A single number built from your performance history. Borrowed from competitive chess, adapted for the gym. This is how BTME decides where you stand.
ELO was invented by Arpad Elo in 1960 to rank chess players. The system is simple: perform above expectation, gain points. Perform below it, lose them. BTME applies this same logic to athletic performance — with modifications for the realities of physical training.
Each rank has specific daily targets for calorie burn, active training minutes, and step count. These targets are personalized — calibrated using your body weight, gender, and current rank. A heavier athlete at a higher rank faces a harder bar than a lighter athlete just starting out. Your baseline moves with you as you progress.
Your daily ELO gain is calculated from how well you hit three weighted targets: calorie burn, active training minutes, and step count. Each is measured as a completion percentage — 100% means you fully hit your rank's target. The three inputs each carry a different weight in the final score, and the maximum ELO available per day decreases as your rank rises, making higher ranks harder to maintain.
A streak bonus layer amplifies your daily ELO gain for sustained training. The multiplier activates after 3 consecutive training days and peaks at 1.25× at a 14-day streak. A single rest day resets the streak counter — but your first rest day is always protected from decay, so strategic recovery doesn't hurt you.
Your ELO is updated at the end of each 24-hour cycle. The gain is capped at your rank's maximum (T), preventing any single exceptional day from inflating your score beyond what your rank allows. As your ELO climbs and your rank increases, the daily ceiling drops — meaning staying at the top requires sustained effort, not lucky spikes.
Where everyone starts. High max ELO per workout means you climb fast when training consistently. Build your foundation and claim your first league placement.
The competitive core. Max daily ELO drops as your rank rises. Decay costs more here. This is where streaks and consistency separate serious athletes from casual ones.
The elite tier. Max ELO per day drops to single digits. A single missed week causes significant decay. Reaching and staying here demands months of sustained, elite-level output.
Recovery is built in — your first missed day is always protected. After that, each additional day without training increases the rate of loss, not just the total. The longer you go without training, the faster your score falls.
No. Your daily ELO gain is capped at your rank's maximum — from +40 at Rank 1 down to +5 at Rank 6. Each component (calories, minutes, steps) maxes out at 100% completion. You cannot score more than 100% on any input, so there's no way to inflate a single session beyond what your rank allows. Consistent daily training is the only path to a high rating.
Your first rest day is always protected — BTME understands that recovery is part of the program. Decay only begins the day after your first consecutive rest day. For extended injuries or illness, we're exploring a formal "injury pause" feature based on Early Access feedback. In the meantime, your score reflects your real-world consistency, which is the whole point.
Workout type doesn't change the formula — scoring is based on three universal outputs: calories burned, active minutes logged, and steps counted. A hard lifting session that generates the same calorie burn and active minutes as a run will score identically. What matters is the measurable output, not the modality.
Seasons reset annually. BTME tracks two separate scores: your Seasonal ELO resets each year so every athlete starts fresh on an even playing field, and your Lifetime ELO never resets — it's a permanent record of your all-time best. After a seasonal reset, everyone starts from a reduced baseline (not zero), so veteran athletes maintain an advantage while newcomers can compete.
No — your delta is calculated against your own performance baseline, not in direct comparison to another user in real time. However, the global leaderboard is ranked by ELO, so implicitly every session is competing for rank position.
Early access is open. Join now and be among the first athletes with an ELO rating.
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