I’ve been testing the best fitness apps for many years now, and while I’m very grateful they all exist (after all, no one app will work for every user), it’s hard not to feel as though things have stagnated somewhat.
The AI boom (or bubble that could burst, depending on who you ask) means we have more options for AI fitness algorithms to pore over data than ever before, whether you’re using them on a phone or one of the best smartwatches.
BetterMe is a more holistic app that I’m used to, wrapping in just about every tenet of fitness and wellbeing, and while it’s a little overwhelming at first, I’ve slipped into a nice rhythm with it.
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Not just curls and squats
(Image credit: BetterMe)
My go-to fitness app is Fitbod, and it has been for years. I appreciate its relative simplicity, its regular updates, and the fact that I can track how each muscle set grows in strength (plus the Spotify Wrapped-alike end-of-year review is always fun).
BetterMe, in many ways, dwarfs Fitbod and other rivals in terms of its sheer scale. This Ukrainian app has existed for almost a decade, and it shows — it’s absolutely packed with features that run the gamut from food plans to guided challenges, and a more traditional way of using it as a digital notebook to track reps and weights.
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Workouts themselves are easy to follow, with rest stops between sets built into each program, along with warm-ups. You can also stream your workout info to your TV or Mac, which is a nice touch if you want a larger canvas for your metrics.
I also appreciate the “Common Mistakes” section. If you’ve not used a particular piece of gym equipment before, for example, this can highlight the best way to do so safely. For leg extension (one of my favorites, for example), it advised against heavy lifting, high reps, going too fast, or locking the knees.
If you are looking to use BetterMe without a membership, you can use many of the workout tracking tools without needing to pay anything, but you’ll have access to an encyclopedia of exercises if you want to pay for a one-week plan or above, like the paid tiers of many other fitness apps like Google Health Premium.
That’s where BetterMe’s ambitions will be tough to take for some: by incorporating so much under one umbrella, it’s fairly pricey, especially once you start adding additional options like Mindfulness to the standard plan framework that you can get for $14.99 (around £11 / AU$21) a month.
It’s also not always entirely clear how much each extra option will cost, because payment information is obfuscated in the app and on the BetterMe website. This is a design choice that, admittedly, makes me feel a little uneasy about using the app. There is, thankfully, a week’s free trial to test BetterMe.
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Value packing
(Image credit: BetterMe)
And yet, if I wanted a one-stop shop for fitness, this is where I’d lay my money. BetterMe offers calorie and hydration tracking, meal plans, meditation, and exercise guides.
It’s not uncommon for a fitness app to have a sort of ‘Dashboard’ view with key metrics, but BetterMe’s relatively minimal colors and visual stylings make it much easier to see a week’s worth of workouts at a glance.
One of my favorite parts is the way each day is mapped out like a sort of task list. It begins with mindfulness exercises, then logging calories, a workout, a weigh-in, water intake, and more.
I’m also a big fan of the workout categories. Some apps dump a whole bunch of exercises into a list and call it a day, but I appreciate that there are Micro Workouts for those days where time is limited, pilates plans (including wall variants), and more focused exercises like boxing, chair yoga, and kegel for sexual wellness.
Many of these can then be splintered off into specific muscle categories, meaning there’s a ton of value here for those who like to mix things up regularly and keep their body guessing.
There really is so much content here that, after weeks of testing, I’m still not sure I’ve seen the bottom yet. While I’m not entirely sure BetterMe is the workout app I’d choose given how many features I wouldn’t use regularly, if you’re looking for something that offers a mind-boggling all-in-one solution, it’s one of the slickest, most comprehensive fitness apps I’ve tested.
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