In addition to activity tracking, the app offers sleep, food, water, menstrual cycle, glucose, and weight tracking—which are great features if you’re trying to be healthier overall. Like Apple Fitness, it has badges for achievements, which I loved since I don’t want to compete against anyone except myself. It also offers daily readiness scores if you use it with a Fitbit wearable.

Newcomers to weightlifting should consider prioritizing an app that features visual demonstrations of the exercises they’ll be performing. Whether you have your own rig or just just snagged a pair of the best dumbbells, Capritto says to make sure the app’s library of exercises matches your intended training. “After using it for a few months, Ladder’s calling card is their programs. They all follow a series schedule, which are designed to promote strength gains in about five to six weeks,” they explained. Ladder’s adherence to progressive overload itself earned a 5 out of 5 from our tester, who highlighted the gradual increase in intensity throughout their program. For experienced weightlifters, keeping track of the details — weights, reps, measurements, etc. — is a crucial element of continuing to get stronger and staying ready for competitions.

JEFIT Workout Plan Gym Tracker

Others give free users exercise libraries exceeding 200 movements, each with detailed form guides and tracking capabilities [1]. To determine our top picks, we focused on apps with a wide variety of content, from strength and cardio to yoga and Pilates, ensuring users of all fitness levels can find something that suits their goals. We also prioritized effectiveness, favoring thoughtfully programmed workouts and motivating instructors who provide clear guidance and encourage users to stick with their routines. A seamless, intuitive interface was another key factor, making it easy to navigate classes, track progress, and stay engaged. SHRED is our pick for the best workout app for muscle gain because, through well-developed exercise programming and adaptive AI, it keeps pushing you just enough to grow.

With two coaching subscriptions to choose from (one group oriented and one individualized), Caliber can be an excellent tool for guiding your fitness journey. The prescribed workouts can be tailored to your available equipment, and you’re in constant communication with your personal trainer through the app’s chat feature and video call capabilities. There are some pre-programmed routines, or you can create routines with some basic knowledge, but it doesn’t look like it is coaching you.

Free and Premium Fitness Apps: A Comparison

Whatever you choose, prioritize apps that let you export history and offer an offline option. Spend two weeks using an app consistently — that will tell you more than reading a dozen feature lists. With the DIE RINGE App, it’s easy to make training a habit – thanks to encouraging features and structured workout planning.

Can you do personal training through workout apps?

Focus on tracking fidelity, actionable analytics, targeted exercise progressions, and personalization that responds to fatigue and schedule, not static calendars. Mainstream traction matters because it signifies sustained updates, community content, and reliable bug fixes. Some apps in this category have achieved significant scale, with platforms reporting “over 5 million downloads” according to CNET, indicating that these tools are meeting the needs of everyday users beyond early adopters. High download counts usually translate into active communities, more verified routines, and better integration with wearables and nutrition tools.

Which workout app is best for strength training?

Use the quick “Best for” notes to jump to the app that matches your goals. BetterMe’s paid version generates workout programs based on goals, experience, preferred exercise frequency, and other factors. The focus is on traditional strength/gym workouts, but you can also log home/travel sessions, cardio, sports, HIIT, and more. The best workout app for you covers the exercises you’re interested in doing at a level that’s accessible to you. Ideally, a good fitness app will support multiple levels of expertise so that as you get fitter and more comfortable, you can push yourself to the next level.

In their kettlebell program, however, our tester noted that their background in fitness came in handy. “The coaching is great overall,” they said, scoring the instruction 4 out of 5. “But I feel like someone new to weightlifting may struggle without feedback.” Subscriptions start at $29.99, but you can also connect with an individual coach for $44.99 per month. Our tester even explained that the more the AI “gets to know you,” the more customized your program can be.

Fitness Buddy Home Gym Workout

It’s a series of tempo-based classes, set to music, designed to get you fitter and stronger. The app is an extension of this, with hundreds of classes to choose from, all set to an infectious beat, with motivating instructors. Whether you enjoy weightlifting, yoga or cardio, the Fiit app has you covered. We’ve tested Fiit with and without equipment or chest strap monitors, and every class we’ve sweated through gets a huge tick from us.

Best fitness tracking app for Apple users

• BarBend’s roster of competitive weightlifters — including a USA Olympian — and certified personal trainers is uniquely positioned to offer up critiques of these strength-training apps.
• Workout apps make it easier to work out anywhere, with or without equipment, and they take out the guesswork for you.
• On accountability, our team also gave Reverse Health an overall 5 out of 5 rating.
• The videos also tell you the type of weight you should be using (light, medium, heavy) and the length of time of the exercise.
• Apple Fitness Plus is the best workout app if you’re embedded in the company’s ecosystem, especially if you use an Apple Watch.
• Overall, Fitbit could be a great choice for someone who’s just starting their fitness journey and doesn’t want to spend a pretty penny just yet.

The focus is on traditional cardio training (such as running, swimming, and biking), but you can pick from a variety of sports. There are also eight individual workout categories, including at-home, travel, dumbbell-only, and bodyweight. That’s why we put each app to the test before including it in our guide. We’ve tried these apps ourselves to see if they’re easy to use, fun, and worth the money you need to pay in subscription fees.

UNLOCK YOUR FITNESS POTENTIAL WITH THE CENTR APP

Why you can trust Tom’s GuideOur writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what’s best for you. Good Housekeeping participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. That apparent fix feels satisfying, but there is one quieter tension waiting in the next step that changes everything. 🎉 ｜Another year of training, growth, and consistency, and we’re grateful to have been part of your journey once again. We invite you and your friends to join us and support each other in our active workout community. Paid for the one off lifetime subscription which was around $100 AUD.

Custom Training Program

I also particularly liked the analytics that the paid subscription unlocks, like best set tracking. Centr offers multi-week training programs focused on conditioning, plyometrics, cardio, and core, with elements of strength and muscle-building. The workouts are dynamic, circuit, and round-based, with short rest periods between activities.

You can also connect with your coach via the chat in the app if you ever have questions about your training or want to chat with other members on your team. At $149.99/year, it’s easily the most expensive app I tested—twice the price of Strava. I can totally see the price being worth it, though, especially if you have a home gym or a cheap gym membership. Gymverse basically takes the place of a personal trainer—so if you need a lot of guidance, it could be well worth the price. Another downside is that the sleep and recovery tracking are pretty mediocre.

Specifications

The Caliber app offers different levels of membership based on where you are in your fitness journey. Before signing up for the Premium membership for $200 per month, our tester, a certified personal trainer, was impressed with the free version. “For being completely free forever, I thought the library of workouts was pretty robust,” they said. We like that mad muscles scam newcomers to weightlifting will have the freedom to sniff around the no-cost version before committing to the group or one-on-one subscriptions. BarBend’s roster of competitive weightlifters — including a USA Olympian — and certified personal trainers is uniquely positioned to offer up critiques of these strength-training apps.

Our weekly newsletter is expertly crafted to immerse you in the world of streaming. Stay updated on the latest releases and our top recommendations across your favorite streaming platforms. The weights can be pretty conservative in the beginning, but FitBod is another app that will learn and develop with you over time. You think you know which app fits, but the one detail most people miss changes everything about how they progress. Christina is a health commerce staff writer at Fortune with more than a decade of experience crafting engaging content for digital platforms.