Personal fitness apps could be overwhelming in 2023. It’s very easy to get bogged down, overtrain without proper guidance, and burn out when the optimism of the “New Year’s Resolutions” phase wears off. So when I was looking for an at-home app to improve my fitness and reach my 2023 fitness goals, I was elated when Fitbod seemed to hit the nail on the head.
Today, the best fitness apps want to justify the subscription price as an overly curious personal trainer — without the person. They provide training videos with professionally produced trainers who call you their friends. They expect you to log every calorie. And they try to cover all fitness bases, from yoga to HIIT or upper and lower body.
You also have fitness apps that simply log your exercise, but they expect you to actually know what you’re doing. I’ve tried a gym membership for cross-training in the past, but found it difficult to maintain a self-directed muscle-building rhythm without inevitably overdoing a certain muscle and sidelining myself.
Fitbod is infinitely customizable, quickly learning your ability level and preventing you from overtraining some muscles while neglecting others.
I wanted something very simple and very rare: an at-home workout app that targets specific body parts or muscle groups to help me get stronger, while also recognizing my limitations and tailoring the exercises to my needs—at no real cost. coach. Something that a video-based app like Apple Fitness+ or Fitbit Premium, which can only target difficulty level or general body area, can’t do.
My partner, who does more home HIIT and core work than I do, introduced me to Fitbod, a fitness app available on Android/Wear OS and iOS/Apple Watch. And it checked off everything I needed as a cross-training tool for my primary running workouts.
When you open Fitbod, it asks you about your previous weightlifting experience, your training goals (a.k.a. building muscle, losing weight, increasing endurance, improving in your sport, etc.), where you usually train, what equipment you have access to, your current height/weight/age, and more data.
From there, you’ll use an algorithm to create a personalized workout that matches your goals and target muscle groups for your own equipment. You can change your workout criteria—time, muscle splits, difficulty, bodybuilding or strength focus—and generate a new set of reps and exercises in seconds.
Also, unlike workout videos with predefined exercises, you can select any specific exercise and tell the app to replace it with something similar that targets the same group, or choose it more often or less often depending on your preferences. If you find something too difficult or distasteful, it’s more fun to find an exercise that fits your speed instead of embarrassing yourself when you have to use a “modification.”
Or, if you’re more of a gym regular who knows what exercises work for you, you can create a workout from scratch and use the app to spin out your own routines.
AI is a controversial topic these days, and it’s fair to say that a real personal trainer can do it all and motivate you better than the spartan, threadbare Fitbod app.
It’s definitely a DIY experience, as when you do reps, you’ll have to log each one as completed to time you, as well as tell your Fitbod how hard the workout was for you, rather than jumping right into something new. The algorithm needs this information to better judge your skill level, but it’s better for people who need guidance than an expert going into the zone.
Compare that to using the Oculus Quest 2 for fitness, which is much less focused and doesn’t do much beyond cardio, but it’s certainly more motivating and fluid.
Still, Fitbod was transformative simply because it introduced me to exercises that I would have struggled to find on my own. Instead of endlessly Googling and bookmarking articles like “Best at-home exercises to lose weight/build strength/etc”, they only show useful exercises with accompanying video tutorials showing proper form.
Some fitness apps track your fatigue and recovery, but few notice that your calves or biceps are particularly worn out.
It repels me too stop to work a muscle before I overdo it. While the Garmin Body Battery or Fitbit Daily Readiness track my overall energy levels, they don’t specifically warn me when my legs or back are likely to give out if I stick around.
Fitbod shows the recovery percentage next to each muscle group, so you don’t overload them or hinder muscle development. Instead, it’s more about targeting refreshed (or neglected) muscle groups, ensuring you don’t feel like you’re just waiting when your biceps or abs need a break.
I tend to prefer simple cardio followed by a fitness class for my daily routine, which means I’ve neglected muscles that don’t matter when pounding the pavement. So in 2023, I focused on simple, bodyweight-only exercises like push-ups and planks that I was already familiar with.
Fitbod expanded my horizons well beyond the basics. Even if I unsubscribe from the line, I will continue to know which exercises will help me speed up or lose weight in all the basic areas.
The app costs $80/year or $13/month after the first three workouts, so you’re paying about the same as a more thorough and comprehensive app like Apple Fitness+; but I prefer the Fitbod, simply because I want something focused rather than overwhelming.
