Why Reshape exists
Most running plans are written once, for someone else, and never change. You miss a week, come back into the plan where it expected you to be, and the miles pile up faster than your body can absorb them. That’s how runners get hurt. It’s also how people quit.
Good human coaches don’t do that. They look at the week you just had, and they write the next one around it. A rough week pulls back. A strong week adds load carefully. The long run grows at a rate your body can absorb. Reshape is the software version of that idea: a plan that watches what you ran, re-estimates your current fitness, and rebuilds the week ahead so you keep moving forward without breaking.
The app started after one too many template blocks ended with a niggle in peak week. The idea was simple: if Apple Health already knows what I ran, why is my plan still pretending I did everything on schedule? Reshape closes that loop.
Who it’s for
Whether you’re aiming at your first 5K, coming back from an injury, or chasing a marathon PR, the same engine reads your Apple Health history and meets you where your fitness is today. First-timers get walk-run intervals and plain-language coach notes. Comeback runners get a gentle on-ramp that reads their current base before adding load. PR chasers get Jack Daniels’ VDOT pacing, periodization, and the weekly recalibration a human coach would do.
Each distance has a dedicated starting point: couch to 5K, 5K, 10K, half marathon, marathon, and a return-to-running plan that picks up wherever your body currently is.
How it’s built
Reshape is a native iOS app, written in Swift and SwiftUI. HealthKit data stays on your iPhone. When the plan regenerates, a small amount of anonymous training context (pace ranges, weekly volume, recent run summaries) is sent to Google Gemini to compose the next week inside a training envelope defined by coaching science, not by a language model. Every workout comes with a plain-language coach note that explains why it sits where it does.
The adaptive layer runs on a fixed set of rules: capped week-to-week load, capped long-run increases, protected taper windows, intensity delayed until easy volume has been absorbed. These caps come from the same coaching literature that informed Jack Daniels and Pete Pfitzinger, not from whatever the language model feels is reasonable.
The privacy page spells out exactly what leaves the device. Short version: your name, email, and raw HealthKit records never do.
Who makes it
Reshape is built by Arjan de Wit, trading as Arjan Works, a one-person studio based in the Netherlands. No co-founder, no ops team, no seed round, no VC timeline pressuring feature cuts. When you email hello@reshape.run, it lands with the person working on the app.
Arjan has been running for more than a decade across distances from 5K to the marathon, and building iOS apps for almost as long. Reshape started as a personal answer to a personal problem: template plans that break down the first time life interferes. Every design decision runs through that filter. If the plan can’t survive a bad week, it’s not a plan.
Common questions
Yes. Arjan Works is the one-person studio behind Reshape, registered in the Netherlands. No outside investors, no co-founder, no remote team. Everything you see in the app was designed, coded, and written by Arjan de Wit.
Yes. The couch-to-5K and return-to-running plans open with walk-run intervals and cap week-to-week load so brand-new runners don’t progress faster than their body can absorb. Every workout comes with a plain-language coach note so you understand why the session exists before you run it.
No. Apple HealthKit data stays on the device. When the plan regenerates, a small, anonymous summary (pace ranges, weekly volume, short run summaries) is sent to Google Gemini to compose the next week. Your name, email, and raw HealthKit records never leave your iPhone. The privacy page spells out exactly what does.
Reshape is self-funded. No venture capital, no seed round, no acquisition target. Once the TestFlight beta ends, Reshape becomes a paid app at $4.99 / €4.99 per month. That subscription is how the work continues.
Write to hello@reshape.run. It goes straight to Arjan. Beta feedback in particular changes the next release; most of the features in the app started as TestFlight emails.
What’s next
Reshape is free during the TestFlight beta and will be $4.99 / €4.99 per month when it leaves beta. The beta window is where most features earn their place; feedback from current TestFlight users shapes each release.
If you want to be part of that window, the signup goes straight to the TestFlight invite. If you’d rather wait for the App Store launch, the same email list gets the announcement.