The Best Free Workout Apps of 2026
They all make progressive overload visible – you can see what you lifted last session and aim to beat it. They log your training history so you can verify you’re actually getting stronger over weeks and months. And they keep the logging process fast enough that you’ll actually use them consistently instead of abandoning them after two workouts. FitNotes gives you completely free workout logging with zero ads and no premium upsells. The app includes a massive exercise database covering every common lift and bodyweight movement.
All of its features are free, making it one of the best free workout apps on mobile. As a certified personal trainer and expert product reviewer, I tend to be tough on online workout programs but I could find very few faults with the Caliber Strength Training App. What I love about it is it stresses fitness fundamentals such as progressive overload, energy balance, flexible nutrition, and the importance of rest periods. There are hundreds of on-demand classes to choose from but only 14 different training programs on the app. These plans are more than just workouts—they come with some great information, health tips, and recipes. Unfortunately, these are not personalized training plans so if you are looking for a trainer-led plan, you may be disappointed.
How We Picked And Tested The Best Weightlifting Apps
Whether you’re looking for the best workout apps to keep you motivated—or the ones that can help you start a new fitness routine from scratch—there are tons of great options out there. But there are so many options that trying to pick one can seem just a little bit daunting. All workout apps in this article cost between $10 and $20 per month — that’s likely cheaper than most fitness classes in a studio. You also get unlimited access to your workouts in the apps, so you can take as many classes or workouts as you want. Since the focus is on building strength, SBTD has a section where you can input your weights and reps neatly.
She does recommend it for others, though, even if you’re not someone who has Barre or dancing experience (though she would’ve preferred a bit more dancing incorporated into the workouts). But, the programs lack an educational aspect and assume people know the intricacies of powerlifting programming. The coaches try to answer as many questions as possible on the social media platforms, but there are some that go unaddressed. Our team has tried and researched dozens of workout programs, but not all of them were able to make our “best of” list. That’s not to say they were bad, and we’re sure a few people out there would enjoy giving them a shot. While we haven’t tested out this running app, a first glance shows it has tons of features to keep you motivated for your next workout.
Best Online Workout Programs in 2026
If you’re a beginner looking for the basics, you’re in good hands. With meal plans, mindfulness exercises, and that all-important Daily Readiness Score, Fitbit Premium is an easy recommendation for Fitbit users looking to take their fitness to the next level. The best fitness apps can help you take control of your health and fitness, elevating your exercise and improving your wellbeing, maybe even for the first time. This goes without saying, but you prob want to avoid workout apps with terrible reviews. Browse reviews on Google Play or the App Store to get an in-depth view of what reviewers think about the app. Try this free app made to provide you with baby-got-back butt workouts.
How to choose the best fitness app for you
- Clear goals can also help you stay motivated and measure your success over time.
- The new FitOn App lets you train beside the rich and famous with personalized video sessions led by celeb trainers and A-listers.
- Simple workout logger, notepad feature to record additional details about your workout.
- Caliber earns a 5-out-of-5-star rating for the value category for two reasons.
- Dr. Muscle app has been declared the victor, scoring a remarkable 48 out of 50.
- The free tier is genuinely limited (3 workouts total, not per week), but worth trying to evaluate if the subscription is right for you.
This fitness and nutrition program aims to provide a personal trainer that you can take anywhere with you through an app. What I like about the app is that you get personal training and fully customizable nutrition plans tied to your goals. The nutrition plan is just that, a plan with meals you can create with the recipes they provide (no meals will be delivered to your home). Not only that, there is a ton of variety with iFIT, earning it a 5-star rating for this category. You’ll have access to machine-specific workouts and strength training, circuit training, yoga, and Pilates. In our original iFIT reviews, the app featured more than 16,000 on-demand workouts, with tons of new options added since then.
Running Events
If you’re an outdoors person, especially runs and rides, Strava is the perfect app for you. Use our quick round-up below to immediately find an app that fits your needs – and you can read more about it by jumping to our full write-ups and explanations using the links. Lloyd Coombes is a freelance contributor from Essex, UK, with a passion for fitness and tech. He can be seen at TechRadar, iMore, Live Science and more on a regular basis, and enjoys weightlifting and middle-distance running. Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.
Kick-Start Your Health Goals with Flex Fitness
Nike Training Club (NTC) is a powerhouse fitness app offering 200+ free workouts ranging from strength and endurance to mobility and yoga. FitOn, 7 Minute Workout, and Adidas Training are perfect for beginners working out at home. Caliber has gained madmuscles scam massive praise on platforms like Reddit for offering science-backed strength training plans—with no strings attached. It’s like having a digital workout diary in your pocket, streamlining your gym experience. While Strong excels in usability, it’s more suited for those who already have a grip on their gym routine, as it doesn’t hand-hold beginners with workout plans and guidance. All 190+ workouts and training programs are accessible without any subscription or payment.
Dr. Muscle: The AI Workout App With 27+ Features You Won’t Find Anywhere Else
While ClassPass primarily offers paid memberships for in‑studio and on‑demand classes, you can explore their free trial to see what’s available. For truly free workouts at home, there are plenty of apps that let you stream or follow classes without entering any payment info. Not only is it free, but you can interact with other members, share completed workouts, and receive/give encouragement from people on similar fitness journeys.
Caliber also has a live community for motivation and support within the app. If you’re looking for extra support, you can upgrade to one of Caliber’s coaching programs that start at $19 per month with a free trial. However, Senior Editor for Garage Gym Reviews, Kate Meier, followed the classroom training option for months at a time in various CrossFit gyms. Street Parking does provide alternate workouts based on equipment access.
Tracking Progress
The Sweat app has tons of progressive programs designed for women by women. We’re fans of Stephanie Sanzo’s Strength & Resistance program, which is a full-body weightlifting program. You’ll typically need a gym membership or a pretty well-stocked home gym to complete it — but there are a bunch of at-home programs with less equipment needed to choose from, too.
You’ll get to choose from your favorite workouts, and each routine will even come with a video tutorial and step-by-step instructions, so you know you’ll be nailing all your forms perfectly. In-person training is often more effective because it’s harder to ignore a real person than it is a notification on your phone. If you’re someone who’s motivated to work out, then an online workout program can help you attain your fitness goals. P90X is an at-home workout that combines weightlifting, bodyweight exercises, HIIT, and cardio all in one.
Building muscle requires consistency, progressive overload, and intelligent programming. While the core principles of hypertrophy haven’t changed, technology now offers powerful tools to apply them effectively. The right application can serve as a personal trainer in your pocket, meticulously guiding your sets, reps, and recovery to ensure you are constantly challenging your body to grow. Nike may have beaten them to it, but adidas was hot on their heels when they launched adidas Training in 2015. Released alongside their running app, this one focuses on strength training, HIIT, and cardio workouts, alongside some yoga and dance options.
Best Free Weightlifting App: Hevy
While the premium option can give you special features like premium music options to spice up your playlist, personalized meal plans, and offline downloads to workouts, the bulk of the app is free. When choosing a plan, you can easily filter the programs based on your training goals, experience level, desired number of days per week, and equipment access. Caliber Strength Training is a fitness coaching program grounded in scientific principles designed to increase strength and improve body composition. The app offers both group and individual training plans which are written and modified by a certified coach based on progress. The platform excels at providing guided, motivational sessions that feel like a premium studio class. For individuals building a foundational level of strength or seeking variety, the multi-week strength programs offer a clear path and structure.
Final Thoughts: No Subscription, No Excuses
The program is really effective in that it helps you lose fat while building lean muscle to get a toned physique. The problem is P90X hasn’t kept up with the times, and it’s still only available as a DVD set. For those new to workout programs, Aaptiv is a great option, with nearly all of the workouts on the app having audio-only programs.
Posted: May 15, 2026 7:28 am
According to Agung Rai
“The concept of taksu is important to the Balinese, in fact to any artist. I do not think one can simply plan to paint a beautiful painting, a perfect painting.”
The issue of taksu is also one of honesty, for the artist and the viewer. An artist will follow his heart or instinct, and will not care what other people think. A painting that has a magic does not need to be elaborated upon, the painting alone speaks.
A work of art that is difficult to describe in words has to be seen with the eyes and a heart that is open and not influenced by the name of the painter. In this honesty, there is a purity in the connection between the viewer and the viewed.
As a through discussion of Balinese and Indonesian arts is beyond the scope of this catalogue, the reader is referred to the books listed in the bibliography. The following descriptions of painters styles are intended as a brief introduction to the paintings in the catalogue, which were selected using several criteria. Each is what Agung Rai considers to be an exceptional work by a particular artist, is a singular example of a given period, school or style, and contributes to a broader understanding of the development of Balinese and Indonesian paintng. The Pita Maha artist society was established in 1936 by Cokorda Gde Agung Sukawati, a royal patron of the arts in Ubud, and two European artists, the Dutch painter Rudolf Bonnet, and Walter Spies, a German. The society’s stated purpose was to support artists and craftsmen work in various media and style, who were encouraged to experiment with Western materials and theories of anatomy, and perspective.
The society sought to ensure high quality works from its members, and exhibitions of the finest works were held in Indonesia and abroad. The society ceased to be active after the onset of World War II. Paintings by several Pita Maha members are included in the catalogue, among them; Ida Bagus Made noted especially for his paintings of Balinese religious and mystical themes; and Anak Agung Gde Raka Turas, whose underwater seascapes have been an inspiration for many younger painters.
Painters from the village of Batuan, south of Ubud, have been known since the 1930s for their dense, immensely detailed paintings of Balinese ceremonies, daily life, and increasingly, “modern” Bali. In the past the artists used tempera paints; since the introduction of Western artists materials, watercolors and acrylics have become popular. The paintings are produced by applying many thin layers of paint to a shaded ink drawing. The palette tends to be dark, and the composition crowded, with innumerable details and a somewhat flattened perspective. Batuan painters represented in the catalogue are Ida Bagus Widja, whose paintings of Balinese scenes encompass the sacred as well as the mundane; and I Wayan Bendi whose paintings of the collision of Balinese and Western cultures abound in entertaining, sharply observed vignettes.
In the early 1960s,Arie Smit, a Dutch-born painter, began inviting he children of Penestanan, Ubud, to come and experiment with bright oil paints in his Ubud studio. The eventually developed the Young Artists style, distinguished by the used of brilliant colors, a graphic quality in which shadow and perspective play little part, and focus on scenes and activities from every day life in Bali. I Ketut Tagen is the only Young Artist in the catalogue; he explores new ways of rendering scenes of Balinese life while remaining grounded in the Young Artists strong sense of color and design.
The painters called “academic artists” from Bali and other parts of Indonesia are, in fact, a diverse group almost all of whom share the experience of having received training at Indonesian or foreign institutes of fine arts. A number of artists who come of age before Indonesian independence was declared in 1945 never had formal instruction at art academies, but studied painting on their own. Many of them eventually become instructors at Indonesian institutions. A number of younger academic artists in the catalogue studied with the older painters whose work appears here as well. In Bali the role of the art academy is relatively minor, while in Java academic paintings is more highly developed than any indigenous or traditional styles. The academic painters have mastered Western techniques, and have studied the different modern art movements in the West; their works is often influenced by surrealism, pointillism, cubism, or abstract expressionism. Painters in Indonesia are trying to establish a clear nation of what “modern Indonesian art” is, and turn to Indonesian cultural themes for subject matter. The range of styles is extensive Among the artists are Affandi, a West Javanese whose expressionistic renderings of Balinese scenes are internationally known; Dullah, a Central Javanese recognized for his realist paintings; Nyoman Gunarsa, a Balinese who creates distinctively Balinese expressionist paintings with traditional shadow puppet motifs; Made Wianta, whose abstract pointillism sets him apart from other Indonesian painters.
Since the late 1920s, Bali has attracted Western artists as short and long term residents. Most were formally trained at European academies, and their paintings reflect many Western artistic traditions. Some of these artists have played instrumental roles in the development of Balinese painting over the years, through their support and encouragement of local artist. The contributions of Rudolf Bonnet and Arie Smit have already been mentioned. Among other European artists whose particular visions of Bali continue to be admired are Willem Gerrad Hofker, whose paintings of Balinese in traditional dress are skillfully rendered studies of drapery, light and shadow; Carel Lodewijk Dake, Jr., whose moody paintings of temples capture the atmosphere of Balinese sacred spaces; and Adrien Jean Le Mayeur, known for his languid portraits of Balinese women.
Agung Rai feels that
Art is very private matter. It depends on what is displayed, and the spiritual connection between the work and the person looking at it. People have their own opinions, they may or may not agree with my perceptions.
He would like to encourage visitors to learn about Balinese and Indonesian art, ant to allow themselves to establish the “purity in the connection” that he describes. He hopes that his collection will de considered a resource to be actively studied, rather than simply passively appreciated, and that it will be enjoyed by artists, scholars, visitors, students, and schoolchildren from Indonesia as well as from abroad.
Abby C. Ruddick, Phd
“SELECTED PAINTINGS FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE AGUNG RAI FINE ART GALLERY”
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