This hands-free tracking makes gym sessions smoother and more focused. Progress tracking is comprehensive, with visualizations showing strength gains, volume progression, and consistency metrics. The app’s ability to identify plateaus and automatically adjust programming helps prevent stagnation. We selected Shred as the best for circuit training because it balances sophisticated AI adaptation with practical usability. The app learns your patterns and adjusts programming accordingly, providing a surprisingly personalized experience. Shred has emerged as a standout gym tracking app by combining AI-powered adaptability with elite trainer expertise.
Best Overall – Alpha Progression
You can check the latest price, as there are often introductory offers for your first month. This makes it significantly cheaper than physical therapy or in-person training while often delivering better long-term results. Fitbod uses an exercise algorithm to adapt your workout plan based on your ability, past performance, and available equipment. For someone just starting their fitness journey, this seamless experience means you’ll never feel lost in the gym. Each workout feels perfectly created for exactly where you are right now. To cut through the noise, we tested over 40 of the most popular fitness apps and programs over several months, evaluating each one on price, ease of use, workout quality, and enjoyment.
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.
Identify your goals and needs
- For even more health benefits, aim for at least 60 minutes of physical activity most days of the week.
- It features a variety of programs spread across seven exciting categories, including Backcountry Hunter Training, Military & LEO Application Training, and Minimal Equipment Training.
- GGR writer and certified personal trainer Amanda Capritto gives Aaptiv a 4-out-of-5-star rating for accountability.
- The app’s database contains more than 6 million foods, so you can log just about everything you put in your body, from fast food to homemade vegan lasagna, thanks to a nifty recipe calculator.
- You can choose from workout types like strength training, yoga, HIIT and Pilates, and there’s programs you can do outside, as well as on the treadmill, stairmaster, bike and elliptical machine.
- “Now, I’m not someone who likes to wear a watch, let alone a fitness watch, all of the time but I will if I have a few minutes or I’m planning out a run,” says Zucker.
A free tier does exist, but it is quite limited and doesn’t seem worth it in the long run. If you love outdoor exercise stats like pace and power, a Garmin watch may be the best match. If you want broad exercise and health data, plus all the latest apps, a smartwatch from Apple or Google is a better fit. I believe that everyone can benefit from the data fitness trackers provide if you understand your wants and needs. While you can use the Oura Ring without a subscription, you’ll be limited to the current day’s sleep, readiness and activity scores.
Best Workout Apps for Every Fitness Goal, According to Personal Trainers
And if that’s not enough, Gymverse offers calorie tracking when paired with a wearable, which is a nice addition and helps you get a better view of your overall fitness. I tested it again, this time using the Runkeeper app on my Apple Watch. Outdoor mode also offered more of the metrics I would expect from an app called Runkeeper, so if you mostly run outside (or have an Apple Watch), it can work well. So even though the indoor tracking feature needs improvement, Runkeeper can be a solid option.
The researchers looked at 30 popular fitness apps and found that overall, the rate of adherence to guidelines from the American College of Sports Medicine was low. The authors found that only one app in the study scored higher than 50%. When testing the best fitness apps, our reviewers use them over a period of multiple weeks, and we try the most common features the average user is likely to get to grips with.
Workout apps
The exercise library covers over 2,000 movements spanning strength training, bodyweight, calisthenics, cardio, and mobility, for both home and gym settings. For each exercise you can swap to alternatives based on what equipment you have available, which makes it genuinely flexible in practice. The interface is clean and intuitive, and the guided workout player walks you through each session with video demonstrations, muscle diagrams, and built-in rest timers. 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 data tracking beyond what’s on the scale, and even cycle-syncing workouts and resellerratings perimenopause support.
A quick look at the best fitness apps
Fitbod scored well in most categories, but the free trial is limited to three workouts, and we’d like to see more emphasis on progressive overload. One area where iFIT falls flat is in its accountability—or, lack thereof. While our tester didn’t find it too detrimental to the overall experience, she did specifically mention that the app might not be great for people who need an extra nudge to stay on track.
Metrics Tracked
The AI then personalizes these expert-designed templates based on your feedback and performance. The app supports various training goals including general fitness, strength training, muscle tone, bodybuilding, and Olympic weightlifting. As a beginner, you can start with simpler goals and naturally progress to more advanced training styles as your knowledge grows. If you have ever spent the first 10 minutes of a gym session wondering what to actually do, Muscle Booster is built for you. Once set up, it tells you exactly what to do and when, removing the guesswork entirely. If you’re brand new to exercising, or if you’re trying a new type of workout, experts recommend using a fitness app as a supplement to in-person sessions with professional trainers, at least for a few weeks.
Learn more about our rigorous fitness tracker testing process, helping you make informed decisions to reach your fitness goals. Yes, many popular food tracking apps offer free versions, including Lose It! These free versions typically provide essential features like meal logging and calorie counting, though premium subscriptions are often required for advanced nutrient analysis and data integration. Hume Band continuously measures heart rate, HRV, sleep patterns, stress levels, and skin temperature. This data is translated into ‘capacity’ and ‘momentum’ scores in its app. Simply put, it shows a score out of 100, based on your health data, indicating how likely you are to ‘survive’ the day without your body breaking down, along with your predicted metabolic age.
Whether you are training for a marathon or working out for the first time in months, a fitness tracker can show you health and exercise data that can help you better understand your efforts. Most have heart rate, GPS and activity tracking built-in, and many can provide insights into your sleep and recovery. I test fitness trackers and smartwatches regularly, and have tested dozens over the years. Below are some of the best ones on the market, and advice on how to find one that fits your needs.
The 12 Best Workout Apps to Help You Get Fit, According to Certified Trainers
To get started, choose your desired weekly training days, input your maximum lifts, and indicate if you’re preparing for a competition. Once you do this, Juggernaut’s AI-powered app will generate a personalized program for you. The bike features a fully adjustable seat and backrest to support different heights and riding positions. With a max user weight capacity of 350 lbs, this heavy duty and solid build design offers excellent stability and long-term durability.
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Based on your results, Pliability recommends specific content to address your weaknesses. Pliability (formerly ROMWOD) sits firmly at the top of the mobility app category, offering a comprehensive library of mobility sessions backed by sports physiotherapy principles. We selected Mobility Manual as the best fitness app for improving athletic performance because addressing limited mobility and flexibility are two areas that can instantly unlock better movement. Founded by British Olympian Sonny Webster, Mobility Manual offers a great range of products designed to improve your mobility and overall movement.
Leading fitness and sport apps worldwide in January 2025, by revenue
Many apps also include a community component, which can be a helpful way to stay motivated, share progress, and hold yourself accountable. You can follow your own route or explore Strava’s massive network of roads and trails, built by millions of athletes worldwide. “The mapping tool makes it easier than ever to plan runs and workouts in advance, especially when following a training plan with specific distances and paces,” one runner noted. “I find it hard to come up with routines myself, so having coached sessions made it easy and comfortable for me to try new things like boxing that I wouldn’t have sought out on my own,” another tester noted. Gym-goers will also appreciate the self-guided option, which lets you move through exercises at your own pace.
On the flip side, if you are using your fitness tracker for strength training (or hiking or trail running), it would make sense to look for stronger materials. The accuracy of a fitness tracker begins and ends with how precisely it tracks your heart rate (most other stats, with the exception of new hydration tracking features, are derived from this baseline data). This mark is as much about pure accuracy as it is about consistency of accuracy, which is key in helping you understand your own fitness trends. While some trackers tend to be more accurate than others, all of the trackers we included here were consistently accurate. Sure, your workouts are still a key part of what these devices do, but in addition they’re also tracking your sleep, heart rhythm patterns, blood oxygen levels, HRV, stress, and even caffeine consumption. Fitness trackers are more of an overall wellness tool than ever before.