Disclaimer
Is this plugin open source? No. It’s source-available under the Elastic License 2.0: you can read, use and change the code, but not offer it as a hosted service.
Is this plugin completely free? Yes, during the beta. 1.0 will be paid, and everyone who installs before 1.0 keeps it free (Pahlavan records the day you install it, in your vault).
Is this plugin vibe-coded beyond the author’s ability to comprehend how it works? No.
Community Directory: https://community.obsidian.md/plugins/pahlavan
I’m 42, I sit at a desk most of the day, and I wanted a coach more than another workout log. Every fitness plugin I tried could record a set. None of them could tell me what to lift next week, or why.
So I built one. Pahlavan is Persian for champion (the wrestlers of the zurkhaneh, the old Persian house of strength). It has two parts that work on the same files in your vault:
- a plugin that opens on Home: today’s session and how long it takes, what needs you, and how you’re doing, in plain words. Five more tabs (Today, Progress, Plan, Check-in and Food) hold the detail, and small reminder cards cover what you track, like creatine, water or a stand-up after a long sit;
- a coach you talk to in Claude Code (
/fitness-coach). It screens you for safety, interviews you, designs a 24-week plan from the research, and every Sunday reads your week and writes you a short letter with one thing to focus on.
The part I care about most is how the work is split. The coach designs the plan, but it never does the maths. A tested engine counts every set and sets every weight, and it checks each plan against the safety rules and the evidence before it’s written. A movement your injury rules out always blocks the plan; going past an evidence range needs a reason you can read. Every number has a reason you can hover. When the plan says 3 sets of 8 to 12, it tells you which rule set that and what the rule rests on (98 linked sources, each rule graded by how strong the evidence is).
The coach chooses from 244 movements, from barbell lifts to bodyweight ladders (push-up to planche, pull-up to muscle-up) and hotel-room options, each with how to set it up, how to do it and what to avoid. It also knows the parts of a muscle that studies show growing differently, like the side delts and the front. Ask it to train your “inner chest” and it tells you the evidence isn’t there, then offers the nearest option that is.
It has run my own training every day since early November, and it has already caught things I missed. My plan said I did 19.5 sets of abs a week, which sounded like plenty. Most of them were half credit from squats and easy planks, so the plan check now counts only the sets that really work the muscle. And one result from the movement self-check (my ribs flared on an overhead reach) had quietly removed every overhead press, though I press overhead without trouble. Now a finding like that is a question for you first, never a rule.
Before you install:
- It’s desktop only, built and tested on macOS. Windows and Linux should work but aren’t tested yet.
- The screens open without Claude Code, but your plan comes from the coach, so to use it fully you need Claude Code (with a Claude plan that includes it) and Node.js 18 or later.
- Everything stays in plain JSON and Markdown files in your vault. The plugin makes no network requests.
- It’s a general fitness tool for adults, not medical advice.
To install it, search for Pahlavan in Obsidian’s Settings ‚Üí Community plugins ‚Üí Browse, or open the directory link above.
Source and user guide: https://github.com/saeed1262/pahlavan
It’s a beta. I’ll post updates in this thread, and bug reports or “it’s missing X” are welcome here or in GitHub issues.