Most nutrition apps are built for casual dieters, not bodybuilders chasing serious muscle or precise macros. If you’ve felt let down by generic weight-loss tools, you’re not alone. Carb Manager is a comprehensive keto and low-carb nutrition tracker that monitors net carbs, macros and calories. It also includes meal plans, thousands of keto recipes and advanced metrics such as ketones and blood-glucose tracking. A long-time favourite, MyFitnessPal offers a vast food database, seamless syncing with wearables, as well as macro/micronutrient tracking.
Well I finally did ranking it #5 on my best bodybuilding app top 10 list. MyFitnessPal is the best calorie tracker and the best nutrition app out there. It’s got a database of over SIX MILLION DIFFERENT FOODS, with the calorie and macronutrient and micronutrient facts.
It has a massive food and nutrient information list to track your diet correctly. You can easily log weight training and cardio activities and connect with Google Fit for step tracking. Unlike some calorie counters, it also recommends the calories for each meal, which is essential. You can set your current weight and goal weight, and then it will generate the recommended daily calorie intake. But, the app is less likely to provide a sustainable approach for most people in the long run.
Your 3-Step Plan to Consistent Gains 🛠️
Our bodies are finely tuned engines, and what you put into them will impact how they perform. To ensure top performance, cycling and endurance sports need a balanced combination of macronutrients – carbohydrates, proteins, and fats – as well as proper hydration, which are all healthy habits. The AI fitness app for people who’d rather work out than log lunch. While the free plan has some limits, you still get more features for free than with the other apps we’ve reviewed.
- Whether scanning a full meal or a quick snack, Cal AI gives you accurate nutritional information in under 15 seconds.
- If you’d rather workout at home, our bodyweight progressions provide challenging exercises for every level of fitness, so you can progress from beginner to elite without ever touching a weight.
- Users can create their own custom routines by saving favourite exercises, and all workouts are available offline.
- (26) If your body is well-fueled with protein, your muscles can be better equipped to grow and prosper as you train them each day.
- Get your lifting playlist primed up — we’re going to make some gains with this round-up.
- While you can grow muscle using any type of strength-training exercise, having access to a gym with free weights and weight machines makes leveling up your muscle-building game all the easier.
Top 10 Workout Apps for Muscle Building
This is a lot of information and each app for gaining weight has it’s own benefits and downsides. It’s easy to get caught up in your day to day activities as well all do. Using this simple app makes gaining weight easier for you without even noticing it. The free version is great to use if you are learning the ins and outs of calorie counting for this first time.
AI-guided Progression
Instead of broad workout templates, it helps you build a highly customized plan based on your specific goals. It even rates exercises based on their effectiveness for targeting specific muscles, allowing you to fine-tune your routine with insights from modern training research. This makes it an invaluable tool for intermediate and advanced lifters focused on breaking through plateaus. Your calorie intake will determine whether you gain, lose, or maintain weight. But, the macronutrient breakdown of those calories determines how much of that weight is lean muscle mass vs. body fat. So, choosing an app that gives you both a calorie target AND an appropriate macronutrient split is essential to optimize your lean muscle mass.
You can choose the level of diversity and number of meals per day, set diet types and food restrictions, and even customize meal times with reminders. The app also offers a collection of diverse fitness meals with recipes and provides you with a weekly shopping list. With this app, you can stop guessing what to eat and how much, and achieve the results you want. The Weight loss diary&BMI Tracker – Record your weight app is designed to help you lose weight and track your progress. You can set a weight target and record your daily weight changes in the app.
Bodybuilding Diet & Meal Plan
BoostCamp offers proven programs from renowned strength coaches completely free. Nutrify is the best starting point for anyone new to tracking or anyone who has tried other apps and found the manual logging process too tedious to maintain. When it comes to fitness, it’s important to take a break when your body needs it, and FitOn caters to that, too. The free version of FitOn will give you access to a bunch of amazing features, like classes led by Gabrielle Union, Jonathan Van Ness, and American dancer Julianne Hough.
Strength Building Exercises You Can Do Anywhere
The analysis found that plant-based options showed lead levels nine times higher than dairy-based blends, like whey, and two times higher than beef-based ones, on average. The way to maximize the potential gains you’ll receive from any supplement, muscle-building products included, is to take them consistently in the recommended doses. Creatine may just be one of the most widely-studied supplements on the market given its significant influence on energy production, lean muscle mass, cognitive improvements, and more. (3) As such, adding creatine to your regimen for the sake of muscle growth can be a no-brainer, especially if you’re adding Creatine HMB from Transparent Labs to the mix. Your chosen flavor will also influence your calories per serving — between 110 and 140 per dose. While this may be too few calories for athletes in a bulking phase, it can be enough to keep you satiated in between whole-food meals.
Stronglifts 5×5
Then, we’ll see how to make progress in bodybuilding over time (with proper periodization, fatigue management, and progressive overload). And finally, we’ll rate the top 5 apps across these variables to find out which really is the best bodybuilding app. A muscle gain workout is only as effective as the diet that supports it. Proper nutrition plays a critical role in muscle development and recovery.
Having Both Calorie And Macronutrient Targets That Are Accurate
While not strictly a bodybuilding app, its scalable routines make it a great choice among free bodybuilding apps for anyone training with zero equipment or relying solely on bodyweight routines. You can follow expert-designed programs or create your own, whether you’re bulking, cutting or training for raw strength. The app adjusts your sets, reps and weights over time based on your performance and recovery levels. Alpha Progression is one of the best bodybuilding and strength training apps for serious lifters. Built around the principle of progressive overload, it offers science-based training plans with intuitive logging, making it ideal for consistent muscle and strength development. Food quantity is more important than food quality when gaining weight.
For people who struggle to eat enough because they do not plan ahead, this proactive approach is more effective than reactive tracking. EatThisMuch was named CNN Underscored’s Best Meal Planning App of 2025. The free tier covers basic daily planning; premium unlocks weekly planning and advanced customization. Cronometer differentiates itself with database quality rather than size. Tracking your intake of proteins, carbs, and fats ensures you’re eating the right balance for optimal muscle growth and recovery. As long as you’re aware of its few limitations—and are comfortable with the subscription cost—the app could serve as an integral part of your muscle-gain journey.
#6 Smarter Training with Wearables and AI
With over 200 million users, it is one of the most popular nutrition and diet apps on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Eating a high-calorie diet is essential to bulk up and gain muscle, but many bodybuilders find it harder than it sounds. The Fitness and Bodybuilding app is simple but effective, making it one of the best weightlifting apps for iPhone and Android.
One verified buyer noted it helped them break through a plateau after years of the same routine. The lack of any digital screen or subscription fee makes this a lifetime purchase that costs less than a single month of most app subscriptions. James Cunningham is an author and dietary supplement connoisseur with a solid academic foundation, holding a BSc in Sport & Exercise Science from the University of Hertfordshire. Specializing in Performance Psychology, his expertise is backed by both rigorous study and practical experience.
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He was also a corporate and M&A partner at the international law firm unimeal app reviews of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. He has been involved in over 200 M&A transactions and 250 startup financings. As an author, James is committed to guiding his readers towards optimal health and performance, providing actionable insights and strategies through his writings. This fitness buddy shouldn’t cost you more than a coach, so consider every option carefully to get the most bang for your bucks.