Just keep in mind that smart exercise equipment often costs a lot up front and requires an additional subscription fee for classes, which can also be steep. For example, the top-rated Tonal 2 will cost several thousand dollars. Trim down or bulk up, run faster, or bike farther—however you exercise, our favorite workout apps help you stay committed to physical fitness.
Best for Flexibility Training
You don’t need a lot of equipment either; most of the best workout apps focus on activities you can do with minimal equipment, like a set of the best adjustable dumbbells, an exercise bike, or even just a yoga mat. Adidas Running is built for runners of all levels, from beginners to marathon training. The core app is free to use, letting you track distance, pace, calories burned, heart rate, and personal stats for running and other activities like cycling, hiking, and yoga. We are swamped with advertising for gyms, yoga studios and personal training so it’s easy to assume that getting fit or improving a technique will be expensive. But there are plenty of free or affordable classes and programmes online.
Best for Building Muscle
It delivers programs tailored to the equipment you have, from barbells and kettlebells to cable machines and medicine balls. Strength+ costs $10 per month, but it is free for anyone with an existing App+ or All-Access membership. This app is a solution to the classic “I want to work out, but I feel like I just don’t have the time” conundrum. With seven-minute no-equipment sweat sessions designed to deliver maximum benefit in the shortest time possible, you can quickly and effectively break a sweat and get a full-body workout at home—and then get on with the rest of your day. Ideal for exercise introverts who prefer a home workout routine, this app leads users through 100-plus simple exercises you can do sans gym, like tap-out planks, donkey kicks, and bicycle crunches.
woman&home Book Club
And as a beginner, an app can help you track all that data by prompting you with the right questions. The iFIT app is an excellent choice for beginners who want to focus on cardio training. The app can be used for machine-based workouts on ellipticals, rowers, exercise bikes, and treadmills (like one of the best NordicTrack treadmills) or used as a stand-alone app without a machine. Between excellent instruction and fan-favorite music, GGR product tester Caroline Lubinksy says Peloton is hard to is madmuscles reliable beat for live classes. She describes her workout experience in detail in the Peloton app review. Map My Fitness is a well-established and widely-used fitness tool that allows you to choose from a huge variety of workouts with some really notable features.
How much do fitness and workout apps cost?
- The instructors described the exercises well in the workouts I tried, but I needed to look at the screen pretty much the whole time.
- Still, Peloton has a lot of workout options, so anyone of any fitness level is likely to get something out of it—particularly if you have a treadmill or stationary bike (the company’s or another brand’s).
- Find exactly what you’re looking for in the catalog of over 100 workouts, including bodyweight routines, strength training with weights, HIIT, yoga, meditation, dance cardio, and barre.
- A lot of her Instagram reels are gym-based so you will need weights to get involved.
- Our team is a group of experienced lifters, and everyone who tested the Future app has been blown away by the level of coaching, ease of use, and overall value.
- Moreover, integrating a free workout app into a busy day is a challenge.
Although it costs about $200 a month, Future features a user-friendly interface, customizable programming, and excellent support from your personal coach. Speaking of the gym, you can filter your programs by equipment needs. Currently, Home Gym Club Training has filters for ‘Full Gym,’ ‘Garage Gym,’ ‘Dumbbell Only,’ and ‘At Home.’ While this can be great for variety, we have noticed a larger roster for garage gym and full gym programs. This could be a detriment to those trying to utilize their new set of best adjustable dumbbells from the comforts of their small apartment. All of Fiit’s live group classes are free, and you can invite friends and family to join you (even if they don’t have an account), so you can recreate the gym experience at home.
So even if you don’t have serious goals but just want to find a way to stay more fit and find some encouraging workout friends, there is an app for that. If you’re based in London, you can also sign up for their free, weekly workout classes and run club that takes place at the Regent’s Street Store. You’ll need to have some knowledge of the activity to start with and know how to use free weights and gym equipment to safely and effectively use the app. If you’ve already been going to the gym for a few years or are looking to move away from in-person personal training sessions and plan your own workouts, this could be the app for you. While there are form demonstrations available to help with technique, there are no follow-along video workouts available. Fitbod is the strength training app I’ve had in the aptly named ‘Gym’ folder on my phone for the longest.
Best workout app for iPhone users
When he’s not writing about training programs or gear, he can be seen at the gym or in the wild, putting them to the test. If you love to ride your bike but don’t want to hit the road during the coldest days of winter, Zwift is your solution. The app gamifies your workouts, pitting you against yourself, your friends, and fellow Zwift users in races, group rides, and targeted workouts.
FitOn: Fitness Workout Plans
Top apps offer a wide variety of original workouts for all fitness levels, led by knowledgeable, motivating instructors who push you to challenge yourself while keeping things fun. By evaluating your past workouts, current strength-training abilities, and available gym equipment, FitBod develops a custom fitness plan that can help you work toward—and eventually crush—your goals. Strength-focused workouts come in a variety of formats, from general conditioning to bodybuilding, powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting, and more. Your core is essentially the powerhouse of your body, and with this core-centric app, you can show your midsection the love it deserves.
How Thick Should Gym Flooring Be, According to a Gym Owner and Olympian
This app offers 45-plus kettlebell exercises and five workout programs with a voice coach and high-def video demos to guide you along the way. This app offers a simple monthlong exercise plan centered on the classic bodyweight move. Users will tackle a certain number of squat variations every day (the app includes 13 total squat variations incorporated into six different workouts) with rest days interspersed throughout. Along the way, the intensity gradually increases with day 30 promising to “test anyone.” Intriguing, right? If you’re not a runner, this could be a great way to do leg workouts at home.
Training Shoes
Your chosen workout app should not only aim to revolutionize your workout routines but also encourage a holistic approach to health. Recognizing the unique needs of women, the best workout apps extend their focus beyond physical fitness to encompass overall wellness. Les Mills offers a 14-day free trial for access to more than 800 workouts on its app, ranging from 15 to 55 minutes long. We liked the variety, which includes high-intensity interval training, dance cardio, and martial-arts-inspired workouts, and the fact that many of the classes are offered in Spanish as well as English. For those with kids at home, the app also has options for children that combine fitness education with easy-to-follow cardio moves. I’m Sara Hendricks, the former health and fitness editor at Reviewed.
Strength training
The Wellhub Editorial Team empowers HR leaders to support worker wellbeing. Our original research, trend analyses, and helpful how-tos provide the tools they need to improve workforce wellness in today’s fast-shifting professional landscape. Users will judge an app in 1/20th of a second, so a simple interface can help an app be more appealing at first glance. I was surprised that I got a lot of notifications every time I finished a workout—all from random names with a message telling me they were proud of me for working out. You can customize your notifications to turn this feature off, but it seemed odd to me that this was the default.
