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TRY vs RP Hypertrophy
RP Hypertrophy is the app a lot of serious lifters graduate to, and it earned that reputation. This page is for the ones who are eyeing the renewal price and wondering what they'd actually give up by leaving.
The short version
Both apps set your targets for you — they read what you actually logged and move the next session’s weight and reps accordingly. That is not the difference. The difference is scope and price: RP Hypertrophy is a training app at $34.99/month, with nutrition sold separately as RP Diet Coach. TRY is $11.99/month with food logging, per-gym equipment awareness, and a text-to-program generator that turns any plan you paste in — a coach’s spreadsheet, a PDF, a forum post — into a fully trackable program.
The methodology itself is in TRY too — it runs a mesocycle RIR ramp with scheduled deloads, automatically. What RP sells on top of that is the teaching: Dr. Mike Israetel’s produced video library and a named curriculum from the people publishing the research. If that is what you are paying for, RP is the honest recommendation. If you are paying for the programming engine, you can get that for a third of the price.
Price
| Plan | TRY Fitness | RP Hypertrophy |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Yes — unlimited workout logging, forever | No |
| Monthly | $11.99/mo | $34.99/mo |
| Annual | $95.99/yr ($8.00/mo) | $299.99/yr (often ~$224.99 on sale) |
| Nutrition included | Yes | Separate app (RP Diet Coach) |
Annual against annual is the comparison that matters when a renewal notice lands: $95.99 against $299.99, or against roughly $224.99 if you catch RP’s sale.
What's actually different
| TRY Fitness | RP Hypertrophy | |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic progressive-overload targets | Yes | Yes |
| RIR-driven targets | Yes — your logged RIR sets the next one | Yes |
| Mesocycle RIR ramp & scheduled deloads | Yes — automatic | Yes |
| Switch to RPE, or intensity off | Yes — per exercise | — |
| Food logging in plain English | Yes — type or speak a whole meal | Separate app |
| Knows your gym’s equipment | Yes — per-gym inventory | No |
| Text-to-program generator | Yes — paste text, or upload a PDF/Excel | No |
| Share a program with someone | Yes — send a link, they import it | No |
| Technique video for each exercise | Yes — top YouTube tutorial, in-app | Yes — 250+ first-party videos |
| Named coach & taught curriculum | No | Yes — Renaissance Periodization |
How your targets actually get set
Both apps work in reps in reserve, so it is worth being precise rather than waving at “smart progression”.
In TRY, RIR is an input, not a label. You log the RIR you actually hit, and that number feeds the progression maths directly — a set taken to RIR 0 and a set left at RIR 3 are read as different amounts of work, so the next session’s target moves accordingly. Beat the target and it asks for more; grind through it and it backs off. You can switch a lift to RPE instead, or turn intensity tracking off entirely, per exercise.
Across a block, TRY ramps the target RIR down and schedules the deloads itself. On a 12-week plan with deloads in weeks 4 and 8, that is RIR 2 → 1 → 0, a deload week at RIR 4, then the same ramp again. That is the mesocycle structure running on its own — you do not set it, and you do not have to track where you are in the block.
Where RP Hypertrophy is the better buy
Worth saying plainly, because it's true for a lot of people:
- You want to be taught, not just programmed for. TRY runs the periodisation; RP explains it. If you want to understand why the block looks the way it does, from the people publishing the research, that is RP’s product and not TRY’s.
- You want first-party video. TRY does show a technique tutorial for each exercise — it surfaces the top YouTube video in-app — but RP’s 250+ demonstrations are produced by their own coaches to one standard. If consistency of coaching cues matters to you, that is a real difference.
- You want to be told exactly what to do. RP is more prescriptive by design. TRY gives you more rope — which is an advantage only if you want it.
Where TRY is different
- It knows where you're training. You tell TRY what equipment each of your gyms has, and it stops prescribing lifts you can't actually do that day. If you train at a commercial gym on weekdays and a garage or hotel gym otherwise, this is the feature that stops the plan falling apart.
- Nutrition is in the same app. Type or say "chicken thigh, rice, and a bit of olive oil" and it logs the whole meal — not item-by-item lookup.
- You can bring your own program. Paste a plan from a spreadsheet, a coach, or a forum post and TRY structures it into something trackable. You are not locked into a template library.
- There's a real free tier. Unlimited workout logging, full history, PRs and volume stats without paying. You can test the logging experience against your current app before spending anything.
Who should pick which
Stay with RP Hypertrophy if the methodology and the teaching are what you're buying, you use the video library, and $35/month is comfortable.
Try TRY if you already know how to train and you are paying RP mainly for the programming engine, you want your own plan imported rather than a template picked for you, or you are currently paying for a lifting app and a food app separately.
Test it against your own training
Unlimited workout logging is free, with no card. Or paste your current RP block into the free program analyzer and see what a second opinion says first.
Get TRY FitnessFree forever tier · Pro from $8.00/mo billed annually
Competitor pricing and features were checked on 19 August 2026 and are summarised in good faith; apps change and regional pricing varies, so check the app's own store listing before deciding. TRY Health LLC is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Renaissance Periodization, and all trademarks belong to their respective owners. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll fix it.