processing can leave the video missing — wait for processing to finish before clicking Save exercise.