No more writing down a workout routine on a sweaty piece of paper and then maybe remembering it later. That’s so 2025. Now a new app uses intelligent text parsing and reusable effort tags to make structured session creation faster for athletes, coaches, physiotherapists and clubs.

It’s called Workout Writer, an iOS and macOS app for runners and cyclists, that was recently launched to make it faster to turn natural workout notes into structured sessions for Apple Watch and Garmin. So instead of building workouts step by step through rigid forms, athletes can write a session the way they naturally think about it, then schedule it on their watch and sync it to their calendar.

Workout Writer was created by Simon Burbidge, a developer with 15 years of experience making award-winning mobile apps. The app has been in development since Apple announced WorkoutKit at WWDC 2023.

“Most athletes and coaches already know what they want the workout to be,” Burbidge explains. “The friction is turning that idea into something structured enough to use on a watch. Workout Writer is designed to make that step feel natural.”

A key part of Workout Writer is its deterministic workout parser. The app understands natural workout notes, then converts them into repeatable structured sessions without relying on AI. The same text always produces the same workout, giving athletes and coaches predictable results when creating, editing, reusing and sharing sessions.

Workout Writer also introduces customizable tags: reusable effort keywords such as “tempo,” “threshold” or “easy” that can represent pace, heart rate, power or cadence. When an athlete’s fitness changes, they can update the tag and have workouts automatically reflect the new target.

Tags make the app useful for individual training, but also powerful for coaching, rehabilitation and clubs, where the same workout structure may need to be shared with athletes of different ability levels. A workout can easily be shared via messaging, chat or social channels as a link or QR code and recipients get the workout automatically configured to their level.

Workout Writer is available now for iPhone, iPad and Mac.