iStock
The products featured in this article have been independently reviewed. When you buy something through the retail links on this page, we may earn commission at no cost to you, the reader. The Sports Illustrated editorial team is not involved in the creation of this content. Learn more here.
Starting your fitness journey can be daunting. Whether you want to lose weight, get stronger or simply improve your overall health, having guidance and finding something you enjoy doing are key to reaching your goals. You can hire a personal trainer or join a boutique fitness studio, but those options are expensive. That’s why we’ve rounded up our picks for the best workout apps for beginners to jumpstart your wellness journey at a fraction of the cost of gyms or trainers.
There are tons of fitness apps to choose from. Working out at the gym? Weightlifting apps can give you guidance on form and technique. Is the great outdoors calling your name? Why not download an app to improve your running? The vast library of workout apps is ever expanding, with options for all fitness levels, goals, workout types, necessary equipment, instructional styles and budgets. Therefore, choosing the best workout app for your needs can be overwhelming. We have reviewed all of the top-rated fitness apps and chosen our picks for the best workout apps for beginners to help you reach your fitness goals.
Our Picks for the Best X:
Future
Key Features:
- Specialty: Individualized virtual personal training with a designated coach
- Price: $149/month, or prepaid membership plans, including three months for $405, six months for $760 and 12 months for $1,425
- Free Trial: No, but the first month is just $19
- Live Workout Classes: No
- Compatible Devices: Apple iOS, requires Apple Watch
Future is designed to be a virtual personal training app. Unlike many fitness apps, Future pairs each member to your own personal coach who helps manage not only your workouts themselves, but your day-to-day health. The coaches do all of the planning for you, helping subscribers set and achieve appropriate fitness and health goals, build momentum and find the motivation to make an exercise routine a consistent habit.
The customized training plan can be geared towards home workouts, gym workouts or even group exercise classes, depending on your personal preferences. One of the unique features of the Future workout app is its reliance and integration with cutting-edge fitness technology to better tailor your workouts and track your progress.
Future uses biometrics captured by the Apple Watch and iPhone to provide information to your coach, and users have access to a direct line to chat with your personal coach should questions arise. You can also listen to your own playlists or podcasts during your workouts.
When you sign up for Future, you’ll answer a questionnaire to get matched with the expert coach that best meets your personality needs and preferred instructional style. After you are matched with your coach, you do a “Strategy Call” via FaceTime to discuss your goals and preferences. Your coach makes a personalized training plan, which is adjusted in real time each week depending on how your workouts go, just as it would be should you be working with a personal trainer in person. You will get video messages from your coach and have the option to FaceTime periodically.
Although Future is quite expensive and only available for Apple iOs at this time, it’s as close as you can get to a personal trainer and is a great way to have a customized training plan and guided support by expert coaches.
Pros:
- Tons of coaches to choose from
- Truly individualized training
Cons:
- Expensive
- No Android app
- Requires Apple Watch for full functionality
Nike Training Club
Key Features:
- Specialty: Strength training workouts, but there are a variety of workouts to choose from
- Price: Free
- Live Workout Classes: No
- Compatible Devices: Apple iOS, Apple Watch and Android
The gym can be intimidating for beginners, particularly if you do not have a background in strength training and cannot afford the services of a private personal trainer. One of the best gym workout apps is Nike Training Club. It is not only instructional and well designed, but completely free with no hidden membership or subscription fees. Additionally, according to a study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, Nike Training Club was the second-best fitness app in terms of helping users meet the physical activity guidelines set forth by the American College of Sports Medicine.
When you download the Nike Training Club, you answer a couple of basic questions about how often you work out and your current fitness level. Then the app tailors your first recommended workouts based on your answers. There are nearly 400 different workouts in the app, ranging from 15 to 45 minutes, and new content added daily. Each workout is marked as Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced, so you can choose one based on the amount of time that you have and your current fitness level if you do not want to take on the suggested workout.
There is a wide variety of workouts, such as yoga, barre and stretching for those looking for low-intensity exercise, all the way up to HIIT, circuit training and strength training using dumbbells, kettlebells and other exercise equipment at the gym.
You definitely do not need to have a gym membership to use the Nike Training Club app because there are plenty of bodyweight and home workouts, but the guidance for weightlifting workouts at the gym is particularly well developed. The app definitely places a strong emphasis on building strength and muscle, which is ultimately why it’s one of the best gym workout apps. Buying a pair of adjustable dumbbells or kettlebells can enable you to do more of the workouts at home.
Although many of the strength training workouts are geared towards intermediate and advanced athletes, there are plenty of workouts for beginners and the app will grow with you in that as you become stronger and more experienced, the options to progress to more challenging workouts is right there at your fingertips.
All of the Nike Training Club workouts are designed by experienced personal trainers, and some are led by professional athletes and coaches. The workouts feature voice instructions that explain how to do every movement and provide specific form cues that will help you increase the effectiveness of the exercise. The fitness app is very easy to navigate with a simple interface.
One of the best features of the Nike Training Club App is the ability to create a custom training plan. The app prompts you to rate each workout once you’ve completed it, so that the next recommended workout meets your goals and preferences. You are also allowed to deviate from your customized training plan and target specific muscle groups or take on a particular type of workout on any given day. Overall, Nike Training Club is one of the best free strength training workout apps.
Pros:
- Free
- Great for building strength
- Easy to navigate
- New content added every week
- Customizable training plans and workout recommendations
Cons:
- No low-impact modifications for beginners for the more advanced workouts
- Many of the workouts require dumbbells or weights
- No diet support
- No live workouts
Johnson and Johnson
Key Features:
- Specialty: Short, intense workouts
- Price: Free
- Live Workout Classes: No
- Compatible Devices: Apple iOS, Apple Watch and Android
The Johnson & Johnson Official 7 Minute Workout® App is one of the most popular free workout apps. In fact, according to a study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, the Johnson & Johnson Official 7 Minute Workout App is the best workout app for helping users meet the physical activity guidelines set forth by the American College of Sports Medicine.
Created by Chris Jordan, Director of Exercise Physiology at the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute, the science-based workout app is designed to provide efficient workouts that require little to no equipment, making exercise more approachable for beginners or those with limited time and financial resources for a gym membership or expensive fitness equipment. In fact, all you need to do the workouts is a wall and a chair.
The app is designed to provide a free alternative to exercising with a personal trainer, providing both form guidance as well as motivation. Although there isn’t a huge library of workout videos and no live classes, it’s one of the best free workout apps for beginners because it has 72 high-definition video tutorials of exercises and 22 preset workouts that can be customized and modified. Each workout is easy to follow, safe and specifically chosen to be time efficient. Users can also create custom workouts targeting specific muscle groups, fitness goals or intensities. Most of the workouts feature HIIT style training, but there are low-intensity, low-impact options and modifications for beginners.
Instructor Chris Jordan leads each workout video and demonstrates each movement to ensure beginners fully understand the correct way to do each exercise. The workout variations can be tailored to all fitness levels, with the potential for over 1,000 different modifications.
There is also music in the app, a workout timer and a training log so you can keep track of your progress or even share your results and compete with friends via social media. Building social support around creating and maintaining a workout routine is one of the goals of the app. The fitness app will also send you workout and inactivity reminders to help you stick with your routine.
The Johnson & Johnson 7 Minute Workout App features the original seven minute workout, which, as the name describes, only takes seven minutes to complete. Additionally, there is a cool feature called Smart Workout. Smart Workout assesses your current fitness and motivation level and recommends different workout programs and the proper intensity. You can follow the Smart Workout recommendation, swap it out for another workout (ranging from seven to 32 minutes) or do the original seven-minute workout.
The Johnson & Johnson 7 Minute Workout App is available on Android and iOS devices including the Apple Watch. Your workouts can be tracked and uploaded to your iPhone Health App.
Pros:
- Free
- Workouts include warm up and cool down integrated into the video
- Helpful audio instructional exercise form tips
- Requires as little as seven minutes but there are a variety of workouts that range up to 32 minutes
- Excellent instructional workout videos
- Customizable workouts with Smart Workout recommendations
Cons:
- No diet support
- Fast transitions between exercises can be tricky for beginners
- Limited options for seven-minute workouts
- No live workouts
Sworkit
Key Features:
- Specialty: Customized workouts like having a virtual personal trainer
- Price: $59.99/year or $9.99/month
- Free Trial: Seven-day free trial
- Live Workout Classes: No
- Compatible Devices: Apple iOS, Android and website access
Sworkit is one of the top fitness apps due to the breadth of training programs and features it provides. The creators behind the app believe that the body is designed to move, and that making exercise simple and enjoyable is the best way to help beginners and experienced athletes alike stick with a training plan to meet their fitness goals. The intention is to help you create a sustainable fitness routine that represents more of a lifestyle change than a temporary intensive workout program.
Sworkit features over 500 different workouts and more than 900 exercises. The approach is designed to be personalized, so you can choose how long you have to work out, your current fitness level and your primary training goal (weight loss, building muscle, increasing endurance etc.). Then, the app will recommend specific workouts based on your goals and needs, which you can further customize as you see fit. You can also create and save your own custom workouts.
Sworkit also offers fitness and nutrition support with certified personal trainers available to answer your diet and exercise questions. “Ask a Trainer” gives subscribers one-on-one guidance from certified personal trainers, which is a unique feature even for most premium fitness apps. It’s also a great resource for beginners who don’t necessarily have the financial means for their own personal trainer. There are also monthly challenges, recommended fitness plans and daily workouts.
You can tailor your Sworkit workout plan towards various goals, including weight loss, building muscle, increasing endurance, improving flexibility, toning muscles or reducing pain. Sworkit training plans are easy to follow, and the website contains hundreds of positive customer testimonials and before-and-after pictures of weight loss and muscle growth after using the app.
One of the benefits of Sworkit is that there are tons of workouts that don’t require any equipment, so even if you don’t have a gym membership, you can do plenty of bodyweight home workouts without restrictions. The app also features super short and longer endurance options, allowing users to select a workout length ranging anywhere from one to 90 minutes. This is much more variability than is found in most fitness apps, and makes this app great for users of all fitness levels. If you’re a beginner who is just getting started on your fitness journey you can take quick workouts lasting just a couple of minutes. As your endurance improves, you can eventually work out for an hour and a half.
There is a lot of variety of workouts, from strength training, cardio, yoga, kettlebells, dumbbell workouts, circuit training, cycling, exercise for seniors, workouts for runners, gym workouts, stretching and calisthenics like push-ups, jumping jacks, squats and burpees.
In addition to being able to customize your workout time, you can also choose the length of time that each exercise will be performed, the length of the rest breaks in between movements, the specific exercises included in your routine (if you want to, although there are plenty of preset workouts), the intensity level and the type of instructional cues as well as the actual voice of the trainer who will coach you through the workout. In this way, Sworkit is probably the best workout app for customized and personalized training.
Another nice feature is that if you are going to be exercising in an area where you will not have Wi-Fi or availability to connect online, there are off-line workout videos you can access at any time. There is also a robust online community for social support, a help center if you have any questions and community perks for subscribers such as live video sessions with the personal trainers and fitness tips to help you stay on track towards your goals. New workouts are added routinely to keep your training from feeling stale, and you can adjust your training plan at any time if you decide that you have a new fitness goal that is more important to you or if you sustain an injury.
Although Sworkit is not free, the subscription fees are reasonable given all of the functions of the app, making it a good value overall. You can purchase an annual subscription for $59.99 or a monthly subscription for $9.99. Sworkit also offers a risk-free seven-day trial. Sworkit workouts can be accessed on the mobile app for iPhone or Android, and there is a web-based option as well.
Pros:
- Can target your workout program to different fitness goals
- New workouts added weekly to keep your routine fresh
- Free seven-day trial
- One-on-one support to ask diet and fitness questions to expert trainers
- Offline workouts as well
- Wide range of workout lengths and types of exercise
Cons:
- No live classes in the app
- Membership fees are somewhat high
AloMoves
Key Features:
- Specialty: Yoga classes
- Other Features: Some fitness classes, guided meditations and yoga skills
- Price: Alo Moves offers two types of subscriptions: Monthly subscription is $20/month. Annual subscription is $199/year (on sale now for $99.50/year).
- Free Trial: 14-day free trial
- Live Workout Classes: Yes, but only when accessing the Alo Moves website using a computer, the Apple iOs iPhone/iPad mobile app has on-demand workout videos only
- Compatible Devices: Alo Moves website, Apple iOS, no Android app, can watch on-demand content on Apple TV
Alo Moves specializes in yoga classes, but there are also general fitness classes, guided meditations, skills and a “set your intention” section. For fitness classes, Alo Moves subscribers can choose from sculpt, barre, core, HIIT, pilates, stretching, strength and walking workouts. The mindfulness section of the app includes guided meditation, breathwork exercises, personal growth video lessons, sound bath healing, yoga Nidra and reiki. The “skills” section of the app focuses on instructional lessons and video demonstrations of essential yoga poses for beginners. Finally, the “set your intention” section of Alo Moves has guided meditations for goals like getting more sleep, improving self-care, calming your mind and boosting your mood.
At its core, Alo Moves is a yoga app, so the selection of yoga classes is the most robust part of the app. Subscribers can take a variety of different types of yoga classes, including Hatha, Ashtanga, Kundalini, Vinyasa, Restorative, Prenatal yoga and Kids Yoga.
Whether you’re taking a yoga class, general fitness class or interested in being led through a guided meditation, you can sort the library of on-demand workouts by workout type, duration, difficulty (beginner, moderate, intermediate or advanced) and intensity level (from one to four). Intensity differs from difficulty in that it is less about the necessary skills and expertise and refers more to the necessary exertion level. A level one intensity workout will be gentle, such as a restorative yoga class or flexibility routine, whereas a level four intensity workout will be along the lines of a vigorous HIIT class.
There are several ways to access the Alo Moves content. The Alo Moves website on a desktop or laptop is where you’ll have the best access because it’s the only format where you can steam live yoga classes. There is also an iOS app for iPhones, iPads and Apple TV, but you can only watch on-demand workout classes on mobile devices. There are also ways to cast on-demand workout videos to other smart TVs. Unfortunately, there is no Android app at this time.
One of the newer features of the app is that when you’re using the online site, you can create and follow yours and your friend’s personalized playlists to listen to while you work out.
A nice feature of Alo Moves is that in addition to having over 60 world-class instructors and more than 2,500 different workouts to choose from, the app provides personalized recommendations that help you meet your wellness goals. Plus, new classes are added each week to help keep your workout routine feeling fresh.
Overall, if the main type of fitness you are interested in is yoga, Alo Moves is definitely one of the best workout apps for beginners.
Pros:
- Over 60 world-class yoga instructors
- More than 2,500 yoga classes to choose from as well as a variety of workouts of other types
- Can stream on Apple TV
- Video library of yoga skills for beginners
- Live workouts for members if you stream on a desktop or laptop
Cons:
- Expensive
- No Android app
- No live classes in the app
- Not great for general fitness other than yoga, though there are some other fitness classes
Strava
Key Features:
- Specialty: GPS running, walking and cycling tracking
- Price: Free version and Premium version ($6.67/month)
- Free Trial: 30-day free trial of Premium version
- Live Workout Classes: No
- Compatible Devices: Apple iOS, Apple Watch and Android
Strava is one of the best running apps, and it also offers tracking for other outdoor exercises. Although Strava is best known for its GPS tracking for outdoor running and cycling, there are actually over 30 different types of exercise you can track with Strava, such as rowing, hiking, canoeing, E-Bike riding, yoga, alpine skiing, swimming, stand-up paddleboarding, CrossFit, elliptical and weight lifting.
Strava offers a free version and a paid subscription, Strava Premium, that has additional features such as a Route tool, which provides suggestions of where to run based on where other runners in your area have tracked their runs. Strava Premium also offers segments (where you can see your time for specific portions of routes and compete with others to get the best time), advanced performance metrics like cadence as well as detailed training plans for runners, walkers and cyclists. There are also safety features like Strava Beacon, which can provide your live location to family or friends in the case of an emergency.
One of the benefits of Strava is that it supports a variety of running trackers, such as the Apple Watch, Garmin GPS watches, Wear OS devices and even certain fitness equipment for indoor workouts, making it super easy to track and upload your workout data.
In-depth reviews that have compared the Strava GPS support versus other outdoor running apps have found that Strava provides a consistent, reliable GPS signal. There is also a large social community where you can find your Facebook friends or other contacts and create a feed to see all of your friends’ activities. You can send “kudos“ to one another and comment on your friends’ workouts. Ultimately, if you are going to be doing a lot of outdoor running or cycling, Strava is one of the best workout apps to consider. Start with the free version and if you find that we want the additional functions and features offered by the premium plan, you can upgrade your prescription at any time.
Pros:
- Lots of social support features and online community engagement
- Strong GPS signal and accurate outdoor workout tracking
- Free and paid version
- Training plans in the Premium version
Cons:
- No live classes, instructions or workouts to follow
- Advanced features only available in the premium version
- Uses a lot of battery life while in use
How to Choose the Best Workout App for You as a Beginner
Workout apps can be a fantastic resource for beginners as you start your fitness journey. Using a workout app can make your workouts more engaging, and will take the guesswork out of what exercises to do and how long to perform each movement or how many reps you should complete for an effective workout that is targeted towards your specific fitness goals. The best beginner-friendly workout apps will not only provide this type of structure and guidance, but also have informative, engaging and motivating trainers or instructors leading the workouts, helping you learn how to master the proper form and technique for each movement. Many beginners do not have the financial means or comfort level necessary to work with a personal trainer, and they feel too self-conscious to take a group exercise class. Using a beginner home workout app, or even a gym workout app, where the instructor demonstrates how to perform each exercise and gives technique cues as you go, can be a budget-friendly, comfortable way to familiarize yourself with working out.
Choosing the best workout app for beginners involves considering several factors, as each fitness app will provide a somewhat different balance of each of these:
Type of workouts offered
The most basic, yet the most important, consideration when choosing the best workout app for beginners is the types of exercise and the style of workouts that the app offers. You need to consider what type of exercise you enjoy and whether or not this is offered in the fitness app.
For example, are you mostly interested in yoga? If so, it typically makes sense to hone in on yoga-focused workout apps. Do you need guidance with strength training? Indoor cycling? Running outdoors?
There are workout apps geared specifically towards each type of exercise, but there are also plenty of workout apps, such as Sworkit that feature all nearly types of exercise. If you plan on doing a variety of workouts, these “jack-of-all-trades” apps can be a better value. However, if you’re mostly keen on doing a particular type of exercise, you can often find better instruction and app features in workout apps geared specifically towards that type of exercise.
Training style
Along the same lines as the type of exercise the app provides is the style of training offered.
For example, some workout apps have a specific niche, such as high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or super short workouts for busy people, such as the 7 Minute Workout App.
Other fitness apps focus on low-intensity exercise or accumulating physical activity over the course of your day, such as trying to get in more steps with daily walking.
Choosing a fitness app based on the amount of time you intend to exercise or the style of training that best matches your interests and needs will help ensure that the workouts offered will fit well into your lifestyle.
Necessary equipment
It’s also important to consider whether you will primarily be doing home workouts or gym workouts, as this will probably impact the space and exercise equipment you have available unless you have a robust home or garage gym.
Some workout apps are designed for at-home workouts, so they feature workouts that require little to no exercise equipment. You might do bodyweight-only workouts, or the workout might require only basic fitness gear essentials, like an exercise mat, resistance bands or a set of adjustable dumbbells. Although bodyweight workouts are often a great starting place for beginners, if you plan to do at-home workouts regularly, it’s often a good idea to invest in a few pieces of exercise equipment like a set of resistance bands or adjustable dumbbells. Depending on your primary fitness goals, space and budget, having a cardio exercise machine can also be extremely beneficial—as it will permit at-home cardio workouts—but it’s certainly not required.
Most workout apps have plenty of workouts that require no equipment, focusing instead on heart-pumping cardio exercises such as jumping jacks and burpees.
If you plan to exercise at the gym, choosing a gym workout app will allow you to make better use of all the available exercise equipment, such as weight machines, full sets of dumbbells, suspension trainers, medicine balls, cable machines, barbells, squat racks and kettlebells. Beginner gym workout apps help familiarize yourself with the exercise equipment and will help you safely progress your strength training workouts as you build fitness.
One of the benefits of using a gym workout app for beginners is that the app can help get you started with a sustainable workout routine at the gym that you can continue on even if you choose to stop subscribing to the app. Essentially, you can use the fitness app as a virtual personal trainer to teach you an exercise routine you can readily replicate on your own once you feel confident with the equipment and how to structure effective workouts.
Instruction provided
The best workout apps for beginners provide plenty of instruction so that you know how to properly perform each movement.
The quality of the trainers or coaches matters. The instructors should have certifications and qualifications, and should take the time to explain or demonstrate movements during the workout class and provide form cues while you are supposed to be following along doing the exercise at home as you use the app.
It’s also important to consider what type of coaching style suits you best. Do you like a motivating trainer who provides positive words of encouragement? Do you like a no nonsense coach who has high expectations and keeps you on task? Do you like a social fitness instructor who tells stories and anecdotes during the work out to help distract you from the challenging exercise you are doing?
Some apps use one personal trainer exclusively, other apps allow you to pick workouts with trainers you like.
You can usually get a sense of the instructional and coaching style of the trainers in a workout app by reading reviews or testing the app if a free trial is offered. Finding a good match between the coaching style and your personality type can make you more motivated to work out and may improve your exercise adherence, enjoyment and how much you learn about not only exercise, but yourself as a person in your fitness journey.
App features and functions
As with any type of app, the features and functions of a workout app determine its value, use ability and appropriateness for your fitness goals and needs.
Some basic workout apps are not much more than a digital fitness log that will automatically track your workouts if you are using a compatible fitness tracker, such as an Apple Watch or Fitbit, or holding your smartphone with the GPS engaged while you run outdoors.
More comprehensive fitness or weight loss apps provide on-demand or even live workout classes that you can stream from your own home or at the gym. You can typically sort the library of on-demand exercises classes based on the length of the workout, your fitness level, the type of exercise (for example treadmill running, indoor cycling, bootcamp, HIIT, yoga, barre, boxing, Pilates or strength training), required equipment to perform the exercises in the workout and sometimes even the type of music or the instructor who will lead the workout class.
Being able to sort and choose exercise classes from a large catalog of options will not only help you find classes that interest you and are suitable for your experience level, but will also help prevent needing to repeat the same classes over and over simply due to a lack of options. The more variety you can add into your fitness routine, in terms of the types of exercise you perform and the intensity level in which you move your body, the more well-rounded your fitness level will be.
Finally, some workout apps have additional features such as guided meditations, meal planning sections, a workout planner to schedule classes to increase accountability, workout plans targeted to specific goals (weight loss, building muscle, reducing stress etc.), push notifications to remind you about your upcoming workouts or to move your body after a period of extended inactivity and educational sections. Some fitness apps also have social support with active online communities where you can connect with other app users to share tips, ask questions, build a support system and share achievements. There are also fitness apps that allow you to use your own playlists.
Depending on your experience level and the amount of guidance you are seeking in your fitness and health journey, these types of specialized features may be more or less important to you.
Cost
The cost for workout apps runs the gamut from completely free workout apps to premium workout apps with high monthly membership fees.
As with most things, you typically get what you pay for when it comes to fitness apps. Although there are plenty of good free workout apps, most are fairly simple, and may only record workout metrics or will be ad-sponsored, so you will constantly be having to close out pop-ups during your workout. Free workout apps typically do not have much in the way of an extensive library of on demand workout classes that you can stream, workout builder tools that help you design a fitness plan or instructional guidance to help beginners learn how to properly perform exercises.
Premium workout apps can be costly, but are still typically a good value, especially when you consider the cost savings for using an at-home workout app instead of buying a gym membership or using a gym workout app instead of paying for a personal trainer.
Some premium workout apps offer both on demand and live workout classes. If you like the extra motivation and accountability of being in a live setting, it’s often worth it to pay more for the fitness apps that offer this feature. Some also provide nutritional guidance and/or meal tracking. These can be a good option if you’re trying to lose weight.
Most premium fitness apps offer a free trial, which may be anywhere from seven to 30 days so that you can test out the workout classes and familiarize yourself with the features and interface of the app to make sure it is a good fit for you. Take advantage of free trials. Like trying on new clothes, a workout app free trial will help you get a sense of whether the style of the workout classes is what you’re looking for and if you like how the app works in general.
Some of the best workout apps may cost upwards of $15-$30 per month, depending on the functions and features offered by the app. You can often save some money by buying an annual fitness app subscription rather than paying on a month to month basis. However, beginners are encouraged to test out the app, at least through a free trial if not a whole month, before paying for an annual subscription to help ensure that it is the best workout app for your needs.
How We Chose the Best Workout Apps for Beginners
In our own process of choosing the best workout apps for beginners, we considered all of the above mentioned important factors that impact the effectiveness and value of any fitness app. One of the primary characteristics we focused on was the quality of the workout classes offered and the instructional and motivational support provided for beginners. We considered the intended audience for the app—beginners, advanced athletes, people looking for a holistic approach to health, yoga classes etc.— to ensure that it was one of the best workout apps for beginners. Within that, we considered the range of workouts provided, the quality of the instructors, the other features of the app such as weight loss support or fitness tips and user reviews. Our goal was to find workout apps for beginners that fit different common niches, such as the need for a good free workout app, workouts for busy folks and workouts for beginners who prefer to exercise outdoors.
Finally, we considered the cost of the app and weighed the price and subscription fees relative to the functions provided by the app to assess whether the workout app was a good value.
FAQs
How long should I work out as a beginner?
There is no “right” or “wrong” amount of time to work out as a beginner. The intensity of your workout will significantly affect how long you should (and can!) work out. For example, if you are doing low-intensity exercise like walking or yoga, your workouts can be much longer than if you’re doing vigorous exercise like running, high-intensity interval training or strength training with heavy weights.
In general, it’s best to start with shorter, more gentle workouts and then you can gradually increase the duration and intensity as your fitness and strength improve. Even just 10 minutes per day can be a great start for beginners. As your endurance improves, you can extend your workouts to 20-30 minutes or more, depending on the type of exercise you are doing and how many times per week you are working out.
What happens if you work out at home every day for 30 minutes?
A workout routine that involves working out at home every day for 30 minutes can be a fantastic way to improve your health and reduce your risk of lifestyle diseases such as heart disease, hypertension, obesity, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. To reduce your risk of such diseases, the American College of Sports Medicine and the British Heart Foundation recommend getting 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise per week. If your home workout routine involves working out for 30 minutes a day five days per week, you can meet these physical activity guidelines.
There are other physical and mental health benefits you may also enjoy from daily 30 minute home workouts, such as weight management, improved cardiovascular fitness, greater muscular strength, decreased stress and better sleep.
Can beginners exercise every day?
According to the National Center for Health Research if you’re new to working out or haven’t been very active, it’s a good idea to start exercising at a low intensity, then slowly increase the amount and intensity of exercise each week. Starting your exercise routine off slowly, but consistently can help reduce the risk of injury or burnout. It’s recommended that adults get 150 minutes of physical activity each week, which can be split up into 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week or even smaller chunks of time.
Final Thoughts
Overall, there are tons of fitness apps to choose from, some of which are geared towards specific types of exercise like yoga or running while others take a more comprehensive approach and offer all different types of exercise and styles of workouts. Choosing the best workout apps involves considering your fitness level, the type of exercise support you are looking for (live or on-demand workout classes, workout tracking, motivation, social support etc.), your available time to work out, where you plan to work out and your budget. Test driving workout apps by signing up for free trials can help you get a sense of whether the app is a good fit for you.
Prices are accurate and items in stock as of publish time.
