Best Apps for Strength Training and Muscle Building

By connecting daily actions with long-term habits, TickTick helps you build a more holistic and sustainable routine. Aisha Imtiaz, a Senior Editor at AllAboutAI.com, makes sense of the fast-moving world of AI with stories that are simple, sharp, and fun to read. She specializes in AI Reviews, AI How-To guides, and Comparison pieces, helping readers choose smarter, work faster, and stay ahead in the AI game. You need the hardware, and it only works well for barbell-based movements. Beginners might find it overwhelming or unnecessary unless they’re working with a coach.

Subscription Benefits and Pricing Models in Workout Apps: How Discounts and Flexibility Impact User Retention

Pliability provides daily-updated custom mobility programs for those interested in optimizing their health and fitness. It also includes a unique body-scanning feature to pinpoint mobility issues. If you’re feeling limited by pain or your ability to move, Pliability aims to complement your fitness routine and help you move better.

Fitness that fits your life means there’s no excuse, just results. Yoga can be an effective full body workout for flexibility, strength, stamina, and balance, according to a small 2024 study. “That bothers me because it usually means I have to shortcut prescribed workout regimens, and I don’t like to take ‘the easy way out’; I’d much rather have a modified routine,” Currin said. Currin said it’s known in the medical community that certain ethnic populations have heavier bone density and nuanced body composition. Despite body mass index (BMI) being widely dispelled and not accurate for certain groups of people, BetterMe still uses it and identified her as “morbidly obese.”

Best for iPhone Users

• Many workouts are high‐intensity interval training (HIIT), often bodyweight only (no equipment needed).
• Keep reading to learn correct planning app and How to Get Flexible Fast?
• Aside from yoga, guided meditation and breathwork classes are also available in the app to get you super chill before or after executing child’s pose.
• A BetterMe Mental Health app is also available, designed to support emotional well-being with guided meditations, breathing exercises, and sleep sounds.
• Sports managers should identify and address any potential barriers that may hinder the adoption and use of technology in their sport environment.
• The best workout apps are those that have evolved beyond simple video libraries to become behavioral psychology tools.

You’ll find an excellent, well-thought-out fitness tracker app when you open HeavySet, available only for iOS devices. Data entry is easy, with well-placed buttons that are big enough not to miss, even with shaking legs or hands. Typically, you’ll have to tap only once to log a set, and HeavySet’s intelligent predictions do the heavy lifting. HeavySet’s smarts don’t mean you give up control over setting up routines. You can specify rep ranges, pick weights based on intensity, or define custom supersets.

How we tested the best workout apps

Unfortunately, we weren’t too thrilled with the user interface, rating it a 3 out of 5. “There’s not much here that I couldn’t already see in my Apple Health app,” our tester said. Our tester appreciated this approach to weight loss, as they felt it set them up for future success in terms of losing weight and actually keeping it off. Where other weight loss apps help you hit goals through caloric deficits, Noom acts as a coach to help you develop the necessary habits for maintaining your desired body weight. “My coach had me weigh in and take progress photos weekly, which I didn’t love,” our tester said.

FLEX YOUR MUSCLES, STRETCH YOUR WALLET

Centr offers a seven-day free trial with a monthly subscription for $29.99. Consider an annual subscription, which provides a very generous discount on the monthly rate, dropping it to $10. If you’ve tried sticking to a workout routine before, you understand how challenging it can be to stay organized and motivated. After a while, it’s easy to lose track of progress, forget the structure of your workouts, and get bored of doing the same old exercises over and over.

App support

Whether you’re working toward your first handstand or refining advanced calisthenics skills, the app provides methodical, effective programming. Popular calisthenics app, focus on bodyweight exercises, follow programs, track progress, engage with community. For anyone wanting intelligent workout tracking that goes beyond simple logging, Shred provides AI-powered coaching, expert programming, and comprehensive analytics at a fraction of personal training costs. As you work through exercises, the AI coach provides encouragement, form cues, and adjusts rest times based on your pace. This creates an experience remarkably similar to having a real trainer in the gym. The free version provides access to basic workouts and workout tracking functionality, allowing you to test the platform before subscribing.

Rest and recovery days are still a MUST

This is where the best workout apps for beginners can help you get oriented. Instead of trying to piece together your program from scratch, using a fitness app will allow you to make how to use workout apps for muscle gain better decisions as you embark on your fitness journey. Product tester and GGR head of content Kate Meier compares Future to a typical CrossFit membership, which may range from $150 to $200 per month. “A CrossFit membership allows you access to tons of equipment and coaching,” says Kate.

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Our app makes it easy to track workouts, stay accountable with friends, and maintain consistency through streaks, challenges, and social support. This article explores workout and fitness apps in further detail, including how they can help and how to choose one. It also provides a list of apps and discusses some health considerations. Shred also offers full-length studio classes in yoga, boxing, HIIT, and more.

Schedule Your Workouts Like Appointments

The “Ultimate Consistency Hack” is not a better algorithm, but a real human being on the other side of the screen. Having a personal trainer or fitness coach through an app brings the benefits of personal training, such as expert guidance, personalized workout plans, and motivation directly to your device. A human coach using professional personal trainer software provides the empathy, nuanced form correction, and social accountability that even the best workout apps cannot replicate with code alone. For example, the Future app combines personal training with the convenience of working out at home, matching users with trainers based on their goals. This “Hybrid Model”, where you use a professional exercise workout app powered by a real trainer, is the most effective way to ensure you never quit your fitness journey again.

Build a fitness app that wins user loyalty

Our top picks range in modes of training and fitness levels, so you’ll want to read on for our selection of the best free workout apps. Ankit Uniyal has worked extensively with fitness-focused content, supporting platforms that cater to personal trainers, gym owners, and fitness professionals. His experience includes optimizing and structuring content around fitness-related search behavior and user intent.

Apple Watch and Wear OS Support

Based on which you choose, the app will put together a running program for you. If I were new to running, this is exactly the kind of experience I would hope for. Runkeeper makes running feel attainable, no matter what progress looks like to you. I also liked that you can tell the app what kind of running shoes you wear, and it’ll tell you how many miles you’ll get out of them before needing to replace them. Popular and highly rated fitness apps include BetterMe, Strava, and Glo. The best fitness app will depend on a person’s exercise goals, ability, and the type of exercise they would like to do.

FEELIN’ THE LOVE

Yes, most quality workout tracker apps work offline and sync your data when you reconnect. This is essential since many gyms have poor WiFi or are in basements with no signal. Setgraph, Strong, JEFIT, and Hevy all offer full offline functionality.

That means intuitive navigation and filters that let you quickly find the perfect class based on workout type, duration, or even music. Many apps also include a community component, which can be a helpful way to stay motivated, share progress, and hold yourself accountable. “I like hypertrophy training by body part, so I have Shred suggest daily workouts—upper body, lower body, full body, or abs,” Schlinger explains. “If I did upper body yesterday, I can choose a ‘custom’ workout and pick a different body part, and it creates a new session. Each exercise shows full instructions and videos.”

How to choose the best fitness app

It helps you stay at a healthy weight, feel happier and keep your heart and lungs working their best. Plus, it makes your bones and muscles stronger, lowers your risk for long-term health problems, eases stress and helps you sleep more soundly. The fitness category, as a whole, has built almost everything on the extrinsic side of the Octagon. Step counts and personal records are Core Drive 2 (Development & Accomplishment).

Exercise History and Progress Visualization

Furthermore, the theoretical models reviewed above identify factors that influence the ITU of technology, such as PU, PEOU, SI and FC. Sport managers can therefore use these models to identify and assess which factors are relevant in their particular context. This will help them to understand the needs and preferences of their users and to adapt their strategies accordingly. Particularly interesting are the studies that did not rely on TAM models or derivatives that found different variables that significantly influenced ITU.

Strong — Best for simple gym logging

The systematic review was not registered on the PROSPERO platform because, not being in the field of health, it did not meet the requirements for registering the systematic review protocol. Therefore, a prior search protocol was not established and all aspects were marked directly in the methodology of this study. Mary is passionate about helping people develop healthy habits that will give them health and mobility to live a life they love. Provides customized meal plans with over 800 recipes tailored to various dietary preferences. Detailed 3D demos of exercises with step-by-step instructions, multiple angles, helps with form especially for beginners. No long-term contracts, can cancel anytime; workout schedule can be changed; coach can be changed if not a good match.

Jefit: Strength Training and Bodybuilding

• Whether yoga is part of your regular routine or you’re new to the practice, there’s something for you on the Glo app.
• The exercise library covers over 2,000 movements spanning strength training, bodyweight, calisthenics, cardio, and mobility, for both home and gym settings.
• For example, Zhu et al. (2023) showed that the variables of General Health, Affiliation, Physical appearance, Condition, Perceived Risk and Security Risk influenced UTI.
• That said, though, the attention given to this group of app users is worthwhile enough for us to name Reverse Health as one of our favorite weight loss programs for women.
• If Adriene cooing that a pose is “yummy” makes you cringe, you can also give Jessamyn Stanley or Yoga with Tim a shot.
• This range makes it valuable whether you’re just starting to address tight hips or you’re an athlete seeking marginal gains.

The community features add motivational value, with leaderboards, challenges, and the ability to share workouts. This social component helps maintain accountability and motivation. Shred integrates seamlessly with Apple Watch, displaying sets, reps, and rest timers on your wrist while automatically logging workouts. 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.

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According to most fitness pros, challenging yourself to regularly move your body could have more long-term benefits than nearly any other fitness goal. The one thing more important than consistency is form (because hello, injury prevention). 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. If you’re looking to train at the gym without breaking the bank, Fiit is the best free gym app to join live group classes and train with others.

Log Workouts

Sign up today for 7 days absolutely for free on iPhone, iPad, Android, or our website to improve flexibility, aid recovery, reduce pain, and enhance range of motion with our mobility app. Apple Watch integration is common among iOS workout apps, with varying levels of functionality. Some apps (like Setgraph) offer Live Activity support for rest timers and workout tracking. Fitbit integration is less common since Fitbit focuses on its own ecosystem.

Core Drive 2 (Development & Accomplishment) is in the level-up system, the FTP test improvements, and the climbing badges. Core Drive 3 (Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback) lives in route choice, workout customization, and team-up dynamics. Core Drive 5 (Social Influence & Relatedness) is in group rides and racing leagues. Core Drive 7 (Unpredictability & Curiosity) shows up in event drops, route discovery, and the shifting calendar of group activities.

Best workout app for runners

The app aggregates your data into a water report that shows your weekly and monthly average, along with your drink frequency and how often you hit your goal. Because of this, she ultimately gave it a 4 out of 5 for ease of use. Kate gave it a 5 out of 5 here because there are more than 11,000 recipes, plus you can track your own meals and recipes, and other metrics like water intake. As for the app itself, it earned a total score of 4.23 after being tested by Kate Meier, certified personal trainer and GGR head of content. If weight loss is your main goal, you really can’t beat WeightWatchers. While the company has evolved over the years, it’s been around for decades and the program, which is based on a point system, has a high success rate.

Explore the Retro Fitness App for powerful breathing exercises, guided meditations, and insights on practical daily living. To help you make the best decision when choosing a workout app, we put them to the sweat test by using them for a number of different workouts. For each of the apps, we tried multiple workouts and looked at how easy the workouts were to follow, the range of workouts on offer, and how often new workouts were added to the app. Although there are plenty of sessions that can help you build substantial muscle, we were impressed at the variety available through Centr.

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This saves a lot of time, allowing you more space to do your workout rather than fiddle with the app. But if these aren’t quite right for you either, we’ve rounded up the best workout apps for a range of training styles and budgets to get you started. We’ll match you to the right program so you can make real progress toward your fitness goals.

This free app has plans for all distances, from total beginners looking to run their first 5K to marathoners. The trainers are incredibly knowledgeable, and the community is so welcoming. Jane McGuire is Tom’s Guide’s Fitness Managing Editor, which means she looks after everything fitness-related – from running gear to yoga mats. There are also handy features like Strava Beacon, which are designed to keep you safe, by allowing your friends or family members to track your live location on a run.

How to track food intake?

The Google Health app brings all of your health and wellness into one place debuting new and advanced capabilities. Workout tracking is all done through its sleek interface with built-in rest timers, and a daily readout will show you which of your muscles are growing, and which might be falling behind. Use our quick round-up below to immediately find an app that fits your needs – and you can read more about it by jumping to our full write-ups and explanations using the links. Along with visualization, consider incorporating motivation improvement strategies.

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Noom takes a unique approach to weight loss by focusing on the psychological aspects of eating and exercise. It’s not just about tracking calories; it’s about understanding your habits and making lasting changes. If you’re looking for an effective way to keep track of diet and exercise but could do without all the bells and whistles, here’s one for you. This food and fitness journal app is a minimalist’s dream in both form and function.

Hypertrophy, strength, Pilates, HIIT and MetCon workouts are all utilized to keep our bodies moving in different ways to resist plateauing and keep our muscles guessing. Easily manage your schedule, save favorites, and track progress with simple tools to help you build momentum. Our coaches create your program with proven methods informed by years of specialized training. The system has a nifty graph of your weight, telling you how you’ve done over time. It’s simple but requires a bit of user input to get the best use out of it. Smooth and polished, Productive makes it enjoyable to track daily habits.

Healthy Eating

• There are even coaches programs if you’re looking to achieve certain fitness goals…
• The best apps for tracking exercise and glucose integrate wearable device metrics with metabolic insights.
• Essentially, Strava offers personalized, tailored workouts, without committing to a long-term plan.
• Beginner, intermediate, or advanced—we program the reps, weight, and intensity to match your level.
• With barcode scanners and AI photo tools, tracking what you eat is easier than ever.
• By using habit and goal trackers, you can keep a close eye on your voyage, making meaningful adjustments along the way.

Cronometer also allows users to set goals and track their progress over time. Using advanced formulas and simple-to-use food groupings, the Carb Manager allows you to quickly determine the number of carbohydrates in any food or recipe. Additionally, the app offers portion control, meal planning features, and other tools to help optimize your diet and improve your overall health. At Indianapolis Healthplex, our mission is to educate, empower and inspire people to live active and healthy lives through exercise and nutrition. Our comprehensive approach to wellness is supported by our innovative fitness facility and highly trained professionals who assess and develop customized fitness plans for each member. While she guides you through each workout you are always encouraged to work at your own pace.

These are our 12 favorite fitness, health, and nutrition apps we recommend for crushing your 2026 resolutions

After taking a quick intro questionnaire, you’ll be provided with a personalized plan. SWEAT’s app is clean and easy to navigate, with the ability to save workouts for later and browse ‘On Demand’ workouts from other trainers outside of your plan. This allows you to follow workouts without your phone, displaying exercises, best apps for realistic muscle growth reps, timers, and haptic alerts for section changes.

Best for Nutrition Tracking: MyFitnessPal

My partner and I have been using this app for almost 18 months and still going strong. With Nutrisense, you’ll learn how to use your body’s data to make informed choices about eating, movement, sleep, and stress, all in one powerful app. The Carb Manager app is a powerful tool for anyone looking to manage their daily carbohydrate intake. Whether you follow a specific diet like keto or paleo or want to keep track of your carb consumption, this app can help you control your diet.

Volt Virtual Tennis and Pickleball Program

For instance, MyFitnessPal and Noom have web interfaces that allow you to track your progress from a computer. Many of these apps offer multilingual support to cater to a global audience. For example, Clue and MyFitnessPal are available in multiple languages, making them accessible to non-English speakers. Always check the app’s settings or description for language options.

Best workout app for meal plans

We’ve tried these apps ourselves to see if they’re easy to use, fun, and worth the money you need to pay in subscription fees. The only downside here is the cost — this isn’t the cheapest app on the market. However, if you use a non-Apple fitness tracker, you may be a bit limited for now. For example, I wasn’t able to connect my best Garmin watch to the SWEAT app. The app can feel a little overwhelming at a first glance, but classes can be filtered by trainer, time, and the music you prefer to work out to.

Best Exercises Without Equipment: A 16-Move Home Workout Plan

Carlee’s training at Western Illinois University and an internship at the Memphis VA Hospital lead her to a career in outpatient counseling and bariatric nutrition therapy. In these positions, Carlee realized many of the disease states (upwards of 80%!) her patients experienced were actually preventable. Your glucose can significantly impact how your body feels and functions.

How we test the best workout apps

This knowledge can empower you to make healthier choices, ensuring you stay within your calorie goals. Many apps likewise provide nutritional information, helping you identify which foods fuel your body best. By utilizing sleep tracking apps, you can effortlessly track your progress and adjust your bedtime routines. These tools help you analyze factors that may affect your sleep, such as stress levels and daily activities. Furthermore, they empower you to make data-driven decisions, ensuring that you cultivate a relaxing atmosphere conducive to restorative sleep.

Does Netflix have free workouts?

Nike Run Club also integrates with your music, tracks stats and progress, and has its in-app challenges. Ladder also provides a chat and feedback feature, integration with your music, and progress tracking. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Our Retro Fitness App helps you along your fitness journey on your own time, wherever you are. Around the same time as the streamer partnered with Netflix, it also developed a short series with meditation app Headspace, and the Headspace Guide to Meditation is currently still available on Netflix. However, the partnership didn’t last and the workouts were removed from Netflix in March 2024, according to What’s on Netflix.

Latest videos

Move workouts, adjust days, and adapt your plan at any time without penalty. The paid version is ad-free and has more workout routines, including Pilates, kettlebell, stretch, and ball workouts. But that’s what the Charity Miles app does, and it tracks your workout via GPS, donating money to the charities you pick. You can stick with a single charity or pick a new one each time you exercise. The concept is interesting and serves as motivation for exercising.

Best free workout app

By integrating short meditation sessions or engaging in reflective journaling, you can create a buffer against life’s pressures. Focusing on your sleep quality not only improves your well-being but also enables you to serve others better. When you’re well-rested, you’re more present, compassionate, and engaged. Embrace sleep tracking solutions, and take the first step toward achieving more restful nights and brighter days.

Habit and Goal Trackers

That’s why, when it comes to New Year’s resolutions or making a workout calendar, a simple document or spreadsheet works better than trying to find the perfect, all-in-one app! Some people thrive with personalized, AI-made workout or diet plans. Others benefit from social apps like Strava where challenges and “kudos” from friends keep you motivated.

• 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.
• Amanda Capritto, certified personal trainer, health coach, and former GGR senior staff writer, tested the app and gave it a 5 out of 5 for instruction.
• Yasi Ansari, M.S., R.D.N., C.S.S.D., works as a dietitian in California, specializing in sports performance, eating disorders and women’s health.
• It connects your intentions with real-world feedback loops from devices you already use.
• Or, if you’re looking to keep costs down, Nike Training Club is completely free, while Fiit offers access to all group classes without charge.
• Now you have access to various workout programs that can be done at home or in the gym, such as yoga, strength and Pilates, all taught by different women personal trainers.

Best Hydration Tracking App: WaterMinder

GH testers appreciated the variety of classes, which range from 5 to 45 minutes, and found the team of trainers diverse and motivating. Sassos loves the Time to Walk feature, which pumps you up for your daily walk as you listen to celebrities such as Dolly Parton and Uzo Aduba share their memories and stories. If high-intensity workouts aren’t your thing, bust out zen moves like tree pose and downward dog using YogaRenew, an app for following virtual yoga classes. Multiple styles are offered, from vinyasa to restorative practices, with over 1000 live classes available to stream. And, if you’re a beginner, no worries— a variety of levels, intensities, and class lengths are offered. Aside from yoga, guided meditation and breathwork classes are also available in the app to get you super chill before or after executing child’s pose.

Best workout app for women

Workouts are only part of the equation—master healthy, balanced eating with a simple framework for hitting fitness apps for muscle gain your protein goals. One app, designed to keep you consistent and moving toward your goals. This progressive, three-phase training experience is designed to help you get stronger, build lean muscle, and finish feeling energized inside and out.

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Your coach actively refines your plan over time so your training evolves with you. Combine these apps with the right devices from our guide to Best Wearable Health Devices of 2025 for a complete digital health setup. The FitOn platform has a good selection of workout videos spread across various exercise types; however, there seems to be no overarching structure to the videos. If you’re wondering how to stay accountable to your own goals, Coach.me provides real human coaches. Streaks is designed for those who want Apple-first fitness and habit tracking. Self-care encapsulates all different aspects of wellness, including mental, physical, and spiritual health.