by Crucible
Unlimited free imports. Instant. Coaches who use the Crucible template format give their athletes a premium import experience at zero cost.
Why Templates
No waiting. The template format reads directly into the app. Your block loads in under a second.
Unlimited imports. Free backfill. No Pro subscription required. No daily import limits. Every athlete gets the full experience.
No interpretation, no guesswork. Every set, rep, RPE, and load lands exactly where your coach wrote it.
Philosophy
Coaches shouldn't have to learn a new platform to deliver programming. Athletes shouldn't have to reformat a spreadsheet to use an app. Blacksmith templates are standard spreadsheets with a thin layer of structure. Coaches keep their workflow, athletes get a seamless experience, and nobody wastes time on technology that should be invisible.
We built Blacksmith because we believe the best coaching tools are the ones that disappear. Your coach writes the program. You train. That's it.
How It Works
Your coach programs in the Crucible template format, a standard spreadsheet layout in Google Sheets or Excel. Same workflow, structured columns.
Open Crucible, tap import, pick the file or paste a Google Sheets URL. The template is detected automatically. No settings to configure.
Your block loads instantly with correct structure, training schedule, and optional logged results. Open the app and start lifting.
Format
Days as rows, weeks as columns. Each day lists exercises vertically. Natural for coaches who think in weekly progressions.
Sets, Reps, RPE, Load, Act. RPE, Act. Load. Covers prescription and logging in one sheet.
A single row marks the file as a Blacksmith template. Contains version, weight unit, and the training schedule.
Weekday mapping built into the sentinel row. Crucible places each session on the correct calendar day automatically.
Numeric values (225), percentages (75%), and ranges (145-150). Coaches write prescriptions the way they think.
Act. RPE and Act. Load columns let athletes log in the sheet. Imported results populate history, detect PRs, and build the Hall of Fame.
Start Here · Always Free
Drop in your 1RMs and train it as-is. Or open it in the Workshop and make it yours in minutes: swap any exercise, tweak any percentage, reshape the weeks, then download your own version.
What’s Inside
Format reference and rules. Explains the sentinel row, the six columns per week, the day labels, and the add/remove patterns coaches use to adapt the template.
A worked 4-week strength cycle. YOUR MAXES at the top auto-calculates every load from your 1RMs. Squat and bench each get a heavy day plus a variation day; deadlift gets its own heavy day plus a paused variation. Week 4 is a meet-prep single.
How to use it
Block tab.Prefer Sheets?
The original Blacksmith template is still live in Google Sheets. Copy it, program in Sheets, share with your athletes. The import pipeline treats it identically to a Workshop-generated file.
Open the Google Sheets Template →View-only. File > Make a copy to start editing.
For Coaches
Starting out as a coach is hard enough without figuring out how to deliver programming. Most new coaches spend hours building spreadsheet templates from scratch, wrestling with formatting, and hoping their athletes can actually read the result. Blacksmith eliminates that entire problem.
Copy the template, write your program, share it. Your athletes open it in Crucible and get a clean, purpose-built training interface (daily view, set logging, PR detection, progress tracking), all from a spreadsheet you wrote in 20 minutes. No app to build, no platform to learn, no subscription for your athletes to pay.
Every athlete who imports your template gets Crucible's full training UI: Today view, set logging, PR detection, and progress history. It's a coaching app without the overhead of building one.
Don't know where to start? The Blacksmith template has the structure, columns, and schedule mapping ready. Focus on the programming, not the formatting.
Your athletes never pay for imports. Unlimited Blacksmith imports, unlimited backfill, no daily caps. Lower the barrier for every client you onboard.
Get Started
Pick up the free 4-week program and train it as-is, or open the Workshop and craft a block from scratch. Either way: Crucible-native spreadsheet, zero cost, one-tap athlete import.