Best Workout App for Muscle Gain: SHRED

Research shows that just two strength sessions per week can boost brain function, improve metabolism, reduce aches, regulate stress hormones, and lower chronic inflammation. Strength Well makes achieving these benefits straightforward and measurable. You’ll also want to figure out whether the app’s classes require you to have certain pieces of equipment on hand, like dumbbells or a yoga mat. Make sure you either have these items, or you have the budget to purchase them. There are plenty of online yoga instructors to try if neither personality quite gels with you.

Apple Fitness+

Aaptiv workouts can be done anywhere — at home, at the gym, outside on a ridiculously sunny day — because all you need is your phone and some headphones. With a membership you get access to more than 2,500 guided workouts, with more than 40 new classes added each week. Whether you don’t have time, find gyms to be intimidating, simply don’t like going to a physical gym, or something else is preventing you from going, you can still exercise. Workout apps allow you to meet your fitness goals at home, and they may actually be the motivation you need to get moving.

The voice coach feature offers live audio updates during your activity. It also helps you stay motivated with global challenges and leaderboards. The app has badges, achievements, and social features for a gamified running experience. Strong is an excellent strength training tracker that stands out for its clean design and user-friendly experience.

• If you like what you see, you can always switch to an annual subscription, which usually lowers your monthly cost.
• World class personal trainer software for you to build and assign workout programs for your clients, and track their progress.
• Along with daily live classes with an online instructor, there are pre-programmed classes to do when it suits you.
• 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.
• This accessibility provides accountability while offering flexibility better than scheduled in-person sessions.
• The AI Coach is particularly impressive, combining advanced language models with Strength Well’s proprietary data to offer intelligent, on-demand coaching.

Cancel subscriptions directly through your device’s app store under ‘Subscriptions’ in account settings, or access cancellation options within the app’s account management section. Avoid third-party cancellation services and always confirm cancellation via email receipt. Most reputable apps provide immediate cancellation with continued access through the current billing period, though some platforms require 24–48 hours processing time for subscription changes.

Is it safe to use fitness apps?

After downloading the app, you’ll get customized workout suggestions based on the results of a quick quiz. The right app can act as a virtual personal trainer or training partner to keep you motivated and accountable. Pelvic floor issues aren’t exactly dinner table conversation, but they’re way more common than most people realize. However, if you’re hoping for live classes to capture that in-studio vibe, Alo Wellness Club might not be the best fit.

The workouts can be done with no equipment, or with a pilates ball and light weights. The Sculpt Society made me love dance cardio, and I quickly fell in love with the platform’s non-dance workouts as well. If you’re looking for a fun, engaging, upbeat workout with shorter class options, this one is for you.

Hevy Coach

Nike Training Club offers a variety of classes, whereas an app like Strava is ideal if you’d like to keep metrics on your outdoor adventures. A good place to start is by searching your App Store and seeing what free workout apps it has to offer. Some are completely free or offer a free trial, and some require a monthly subscription. Your choice will ultimately depend on whether you think investing in a paid app will actually help you get closer to your goals and what you’re comfortable spending. Other things to consider are if you prefer live streaming or On demand workouts. Centr offers multi-week training programs focused on conditioning, plyometrics, cardio, and core, with elements of strength and muscle-building.

Why VR Lenses Matter for Fitness

Interested in Pilates as a go-to fitness discipline for your home workouts? We love how tailored Future is to your specific needs — our testers gave their overall experience a 5 out of 5. Once you complete a quick quiz about your fitness level, goals, injury history, and your preferred coaching style, you’re paired with your instructor. You video chat with them for an introduction, and from there, your training plan is customized to your abilities and available equipment. There is an abundance of workout apps on the Google Play Store for Android devices and the App Store for iPhones and iPads. Many of these services offer a comprehensive selection of workouts of different types, some that require equipment, and many that constitute as bodyweight training.

Quick Picks — Find Your Fit

Below are some of the perks that come with adding one of these services to your home screen. In testing, we appreciated the assortment of available on-demand workouts and programs, but admittedly focused on the 171 available yoga flows. Our tester had no issues navigating through the available sessions, giving this yoga app’s user interface a 5 out of 5. We appreciated the clear labels that explained the duration of each flow, along with the intended intensity level. Personally, I love the filter in the search tab for this app, allowing you to pick and choose your preferred workout modality, available equipment, length, etc.

Peloton Digital

The app is generally easy to use and follow, including easy-to-follow exercise videos for the non-live workouts. Considering the sheer variety of well-designed workouts, our testers gave their overall experience a 5 out of 5. Having a personal trainer at your disposal can be great for staying diligent in your training, nutrition, and wellness journeys. That said, hiring an individual for these needs can have hourly rates ranging from $25 to over $100. (1) Thankfully, Caliber offers three tiers of subscriptions that cater to a variety of budgets.

GPS-based tracking for runners, walkers, and cyclists

The apps we have listed here are for general use, spanning the full spectrum of cycling. Being the Fitness and Commerce Editor of Men’s Health means I get my hands on every piece of new health equipment that releases, sometimes before it releases. Building this list of the best smart scales, started with taking the best-selling smart scales on the market and putting them up against newly-released options.

Best for building fitness habits: Nike Training Club

Without the video component, you can focus on your form instead of watching someone else, which eliminates distractions, according to the brand. You can choose workouts based on factors like type of exercise, how long you want to exercise for and your favorite trainers or music. Aaptiv exclusively offered audio-only for years, but it now also has video content as well, similar to the other apps on this list. Fitbod earns strong marks in fitness app reviews for its AI-driven strength training plans that adapt based on muscle recovery data and past performance. It’s particularly relevant for users comparing personalization depth across workout apps, since Fitbod adjusts every session rather than repeating static routines. The app targets intermediate to advanced lifters who want data-backed programming.

What is the best fitness app for home workouts?

We selected Cronometer as the best calorie tracking app because of its commitment to accuracy and depth. Unlike other apps where anyone can create food entries (leading to errors and inconsistencies), Cronometer verifies all entries to ensure you’re getting reliable nutritional information. With over 10 million users and an impressive 4.7-star average rating, Cronometer has earned its reputation as the gold standard for nutrition tracking. The app goes far beyond simple calorie counting, tracking up to 84 different nutrients to provide comprehensive insights into your diet. This flexibility is invaluable for anyone who trains in multiple environments. With scores of users around the world, Daily Yoga is your gateway to a healthy mind and body.

Best for Calisthenics – The Movement Athlete

If you can go for over an hour and you’re not completely worn out, try increasing the intensity. Either pick up a heavier weight, or do 1 more repetition than last time. Then, once you get confident in those movements, feel free to add some variety. Get stronger with each movement each week, and you have yourself a recipe for a great physique. If you’re paying attention here, you may notice I’m setting you up to work out no matter what your current situation is. Now, no matter how much time you have, developing the most efficient workout is crucial.

Workouts: For However You’re Feeling

A lot of people are hooked with this app because, in its free version, it allows you to have access to free daily workouts along with a preliminary 12-exercise workout. It has a timer included tracking the time you spent and sophisticated animations to show you how to do the exercises. Luke Zocchi is the king of short, sharp and effective 20-minute workouts that spike your heart rate up and challenge your muscles. On the Centr app you’ll find his high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts, as well as functional circuits that allow you to maximize effort in a shorter amount of time.

Muscle & Fitness logo

Get really good at these basic movements and focus on getting stronger each week (I’ll cover how below). unimeal app reviews If you’re not sure how to do any of the movements above, click on their links for thorough write-ups and video demonstrations. We will pick 4 exercises and get really strong with those movements.

Home Workout- No Equipment

Adding a leg lift to a regular plank makes you unstable, requiring your core to work in overdrive and your three limbs to support more weight. Complete 2 sets of 10 to 15 reps of each exercise below, then move on to the next after 1 minute of rest. The Bird Dog pose is a full-body move that requires balance and stability. Complete 2 sets of 10 to 15 reps of each exercise, with 30 seconds to 1 minute of rest between each move.

Each training program includes details such as the length of sessions and the expected results. The first week of programs is often dedicated to assessing performance so as to customize other weeks further. However, all Freeletics Coach-recommended workouts are locked behind a subscription. You Are Your Own Gym offers exercise plans from fitness instructor and author Mark Lauren. Choose from programs as brief as two minutes or as long as 36 minutes.

Whether you’re in for a follow-along workout or committing to a multi-week program, choose the work you put in. With a name that describes the app itself, you can do your workout without any equipment with Home Workout. In this app, you can set your number of goals or input the number of workouts you want to do in a week. The Daily Workouts Fitness Trainer is highly suitable for people who do not want to go outside or go to the gym. It has over a hundred simple exercises you can do without the use of any equipment.

And when I was tight on time, I could pick a short 15-minute session instead. It’s not ordinarily considered a workout app, but exercise can be any physical movement, from stretching to walking, and AllTrails helps you plan out routes in urban environments and green spaces. I’ve used it to find my way on countryside dog walks and for city sightseeing routes.

How do I choose the right fitness app for me?

The Nike Training Club is our pick for the best overall workout app because it’s free and offers a variety of classes, like HIIT, strength training, mobility and yoga. You can even follow a program over the course of a month and decide how often you’re looking to work out. 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.

With goal-driven programs ranging from 6-12 weeks, Freeletics prides itself on being flexible for all lifestyle choices, allowing customers to work out when they want. Following the free trial, Aaptiv offers an annual membership of $99.99 USD, which at the moment of writing has been slashed to $49.99 USD. A monthly membership of $14.99 USD is also available for those who are not convinced of a full year commitment. If you want to focus exclusively on mobility rather than strength, then check out our best mobility courses article here. For those who need a push to get back on track, there is hope for the post-pandemic online fitness industry. From the inspiring Robin Arzon to the hilarious Cody Rigsby and feel-good Alex Toussaint, there is an instructor to fit nearly every workout vibe.

Immune Support, Vitality, and Daily Consistency

In order to reach great results with your training, you need to know where the best workout spots are. In this case you want the detailed knowledge about the best pull up bars and parallel bars in your area. Many cities have trim trails, exercises stations, outdoor gyms and calisthenics parks located somewhere near the city center. To get your workout plan done efficiently you need fitness locations with the right bodyweight exercise equipment.

Madbarz — Best for Beginners

The emphasis on setting workout intentions fosters a mindful and rewarding fitness journey. As the name suggests, it retains Itsines’ high-intensity practice, designed to raise your heart rate, improve your cardio fitness, and boost your metabolism. But there are beginner, intermediate, and advanced bodyweight exercises, strength sessions, yoga, barre, and Pilates. Bodyweight exercises are perfect for individuals who want to build a strong core without needing any equipment.

Dancing to upbeat music can burn calories, while people may find it very enjoyable as an exercise. With the right plan and the right discipline, you can get seriously shredded in just 28 days. A circuit requires you to do one set for EVERY exercise, one after the other, without stopping. This is also the most effective way to make you involuntarily swear at inanimate objects because you’re so tired and beat up.

• Both compound and isolation exercises have a time and place in your training program.
• The subscription is reasonably priced, and free trial gives you enough time to test whether the app suits your needs.
• Increase the difficulty of jumping an air rope in the beginner exercises to jumping with a real rope at home.
• “Regardless, it is a very useful workout app and it does make sense as long as the goals are set to an honest and logical intent,” they add.
• For anyone new to strength training or returning after a long break, Fitbod provides the structure and guidance you need without requiring a personal trainer or extensive fitness knowledge.
• What started as Ben’s personal journey from multiple knee surgeries to dunking a basketball has become a movement helping over 40,000 people in 150+ countries.

Monitor Your Health

Bridging the gap between exercise, diet, and mindfulness, Asana Rebel is like a life coach and yoga instructor rolled into one. More than one of the best fitness apps, it’s a full-blown way of being. While the app is free to join, you’ll reap the most benefit by signing up for one of its subscription tiers. While the workout library isn’t as dense as some other apps, the app is high quality and you can personalize your training programs when creating fitness goals.

Performance, Muscle Growth, and Training Output

• For sleep specifically, it proved to be precise with metrics like time spent in bed and minutes spent awake.
• Two testers — a relative fitness newbie and a personal trainer — personally tested 20-plus platforms, exploring various workout styles and formats from each.
• I tried a beginner session first and found the instruction clear enough to follow without rewinding, which is my usual benchmark for whether an app is genuinely beginner-friendly or just claims to be.
• Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional prior to beginning any diet or exercise program or taking any dietary supplement.
• Designed for women by personal trainer Krissy Cela, the app has six different trainers on board, all of whom have several different workout plans to choose from.
• Most other apps — including None to Run, Runkeeper, and Runna — offer free trials so you can try before you commit.

The pacing is deliberate, giving you time to actually find your balance. We also touch on 4 ways your phone case can amplify-your-workout, because if your tech is annoying to use, you won’t use it. Whether you want to lift heavy, run your first mile, or just undo the damage of sitting at a desk all day, the right software is the difference between quitting in week two and building a habit that sticks.

The Garmin Venu has become something of a personal coach to me after training with it for four months. I found the recovery time predictions useful for planning my daily movement after working out, including how many walks to take and when to go to bed. I was also able to create my workouts within the Garmin Connect app and load them onto the watch, down to the sets, reps and exact exercises. Most importantly, I’ve seen improved results in the gym, like PRs (personal records) during lifting and greater endurance after following the watch’s post-workout recovery advice and sleep tips. “Online workout programs are fitness routines that are delivered through digital platforms,” says Michael Masi, Doctor of Physical Therapy and personal trainer.

Fitness Database

As a BodyPump fan, I would watch the classes on my TV, and send my heart rate soaring without leaving my living room. These classes do require you to have a decent amount of equipment at home, however. I don’t have an exercise bar, but I used a set of the best adjustable dumbbells and still got a great workout. If you’ve ever done a BodyPump class in your local gym, you’ll have been introduced to the world of Les Mills. It’s a series of tempo-based classes, set to music, designed to get you fitter and stronger.

To test each watch’s health tracking, I wore each tracker to sleep, to the gym and during every activity or rest period in between. This gave me a comprehensive view of each tracker’s capabilities and accuracy. When analyzing health tracking, I examined the types of insights each tracker provided about my sleep, cycle and stress levels, and the specificity of each. I tested a total of 16 top-rated fitness trackers for this story (and our tech editor tested several more); below are the models that didn’t make the cut. I included my rating for each unit (out of 10), based on evaluating each one’s ease of use, accuracy, battery life, fit, design, and variety of health and activity tracking options.

Jump Rope Training

The app excels in mapping your routes, recording detailed statistics about your workouts, and providing a platform to compete and share your achievements. Strava’s segment feature adds a competitive edge, allowing you to compare your times against others who have completed the same routes. C25K not only prepares you for a 5K but also instills a love for running, making it a sustainable part of your fitness routine. It’s ideal for anyone looking to take their first steps into running in a guided, supportive, and effective way. The app is designed to gradually increase the running intervals, allowing your body to adapt without getting overwhelmed. With voice prompts to guide you through each workout, you can focus on your run without constantly checking your phone.

Community: Will You Have Support?

Instead of handing every user the same cookie-cutter plan, the best AI fitness apps now generate personalized routines based on your goals, equipment, schedule, and training history. Load Muscle is an AI-powered workout planner and tracker built for people who want personalized programming without hiring a coach. You answer a few questions about your goals, experience level, available equipment, and schedule, and the AI generates a complete training plan drawn from a library of 4,000+ exercises.

Best workout app for personal training

While Netflix doesn’t specialize in yoga, platforms like Yogaia and Alo Moves offer dedicated yoga content. Train with certified instructors from across the globe—whether they’re in Bali or Brooklyn—without leaving your home. Online classes remove the barrier to access, giving you a world-class experience from anywhere in the world. With so many great options to choose from—both free and paid—I found it hard to pick a class that truly suited my lifestyle. Some were too slow-paced for me, while others lacked proper guidance on form, making it hard to know if I was doing the poses right.

Home & Bodyweight (No Equipment)

Fitbod’s free tier offers 3 AI-generated workouts — enough to experience the quality of its adaptive programming engine. The AI accounts for your equipment, recent training volume, and muscle group fatigue to generate each session. It’s the most sophisticated workout generation of any app on this list. The free tier is genuinely limited (3 workouts total, not per week), but worth trying to evaluate if the subscription is right for you. Jake is a certified personal trainer who has evaluated workout apps since 2018.

Slow, gentle stretching is important to warm up muscles and prepare for more vigorous exercise. A person can increase the intensity — referring to the rate and repetitions — of any cardio exercise to convert them into advanced movements. Intermediate exercises increase the intensity of the workout to get the heart pumping and the body moving.

But, regarding progressive overload, Aaptiv earns a 3-out-of-5-star rating. The principles of progressive overload are present in the app’s training plans. Most programs are just four to six weeks, so not enough time to see big results for most folks, but would work for a beginner,” she says. Starting and sticking to a new workout routine can be challenging. The early days of any fitness journey often come with uncertainty, discomfort, and even a little embarrassment. Fitness apps can ease this transition by providing structure, guidance, and motivation.

Planet Fitness Workout App: Bringing the Gym Home

With zero equipment and minimal instructions, you can focus on progressive overload through reps, time under tension, and a little more challenging each round. Maybe working out at home or in the gym isn’t your thing, or you prefer to explore the great outdoors. If so, the AllTrails app is our best app for outdoor running, cycling, biking, and hiking.

The 7 Best Workout Apps You Can Use in the Gym and at Home

A three-day weekly workout goal can be beneficial for beginners, especially if you have limited time. The app also features unimeal review a 30-day healthy meal plan and a shopping list feature. MyFitnessPal is your all-in-one tracker for a healthier lifestyle.

Beginner-Friendly Features of the Caliber App for Strength Training

The app is not just about logging workouts; it’s about making you a smarter athlete. Whether you’re at home or in the gym, Jefit provides the tools you need to achieve your strength training goals, offering instructional videos and detailed exercise routines for all levels. Imagine having a personal trainer in your pocket, ready to motivate you anytime, anywhere – that’s FitOn. This app brings professional workouts to your home, making it easy for beginners to get started. With FitOn, you can explore a variety of workouts, from yoga to high-intensity interval training (HIIT), all tailored to fit your schedule.