10 Best Workout Apps of 2024, According to Experts and Reviews

If your goal is better endurance, build gradually and avoid increasing workout volume too quickly. Apps can guide you, but your daily choices outside the workout matter just as much. Shred offers impressive variety, from guided strength training to HIIT, cardio, yoga, and sport-specific programs. You can filter workouts by body part, equipment type, duration, and difficulty level. The app uses algorithms to provide customized coaching programs for various goals, with workouts including trainer-led videos and detailed exercise tutorials. After completing exercises, you rate difficulty, allowing the AI to adjust subsequent workouts for optimal challenge.

workout apps for realistic fitness progress

Strava App

The paid version of the app will run you $12 per month ($80 per year) for an individual plan, or $13 per month ($150 per year) for a Strava and Runna combo plan. There is a student discount of $40 per year and a family plan for up to 4 accounts at $140 a year. The good news is that Strava offers a free 30-day trial to those who want to try out its upgraded features before committing. I tested the most popular workout apps to help you find the ones worth the cost–some are even free.

But the lackluster wearable connectivity is a significant drawback—especially if you do most of your training outside. For example, it showed me roughly how many sets it thought it would take for me to see progress (or as the app puts it, enter the “growth zone”). That’s a great way to make training feel more rewarding and sustainable, rather than a never-ending slog.

workout apps for realistic fitness progress

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The daily guided routines are designed to improve your body’s range of motion and then gain better body awareness. As with many online subscriptions, you can almost always get a better rate if you pay for a year up front—but you shouldn’t necessarily do that with workout apps. Many of the sessions in StretchIt (available for Android, iOS, and the web) are downright tough and will leave you sweating. If your workouts include heavy lifting, running, cycling, and other activities that are hard on your muscles, stretching can improve your everyday mobility, posture, and comfort—and prevent injuries. Downloading a fitness app can be an excellent way to get the ball rolling on your training regimen, but there are a few factors to think about before opting for one service or the next.

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On accountability, our team also gave Reverse Health an overall 5 out of 5 rating. The app sends push notifications as reminders to track food or complete workouts. Additionally, the program was incredibly customizable in Paige’s experience, making it easy to apply Reverse Health to her daily lifestyle.

The best fitness app is the one that works for you

Working with a doctor can help them pick the most appropriate form of exercise if they have health conditions. This article explores workout and fitness apps in further detail, including how they can help and realistic expectations from workout apps how to choose one. It also provides a list of apps and discusses some health considerations. AI cardio apps guide you through running, biking, or even walking plans.

  • You also track your activities throughout the day — exercise burns calories, after all — and Noom is capable of pairing with the best fitness trackers to monitor your weight and daily step count.
  • While deciding which fitness app to sign up for, experts recommend thinking through the following factors, all of which I took into consideration while creating our list of favorites.
  • If you need a consistent strength training plan, Strong offers everything you need.
  • “It creates running workouts with interval variations based on the time I want to exercise—great for mixing up my routine.”
  • A circuit requires you to do one set for EVERY exercise, one after the other, without stopping.
  • Some positive reviews people have shared are that the app finally got them to be more active, while another says it gave them the freedom to get in shape on their own time frame.

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AI fitness apps with adaptive workout planning adjust your workout based on how you’re doing. For example, if you were feeling tired yesterday and did a lighter workout, the app might ease up today—or, if you crushed it, it might challenge you a bit more. Over time, these apps “learn” from your progress and make real-time changes to your routines. This keeps you motivated and makes sure you’re always pushing just enough to lose weight and make progress, without burning out.

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It costs around 20 bucks a month, or there’s a cheaper annual plan if you commit to a full year. At $149.99/year, it’s easily the most expensive app I tested—twice the price of Strava. 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. 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.

Best Workout Apps to Download in 2024, According to Trainers and Reviews

Workouts in certain categories (e.g. yoga, Pilates, more technical strength) may not be as in-depth or varied. Some sessions/music transitions or instructions can be hard to follow depending on volume / audio mix. Great when you need workouts offline or in places without good connection. Includes curated music playlists, ability to choose music genre, skip songs, and strong sound/voice mixing so instructions can be heard clearly. Good variety and adapts to your equipment or what you have available. Whether you have gym gear, just dumbbells, or need to travel, or are working out at home, the plan adapts.

Stay hydrated

It features a gorgeous layout and interface, intuitive plan building, and great workout tracking. In 2025, there are so many fitness apps out there that knowing where to start can be really daunting. That’s why we test fitness apps and collate our picks to help you make the right decision.

How to choose one of the best fitness apps

Some are free or offer free trials for a week or month, which lets you test out the app before officially committing to it. Others can cost less than $10, under $50 or as much as $100 a month, depending on how personalized the experience tends to be. Peloton is best known for its cycling classes, but with the Peloton digital app, you can also access other types of workouts.

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