The Best Workout Apps for Crushing Your Fitness Goals

The hardest part of starting a home fitness regime is figuring out what exercises to do. That’s why fitness apps are so handy - they do all the planning for you. All you have to do is show up and follow along. But a quick browse through the app store will reveal a plethora of highly-rated fitness apps. Not all apps are equal, so which one do you download?

The truth is, there is no single best fitness app. There is only the best fitness app for you, based on your goals and preferences. Of course, this doesn’t make the choice any easier, when you have no idea what each app has to offer.

Luckily for you, I’m a fitness app junkie and have used tons of them over the years. (I have a blog full of detailed app reviews to prove it!) And to make your app selection process a little less painful, I thought I’d share my top recommendations with you.

Best Overall - The Jillian Michaels App

The Jillian Michaels app is my personal favorite, and I have been using it regularly for the past three years. I credit her programs with helping me get in the best shape of my life.

In my opinion, it offers the best variety of programs for beginners and seasoned athletes alike. Best of all, it hits that sweet spot between customization and the “plug and play” experience.

Her premium programs are typically 1-3 months long. Each workout consists of short video loops of Jillian demonstrating each exercise with voiceover coaching. These are the most customizable workouts, and you can easily swap out exercises and adjust the difficulty. Although most of the programs are high-intensity strength, there are also kickboxing, yoga, and running programs.

The app also comes with a workout generator, meditations, and meal plans. If you’re a fan of her workout videos, you’ll find almost the entire library of them on the app, too, including 30 Day Shred, Body Revolution, and Bodyshred.

• Good for beginners? Yes
• Videos or clips? Both
• Meal plan? Yes
• Customizable? Yes
• Price? $9.99 - $14.99 per month based on the subscription plan

Best Runner Up - Sweat App

SWEAT is another highly polished app with a great variety of programs and trainers. The flagship program, High Intensity with Kayla Itsines (formally known as Bikini Body Guide or BBG), is ideal for beginners who are new to high-intensity training and will see some fantastic results in the first 12 weeks.

But there are lots of more advanced programs as well, and ten different trainers. The app has also expanded to include gym-focused workouts, Barre, and yoga.

SWEAT also comes with a meal plan and recipes but lacks many other “nice to have” extras that many of the other apps have. The subscription is also a little pricier than most of the other apps on this list.

Summary

• Good for beginners? Yes
• Videos or clips? Clips
• Meal plan? Yes
• Customizable? Limited customization
• Price? $9.99 - $19.99 per month based on the subscription plan

Most Customizable - Freeletics

If you like to get granular with your customization options, Freeletics is the app for you. The best feature of this app is the AI Coach, which customizes each workout based on your feedback.

The app works hard to remove any possible excuse for missing your workout and even comes with an “adapt session” tab for last-minute tweaks. For example, you can tell it to adjust the exercises if you are particularly sore from the last time or if you need to keep the noise level down.

The app also has a robust “Mindset Coaching” library that includes meditations, visualizations, and guided movements. These are particularly helpful if you have a hard time working up the motivation to work out.

There is a meal plan available with Freeltics, but it costs extra. The membership itself is pretty reasonable and works out to a few dollars per week.

• Good for beginners? Yes
• Videos or clips? Clips
• Meal plan? Yes, but it costs extra
• Customizable? Extremely
• Price? Approximately $5 - $15 per month based on the subscription plan (minimum 3-month subscription)

Best Calisthenics Workouts - Thenx

If you’re particularly interested in bodyweight exercises, check out Thenx. It’s ideal for achieving those challenging but oh-so-cool moves like the pull-up, handstand, pistol squat, and human flag.

You will need to invest in some equipment to use this app, like pull-up and dip bars. You can try out what the app offers for free, but you will need to subscribe if you want to do the programs. However, there are also YouTube Thenx workouts that you can access from the app for free.

Thenx is a specialized fitness app that targets specific, challenging skills. As such, it doesn’t offer much variety. It’s not a great app if you’re a beginner or your primary goal is weight loss.

Summary

• Good for beginners? No
• Videos or clips? Clips
• Meal plan? No
• Customizable? No
• Price? $7.49 - $9.99 per month depending on the subscription plan

Best Online Community - Daily Burn

Daily Burn is a platform that streams workout videos you can access either with their app or your web browser. They have a pretty impressive library of workouts and feature a brand new workout every day at 9 a.m.

There’s also a strong community element with Daily Burn; they have an active Facebook group and a Discord chat room where people convene to discuss the daily workout. If you love group fitness, this is the closest you’ll get to it from home.

The downside is that there isn’t much customization available with their programs, and the daily workouts may not always be suitable to your fitness level and goals.

Summary

• Good for beginners? Yes
• Videos or clips? Clips
• Meal plan? Yes
• Customizable? Limited customization
• Price? 12.50 - $19.99 per month depending on the subscription plan

Best Free Workouts - FitOn

I recently discovered FitOn and was impressed with the variety and quality of workouts. Like Daily Burn, it consists of video workouts, but you can access all workouts and programs for free!

I thought it sounded too good to be true, but it’s just as polished and high-quality as any other app on this list. The only downside is that the programs are not as robust or structured. It’s also not very customizable.

FitOn does have an affordable pro version that gives you access to all the extras, like the meal plan, recipes, chatbot “coach,” and downloadable content for offline viewing. But even the membership fee is very affordable compared to its competitors: $19.99 for six months or $29.99 for a year. The upgrade is worth it for the meal plan alone, which offers many tasty recipe options for standard, pescetarian, vegetarian, and vegan diets.

Summary

• Good for beginners? Yes
• Videos or clips? Videos
• Meal plan? Yes, with Pro Plan
• Customizable? No
• Price? Workouts are free! Pro plan is $6.66 - $4.50 per month depending on the subscription plan (Minimum 6 months)

Final Thoughts

These are the apps that helped me reach my fitness goals, so I can personally attest that they are the cream of the crop. All of them offer free content or a free trial before committing to the membership, so go ahead and try two or three of them out before you decide.

Fitness apps are the closest we can get to having a celebrity trainer become your own personal coach. All you have to do is take advantage of what they offer, and you’ll be amazed by how quickly you reach your fitness goals!