Category Archives: Best Workout Tracker App for 2026: Top 7 Options Reviewed

Best Workout Apps: Guide and Review

In LES MILLS+ workouts, you’ll find motivating coaches and good pump-up music, just as if you had gone to your local studio. “It brings the feeling of group fitness into the comfort of your own home if you’re not able to get to the gym or if maybe you’re not comfortable in the gym atmosphere,” says Beebe. However, working with coaches in person can cost you $10 to $20 for in-person group classes per session or $50 to $150 per session when working privately with a personal trainer. “It’s easy to navigate the workouts, blog articles, recipe and meal plan ideas, and a motivational social media-style feed,” says Amanda. Overall, Amanda rates Nike Training Club a 5-out-of-5-star rating for both getting started and ease of use.

What is the best gym workout app for men?

Evlo is about what it calls “gentle consistency,” which means you’ll be doing efficient, targeted movements to build strength while avoiding exercises that leave you overly sore or burned out. Athletes, personal trainers, and gym veterans don’t expect beginners to understand the complexities of strength training or any other form of progressive exercise. And trust me, you can nerd out about fitness; it’s a highly complex topic. Not only that, there is a ton of variety with iFIT, earning it a 5-star rating for this category.

Freeletics: Workouts & Fitness

“I focus on training for hypertrophy first, and strength second, but there are tons of programs for all sorts of goals,” he says. He’s a big fan of the Eric Helms’ Intermediate Bodybuilding program, as well as the Reddit Dumbbell-Only PPL split. “The instructors were motivating and talked throughout the class, but not so much that their voice got annoying while I was sweating and out of breath,” Anthony says. The trainer-led classes allow you to record your workouts, which will allow an AI algorithm to track and rate your performance. We considered specific wants or needs that men may have for their workout apps; however, none of these apps are truly gender-specific and can help anyone make progress in the gym.

Lose Weight for Men at Home

best smart workout apps

“The instructor, Bianca, was beautiful, the setting amazing, music perfect. I’m absolutely hooked on her workouts,” a tester commented. Some workouts require equipment like a Pilates ball, resistance bands, or hand weights, but bodyweight-only options are easy to find. If you’re looking for an app that has it all—meal planning and workouts—Caliber is hard to beat. It offers a tiered membership based on what you can afford, and all of its methods are science-backed. Upgrade to get access to group coaching or one-on-one coaching, keep track of your reps and weights during workouts, and work with a trainer to develop a nutrition plan that will help you meet your goals.

HIIT, Home, Gym Weight Lifting

In late 2022, Netflix added a range of Nike Training Club workouts to its library. You could access these for free (so long as you have a Netflix subscription) and do the 10 or 20-minute sessions wherever you are. If you’re not into weights or the fast tempo of BodyPump and Body Attack, there’s plenty of other classes to choose from. The Functional Strength classes are a great way of working on your movement patterns if you’re a complete beginner, and the Pilates, core, and tone classes were all engaging. Trainers include Kayla herself, as well as the likes of Kelsey Wells, Chontel Duncan, Britany Williams, and Stephanie Sanzo.

Tracking Progress

Verv made it into our best workout apps list for its all-in-one approach to fitness. With animated instructions, catchy music, and all the basics of the other full-body workouts, this is another top choice overall. The exercises include some more advanced moves, like tricep dips with a chair and push-ups with rotation, so it’s a great one to do with your kids. This is another one you can try for free, but you’ll end up paying $2.99 and more for full access to all of the various exercises. I like that the video instructions are led by both male and female trainers, and they do a great job guiding you through each exercise via video, audio, image and text.

Accountability features were a major factor, since different people need different levels of encouragement. Some apps offer high-touch support such as real-life personal trainers or in‑app coaching, while others rely on push notifications, streaks, check-ins, and community elements; the aim was to include a range of options across this spectrum. This goes way beyond basic preferences—the best apps enable you to create custom workout plans tailored to specific muscle groups based on your body type needs [1]. For ectomorphs struggling to gain muscle, effective apps recommend compound movements with heavier weights and those crucial 2-3 minute rest periods between sets [19]. Mesomorph-focused programming brilliantly balances strength training with moderate cardio, typically recommending 8-12 reps at moderate-to-heavy weights [20]. Lots of fitness apps provide a good variety of workouts, while others may focus on strength training or running workouts.

Freeletics: HIIT Fitness Coach

We took our real-life experience and in-depth testing methodology to score 10 different categories on a 1-to-5-star rating. Yes, the best workout apps feature a range of programs designed for exercising at home, with no equipment. These can include bodyweight circuits, yoga, HIIT sessions, and stretching routines. Apps like JustFit even offer lazy workouts you can do from your bed or while sitting in a chair.

  • This means you can flow through your training without the distraction of carrying your phone from room to room.
  • As the ways we approach exercise have shifted in the face of changing technology, having a digital training partner has become more commonplace.
  • But this app is great for beginner cardio and general fitness workouts that will keep you moving forward toward your goals.
  • While the Peloton app is similar to iFIT with a heavy focus on cardio (and cardio machine-based workouts), there is still a huge selection of off-machine style training, including strength training, yoga, Pilates, barre, and more.
  • Apps featuring instructors with documented experience (ideally 1-2 years minimum) typically deliver more refined guidance than those using novice trainers [5].
  • Seven has you do each exercise for 30 seconds, with 10 seconds of rest in between.

Women‑Centric Strength Plans and Community Support

best smart workout apps

Most of the apps have different workouts for beginners, intermediate, and advanced fitness levels. This is what I know for sure after testing out more than 30 of them over the past few months. However, with the update, Nike removed some of their training programs, which used to be a popular feature of the app.

Workouts and live classes can be streamed, and while not perfect, the instruction earns a rock-solid score of 4 out of 5 from Amanda. The Shred app is an AI-powered virtual trainer that can be used to customize workouts in your home or commercial gym. The advanced search function on the Alo Moves app and webpage is a key feature, allowing users to quickly and easily filter for the style of workout, difficulty, intensity, and duration of class they’re looking for.

Get Ripped with Dumbbell Program

Women-focused fitness apps are revolutionizing how women approach strength training, creating supportive communities that honor female physiology and goals. The best platforms offer extensive on-demand classes explicitly created for women, eliminating toxic fitness language while providing detailed metric tracking that goes way beyond just weight measurements [16]. You’ll find structured programs spanning everything from postpartum fitness to advanced weight room confidence, all through female-led coaching that truly understands your journey [16]. Smart apps increasingly use performance data to automatically adjust future workouts based on recovery needs.

Ladder Strength Training

There are plenty of training styles, from yoga and treadmill workouts, to spin classes and strength training routines. When I tested the fitness-tracking abilities of mad muscles app review the Pixel Watch 3, I found that the Hevy watch app was miles better than any of the watch’s native strength-training features. But it does give you a wrist-based interface to track the lifts you’re doing, and the watch app updates the phone app and vice versa.

Research shows apps with community-driven challenges see 30% higher weekly active usage compared to those without competitive elements [21]. These structured goals create accountability through time-bound targets and social visibility—essential for those devoted to getting stronger. Advanced apps now operate completely on wearable devices, allowing full workout tracking directly from your smartwatch [15]. This means you can flow through your training without the distraction of carrying your phone from room to room.