I particularly enjoyed the audio-only outdoor walking and running classes, in which a coach picks a playlist and talks you through a 20- to 45-minute workout, while the app tracks how far you went and your overall pace. Website written, managed and maintained by Amanda Brooks, a certified running coach and personal trainer. Any advice should be taken as general information and not a personalized plan. All opinions, tips and reviews are based upon her personal life experience and the experiences of those she has coached. While I am not the runner who loves a coach in my ear or needs the planned workouts, I did super enjoy those Headspace sessions which help you figure out a lot of the mental side of running. Meanwhile, he LOVES that the app tells him when to speed up, when to slow down and everything in between.
Announcing Hevy Trainer
Other apps allow some degree of customization by filtering workouts by length, but this one actually allows you to pick the workout you want to do, then set the time. I didn’t really explore the nutrition section, though on glance, it seems a little disorganized, with recipes and tips listed in no particular order. The Mindset section also seems lacking, with no guided meditations at all, which at least some of the other apps include. Still, this is a fitness training app from a fitness-focused company, and that’s what Nike Training Club does best. We wanted a fitness app that treated us like adults, one that handled the complex math of periodization in the background but got out of the way when it was time to lift. In 2026, the standard for what makes the best fitness app has shifted again.
Multiple running and cycling plans are available with a paid subscription. Sara Hendricks is a former Health and Fitness editor for Reviewed. She has several years of experience reading and writing about lifestyle and wellness topics, with her previous work appearing in Refinery 29, Insider, and The Daily Beast. I was surprised that I got a lot of notifications every time I finished a workout—all from random names with a message telling me they were proud of me for working out. You can customize your notifications to turn this feature off, but it seemed odd to me that this was the default. Of course, I’m always following #runtothefinish to stay in touch with you and cheer you on.
Hevy
If you’re like me and never bother to make an actual playlist, a streaming solution is a great option for keeping you on the go with tunes. This one is specifically for trail running, but the Mountain Bike Run Project actually shows more trails and most are open to runners as well. The bonus here is you don’t need to sync a watch to your computer. All the details of your run are automatically saved, giving you a great log of your speed, elevation, distance and more.
Community, Accountability And Real Trainers
The instructions are easy to understand and the moves are demonstrated by a 3D-animated avatar, which I didn’t love aesthetically, but adequately provides correct form cues. Skimble also lets you connect with personal trainers on the app, though there is an extra charge for that service and I didn’t try it out. I also didn’t test the newer heart-rate training option that allows you to pair a heart rate chest strap to the app for additional training feedback.
In most of them, the instructions tell you to do things like squats, push-ups, and burpees, with a looping video that shows you proper form, and you click an arrow to tell the app when you’re ready to move on to the next set. I didn’t mind this—it meant I could take my time and work on my form—but someone who likes a more straightforward video format and doesn’t want to keep tapping their phone during the workout might have an issue with it. That said, I found some of the strength and cardio video classes a little hard to follow. It was cool to see how many other people were in the class with me—Peloton does this whether the class is live or not, but the classes themselves were just OK to me. When you sign up, you take a brief quiz, which gives you an option to join a program or toggle between different workouts. The thing that set Sworkit apart for me, however, is that you can pick how long you want each workout to be based on how much time you have, from one minute to an hour.

Every app will have at least some features behind a paywall, but some don’t offer anything for free beyond a free trial. However, if you want more detailed analytics to monitor your performance and key metrics, you need apps like Hevy, Strava, and Zwift. The focus is on traditional cardio training (such as running, swimming, and biking), but you can pick from a variety of sports. Our activity tracker and journey tracker bring those pieces together so you can see every workout, every phase and every step, not just a calendar of ticks. If you want to be able to track all kinds of things about your health and life, it’s here. The aim is 90 RPM, which reduces the amount of time your foot is on the ground and allows for speed without overstriding.
A Workout Planner That Isn’t Rigid
Our hybrid approach means you get structured gym training, home friendly options and mobility tools, all inside one fitness app. Studies on m-health tools suggest fitness apps work best when they combine goal setting, feedback, activity tracking and behavioural support rather than only serving workout videos. Our app allows you to track steps, sleep and water, log session data and monitor progress through a built in activity and journey tracker. Testers also loved the energizing, motivating workouts for all levels, as well as the wellness series focused on sleep, nutrition, and self-care. Many classes are filmed in stunning locations and led by instructors like Emily Sferra, Anabella Landa, and Bianca Wise, who keep sessions interesting and never boring.
Fitness Online
- To determine our top picks, we focused on apps with a wide variety of content, from strength and cardio to yoga and Pilates, ensuring users of all fitness levels can find something that suits their goals.
- Plus, with the premium subscription, you can compare your workouts week by week, month by month, and year by year.
- If your main exercise goal is to get toned—or, perhaps, shredded—Shred is the app for you.
- Many workout apps now offer programs that use only bodyweight exercises, making it easy to work out with no equipment.
- That it’s (understandably) iOS-only knocked it down a couple of pegs.
- Meanwhile, he LOVES that the app tells him when to speed up, when to slow down and everything in between.
Most are available in video formats, but many, like the running workouts and meditation classes, are in audio formats. But if you’re confident in your audio-learning skills, and want an app that allows you to sweat without having to stare at a screen the whole time, it’s a great option. In 2021, Aaptiv bought Pear, an app that offered heart-rate based workouts—we haven’t tested this, but can only imagine it strengthens Aaptiv’s already-great training programs. Some apps try to shame you into working out, or bombard you with notifications, so I liked this approach. Nike’s app also offers push notification reminders (which you can turn off) to prompt you when it’s time to do a workout. If you find yourself limited by exercise variety, tracking features, or progression logic, that’s when upgrading makes sense.

Home Workout App For Women
Other than that, I enjoyed the classes, instructors, and how seamlessly the metrics flowed between the watch and workout screen. The higher-intensity classes—HIIT, treadmill, cycling, and rowing—use something called a “burn bar,” which compares your stats to others who have taken the class and shows a visual comparison of where you stack up. I liked that graphic—I thought it provided competition without feeling overwhelming—but if you don’t, you can hide it from the screen. The app also has Watch-only outdoor walking sessions, in which celebrities—who range from singer Dolly Parton to basketball player Draymond Green—chat at you and play some of their favorite tunes as you stroll. All of its classes are on-demand, which means there are no live workouts.
Hybrid Training Mode Support
Beachbody is a multi-level marketing business, or MLM, which means its products and services are sold by person-to-person sales (you’ve maybe seen some acquaintances shilling it on Facebook). I’m not evaluating that aspect of Beachbody, only the effectiveness of the app itself, but it’s useful to know before getting into it. When you open the app, if there is currently a live class, it’ll already be playing on the screen, so all you have to do to join it is expand the window. When you do, the instructor will greet you by your name, because classes—at least all the ones I took—actually are live. It also has good music playlists—full of real music by artists you’ve heard of, not the royalty-free tunes you sometimes get on apps. And you can listen to music through the app, on Sworkit’s channels on Spotify or Apple Music, or your own playlists, if you prefer.
Hevy Coach
Whether you want a gym logger, a cardio app, or something geared more toward general fitness, we’ve got you covered. We layer that expertise with challenges, achievements, a journey tracker for progress photos and journals, and a supportive global community, so you get your fitness fix alongside women who share your goals. That process helped us build our own internal list of the best features and highlight gaps others miss. Our members often tell us they have already tested the best workout apps before landing on WeGLOW, which gives us a clear view of what actually helps them get their workout done consistently. Recent reviews highlight that resistance training for women improves body composition, bone health, cardiovascular markers, mental health, body image and building strength.
Aaptiv Audio Fitness App
An AI workout planner (like the one inside LoadMuscle) actually builds or adjusts those routines based on your goal, schedule, and equipment, and then adapts them as your performance and feedback change. She holds a master’s degree in clinical nutrition from New York University, as well as advanced certifications as a Women’s Fitness Specialist and a Behavior Change Specialist. Stefani is dedicated to providing readers with evidence-based content to encourage informed food choices and healthy living. She is an avid CrossFitter and a passionate home cook who loves spending time with her big fit Greek family. Shred also offers full-length studio classes in yoga, boxing, HIIT, and more. “It creates running workouts with interval variations based on the time I want to exercise—great for mixing up my routine.”
NTC offers workouts for various fitness goals, including bodyweight, Pilates, yoga, HIIT, and some sessions with weights. Our cycle syncing feature suggests sessions based on your hormonal phase, guiding you towards more demanding sessions when energy is high, and more restorative or low impact options when your body needs gentler work. Once I had full access, I checked out the workouts recommended to me to see if they matched up with my answers on the quiz and tried a strength and cardio workout from each app. This left me with five top picks—Nike Training Club, Sworkit, Skimble, Daily Burn, and Aaptiv. Most apps have quizzes to gauge your fitness level and goals, mad muscles app review so I also considered how detail-oriented each quiz was, and looked at what programs or workouts the app served up to me (if any), based on my answers.



