Who is Jason Grubb?
Competitive CrossFit athlete who's built his training around ruthless simplicity. If something doesn't directly improve performance, it gets cut. That philosophy extends to his tech stack.
Jason's been competing since the early 2020s, grinding through local competitions up to regional qualifiers. The athletic journey taught him that complexity kills consistency. Simple systems executed daily beat perfect plans abandoned after two weeks.
His approach to training mirrors how he picks tools. Four workouts weekly, structured around strength and conditioning fundamentals. Four apps total, each serving a clear non-overlapping purpose. No bloat anywhere.
What makes Jason different from fitness influencers chasing every new gadget is the focus on what works long-term. He's used the same 4-app stack for years because switching tools is time wasted not training.
Everything below comes from his Instagram where he occasionally shares training philosophies and the Jason Grubb tools powering his performance. Fair warning: if you're looking for complexity, this stack will disappoint you.
Recovery Tracking That Actually Matters
Elite athletes know recovery determines performance more than grinding extra workouts. Athlytic turns Apple Watch data into insights that actually change training decisions.
HRV trends show when the nervous system is fried before you realize it consciously. Strain scores quantify how hard yesterday's session actually hit. Readiness ratings tell him when pushing hard makes sense versus when backing off prevents injury.
Jason mentioned in a 2024 post how Athlytic caught overtraining patterns he would have ignored based on gut feel alone. Three consecutive days of tanked HRV despite feeling okay subjectively. Taking a rest day then prevented what probably would have become a nagging injury.
The app costs money unlike free Apple Health, but the insights are worth it when your performance depends on smart recovery. Generic fitness trackers tell you what happened. Athlytic tells you what to do about it.
He wears the Apple Watch 24/7 now, even sleeping with it for overnight HRV data. Small discomfort, massive performance edge from actually knowing when the body needs rest versus when it's ready to go hard.
Tracking PRs Without Spreadsheet Hell
CrossFit is basically a data sport dressed as fitness. Lifts, times, rep maxes. Tracking progress is non-negotiable. Numerical handles it without turning into spreadsheet gymnastics.
Every workout gets logged: back squat 1RM, Fran time, max unbroken pull-ups, whatever. The app graphs trends over weeks and months so progress becomes visible instead of just feeling like you're grinding forever without improvement.
Seeing the line go up on a lift chart keeps motivation way higher than staring at raw numbers in a notebook. When squat strength plateaus for 6 weeks, the flat graph makes it obvious instead of wondering if you're imagining things.
Jason tried Google Sheets, tried paper logs, tried the whiteboard at his gym. All worked fine but required manual effort to see patterns. Numerical automates the visualization part so he can focus on actually training instead of playing data analyst.
The PR notifications are stupidly satisfying too. Hit a new deadlift max and the app pops a little celebration. Small dopamine hit that reinforces showing up consistently even when progress feels slow.
Learning Without Sacrificing Training Time
Athletes spend hours weekly in the gym doing stuff that doesn't require full mental focus. Warmups, cooldowns, mobility work, foam rolling. Dead time that Audible and Castro turn into learning hours.
Audiobooks cover sports psychology, nutrition science, training methodology. Stuff that directly improves performance or mindset. No fiction, no random business books. If it doesn't make him a better athlete, it doesn't make the playlist.
Recent Audible rotation from late 2024: "Peak Performance" by Brad Stulberg, "Endure" by Alex Hutchinson, "The Champion's Mind" by Jim Afremow. All focused on the mental game and physiological optimization that separate good athletes from great ones.
Castro handles podcast queues with a triage inbox system. Fitness and performance content gets prioritized. Episodes sit in the queue until mobility sessions when reading isn't realistic but ears work fine.
The combined learning stack means Jason absorbs 20+ hours of performance content monthly without carving out dedicated study time. Warmup stretches become book chapters. Foam rolling becomes podcast episodes. Every minute serves double duty.
Why Jason's 4-App Stack Works
Most athletes overcomplicate their tech stacks with 15 apps that kinda-sorta overlap. Jason's approach strips everything down to essentials: recovery data, performance tracking, learning content. That's it.
No meal tracking apps because his nutrition is dialed through consistent meal prep, not obsessive logging. No general productivity tools because training is the job. No social media schedulers because Instagram gets attention when time allows, not on some artificial posting calendar.
The minimalism forces clarity. Each app serves one purpose exceptionally well. Athlytic for recovery. Numerical for PRs. Audible and Castro for learning. Zero overlap means zero confusion about where data lives or which tool to open.
When you're training 20+ hours weekly, every minute not spent moving weight or recovering is wasted. Managing complex tool ecosystems steals time from actual performance work. Jason's stack gets out of the way and lets him train.
The Jason Grubb tech stack proves elite performance doesn't require complexity. Four focused tools beat forty mediocre ones. Simple systems executed consistently always win.
Frequently Asked Questions About Jason Grubb's Stack
What apps does Jason Grubb use for CrossFit training?
Just four. Athlytic for recovery tracking using Apple Watch HRV data. Numerical for logging lifts and PR progress. Audible for audiobooks during warmups and cooldowns. Castro for fitness podcasts during mobility work. Each app serves one clear purpose without overlap.
How does Jason Grubb track recovery?
Athlytic turns Apple Watch data into actionable insights. HRV trends catch overtraining before it becomes injury. Strain scores quantify workout impact. Readiness ratings tell him when to push versus when backing off makes sense. Way more useful than generic fitness tracker stats that just show what happened without suggesting what to do next.
Why does Jason Grubb only use 4 apps?
Complexity kills consistency when you're training 20+ hours weekly. Every minute managing tool ecosystems is time not spent training or recovering. His 4-app stack covers recovery, performance data, and learning without bloat. No overlap, no confusion, no wasted time figuring out which app to open.
Does Jason Grubb track nutrition?
Nope. His nutrition is dialed through consistent meal prep, not obsessive logging in apps. When you eat the same high-quality meals repeatedly, tracking becomes pointless busy work. The minimalist approach extends beyond just tech - if something doesn't directly improve performance, it's out.
How does Jason Grubb learn without sacrificing training time?
Audible during warmups, cooldowns, and recovery sessions. Castro podcasts during foam rolling and mobility work. Turns 20+ hours monthly of "dead" gym time into learning hours. Sports psychology, nutrition science, training methodology. Every minute serves double duty instead of carving out separate study time.
What makes Jason Grubb's tech stack different from other athletes?
Ruthless simplicity. Most athletes juggle 15 apps with overlapping features. Jason strips everything to essentials - recovery, performance tracking, learning. That's it. The constraint forces clarity and prevents tool management from stealing time that should go to actual training. Elite performance comes from focus, not complexity.