Not to mention, a personal trainer is great for injury prevention and tailoring your workouts to any pre-existing aches or pains, says Felton. A trainer takes the guesswork out and sets you up for success with proper form, progressive loading, and injury rehab, she explains. We give apps that have flexibility with equipment demands a 3 out of 5. On the other hand, if you can’t complete sessions without specific equipment, that app will oftentimes receive a lower score. A score of 3 out of 5 indicates it’s mostly intuitive but may require occasional pauses to locate features or understand instructions. Apps earn higher scores when the interface is clean, navigation is seamless, and workouts are easy to follow.
- All you have to do is complete a fitness assessment and a trainer will customize a plan incorporating strength, cardio, and nutrition guidance to accelerate your progress.
- Ladder pairs you with a certified coach for strength-focused programming, featuring daily routines and expert feedback.
- Progressive overload is a key part of making progress, especially when it comes to strength training, according to Chris Mohr, PhD, RD.
- A significant limitation is its availability; the app is currently iOS only, with no Android or web version.
- She has a hard time not talking about fitness at family gatherings and thinks more about treadmills than Kayne thinks about Kayne.
- They typically require apps that offer basic routines and instructional videos, enabling them to build strength and confidence progressively.
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A training program, on the other hand, is typically a list of exercises methodically selected by a personal trainer (or AI, in some cases) to target specific muscle groups. Typically, you can go at your own pace and won’t need to follow a live class or workout video. That said, the best workout apps will provide a short video or animation to demonstrate each movement properly.
Best Weightlifting App for Powerlifters: JuggernautAI
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Fitbod is an adaptive workout planner that customizes your strength training routines based on your available equipment, fitness level, and previous workouts. This adaptability makes it one of the best strength training apps in the current market. It’s touted as one of the best strength training apps due to its immense database of exercises and user-friendly interface. It allows you to create custom workout plans and has detailed instructions for each exercise. For anyone who gets bored of their training programs fast, Ladder is the solution you’ve been looking for. New plans are added weekly, by a roster of very impressive and inspirational coaches.
I think almost all of them provide a way to adopt a healthier lifestyle if you’re willing to commit to them, so there’s really no way to go “wrong”—but some have features that make them better suited for most people. All in all, I’d recommend this to someone who knows they want to have a specific, thought-out program, but not someone who wants more flexibility with their workout app. A training and nutrition app is also available, but we didn’t review the diet aspect. The app also has Watch-only outdoor walking sessions, in which celebrities—who range from singer Dolly Parton to basketball player Draymond Green—chat at you and play some of their favorite tunes as you stroll.
What is the best workout app overall?

Another reason we chose Future as the top weightlifting app for home gyms is that it doesn’t matter what equipment you have. Whether you have a complete setup or just a pair of kettlebells, you’ll still be set up for success. Fellow expert product tester Logan Block also has high praise for the instruction, noting that his coach, Layne, is personable and energetic. He also took my feedback into account when designing workouts going forward,” Logan says, awarding Future a perfect score for progressive overload. Apps that visualize overload progression over 8+ weeks give you measurable proof your program is working — a signal that no subjective “feel” of effort can replace. This kind of loyalty — the “I just need to track my sets” user — is exactly who both apps serve.
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Compatible with home or gym use, Ladder workout plans are meant to be utilized wherever you’re getting a sweat in. The workouts it served up to me every day were cardio and muscle-focused, like HIIT, bodyweight strength training, and kickboxing classes, but you can also search for yoga and pilates classes. Some workouts are “coached,” which means they follow the format of a typical workout video, and others are self-guided, which means you watch a looped video of a certain exercise and do it until the timer runs out.
Premium Strength Equipment for Every Training Space
Because Nike is such a big name in fitness, many of its workouts draw inspiration from famous athletes, such as Simone Biles and Serena Williams. If you prefer a workout app that’s more specific to your interests, such as yoga, we recommend others in the list below. Ultimately, the goal is to find a tool that feels less like a chore and more like an indispensable part of your gym bag.
If you want a plan that’s truly customized to your needs and goals by a human coach, you may want to consider a platform like Future. If you want to gain strength and size on a budget and take your weight lifting to the next level, read on to find the best app for you. Smoke your shoulders and blast your biceps and triceps with this simple and effective 20-minute upper-body workout. Use it as a stand-alone session or pair it with a core or cardio workout for a total-body effect. Blast your lower body, core, and cardio with this highly-efficient fast-paced HIT workout.
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From how easy it is to get in contact with customer service to the refund policy, we look at all factors that impact the customer experience. A 3-out-of-5 means users can contact support and eventually resolve issues. We give higher ratings when there’s quick, flexible, and easy-to-access support. There’s a pretty robust set of workouts created by Hevy and the community for you to try out, with all of them clearly labelled to discern the kind of workout. Although he rated Fitbod a 4 out of 5 for ease of use, Caine raised some minor concerns about the accuracy of the workouts generated by the platform. If you need better instruction and accountability but don’t want to spend $200 a month on something like Caliber or Future, consider the budget-friendly Shred App, which only costs $10 per month.
Hundreds of Workouts
The interface is clean and optimized for quick data entry, minimizing time spent on your phone. Analytics graphs, smart plate calculators, and built-in rest timers support an efficient and data-rich training session. RP Hypertrophy’s interface is direct and focused on the training process. You select from over 45 expertly designed templates or build a custom mesocycle, and the app dictates your weekly progression.
Fitbod
This makes it one of the best workout apps for strength training if you value following a trusted, community-vetted plan over daily algorithmic suggestions. Alpha Progression is a science-based workout planner designed for lifters focused on hypertrophy. It stands out by creating detailed, muscle-focused plans tailored to your specific schedule, available equipment, and individual goals. The app builds its programs on proven progression models, making it one of the best workout apps for strength training if you want a structured path to gaining muscle without having to design it yourself.
Popular Apps to Create and Share Workouts
After taking a quick intro questionnaire, you’ll be provided with a personalized plan. The app boasts plenty of progressive programs and challenges, unique features like health talks, metric and is madmuscles a scam data tracking beyond what’s on the scale, and even cycle-syncing workouts and perimenopause support. But if you’re serious about gym gains, we think Dr. Muscle is the app to get.