We’ll email you 1-3 times per week—and never share your information. At $149.99/year, it’s easily the most expensive app I tested—twice the price of Strava. I can totally see the price being worth it, though, especially if you have a home gym or a cheap gym membership.
Why is Google Fit better than Strava Running and Cycling?
If you want more than just workouts, the Alo Moves app has a plethora of mindfulness and wellness classes, from breathwork and meditation to Reiki and nutrition. The app really shines, though, if you use a Peloton bike or treadmill, since the classes are centered around that equipment. You can definitely fire up a class on your phone or iPad at the gym, but using Peloton’s actual hardware makes things easier. The app is a pretty great deal at just $14.99/month, but if you want the best value, buy a year for just $89.99, which will save you 50% compared to paying month-to-month. From November 2022 there was a dramatic increase in people complaining about the price and the features which negatively impacted their score. Customers are saying that they are having issues with the app not pairing with their Garmin devices.
Strava has unexpectedly withdrawn its lawsuit against Garmin, which accused the GPS giant of infringing patents related to segments and heatmaps. Reports suggest the decision was driven by fears of harming its most important partnership and potential backlash from Garmin’s strong legal record. The website is really a labor of love, so please consider becoming a DC RAINMAKER Supporter. This gets you an ad-free experience, and access to our (mostly) bi-monthly behind-the-scenes video series of “Shed Talkin’”.
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Simultaneously, your Fatigue accumulates faster, which leads to a decline in form. However, if you back down, Fatigue drops quickly, while Fitness is largely maintained during the recovery week. Conceptually, your Fatigue score is easier to understand—we all know that achy-legs-on-the-stairs feeling that limits our performance. Fatigue is modeled the same way as Fitness, mad muscles scam but on a shorter timescale.
Based on which you choose, the app will put together a running program for you. If I were new to running, this is exactly the kind of experience I would hope for. Runkeeper makes running feel attainable, no matter what progress looks like to you. I also liked that you can tell the app what kind of running https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lhy38bET3Q shoes you wear, and it’ll tell you how many miles you’ll get out of them before needing to replace them.
Your route
Another factor to consider when choosing a fitness app is its compatibility with wearable devices and integration with other apps. Strava seamlessly integrates with a wide range of popular wearable devices such as Garmin, Fitbit, and Apple Watch. This allows you to sync your workouts effortlessly and track your progress in one place. While other fitness apps may have social features as well, they often don’t have the same level of engagement as Strava’s community. Once you’re set up in the app, you can explore the communities, browse pre-made routes near you, make your own routes, or integrate Strava with any fitness trackers you’re using. If anything is unclear, Strava has detailed support articles explaining how to use all of the features.
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Once you upgrade to Runkeeper Go, you receive an individualized approach to your workouts. Runkeeper premium version crafts an individualized training plan to help you reach desired goals. Also, the app provides real-time feedback and in-depth statistics, so you can learn from your past runs. You can see the map of each workout (for privacy, you can hide your home address). This allows you and other Strava users to get inspired by sharing each other’s running locations and exploring the same routes as other runners. NRC offers four training plans that range from a four-week “just getting started” plan all the way to a 16-week marathon training plan.
The best fitness apps at a glance
This constant inspiration from fellow athletes motivates on days when you’d rather skip training. This gamification transforms ordinary training into competitive experiences. I’ve pushed harder on climbs just to improve segment rankings – it’s incredibly motivating, though sometimes I wonder if I focus more on leaderboards than actual training goals. AS YOU’VE SCROLLED through social media, you’ve probably come across a screenshot of someone’s morning run or bike ride, orange squiggles mapped across a neighborhood or national park.
- Check out our chart below, though, for further details on each service’s offerings.
- The activity feed works like social media, but instead of food photos, you see epic mountain bike rides and marathon training runs.
- And when you’re at the end of your adventure, the big orange stop button is easy to find.
- So let me explain what Strava offers that other running apps do not, and I’ll cover all the pros and cons so you can decide for yourself whether you’d like to join me.
- There are also guided runs available on NRC, with a coach offering tips throughout the run, although this is available only if you start your run directly in the app.
- All of the activity tracking features are available on Strava’s free version, but Strava Premium is where the app elevates itself with in-depth training plans, custom route building, group challenges, and more.
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Free vs. Premium: What You Get
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Competitive Runners and Cyclists Athletes focused on performance improvement will love the detailed analytics, segment challenges, and progress tracking. Outstanding Community Engagement The social features genuinely work. Seeing friends’ activities, giving kudos, and competing on segments creates real motivation. I’ve maintained consistent training partly due to social accountability. The social aspect of Strava is where the app separates itself from other GPS-based activity logs.
Side-by-side comparisons with dedicated GPS devices show minimal variance. You can identify training patterns, spot improvement areas, and track progress toward specific goals. The data visualization is clean and intuitive, making complex metrics accessible at all levels. You’ve seen the maps filled with orange squiggles on your friends’ social media feeds. As far as compatibility, Strava is supported by a range of fitness wearables including Garmin, Fitbit, Wahoo, and Polar, among others.
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Apple Fitness+ App
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All of the apps are free to download (although many require in-app purchases and subscriptions to unlock all their features), so it’s worth your time to check them out. Strength Training Focused Athletes While Strava tracks gym workouts, dedicated weightlifting apps offer superior exercise logging and progression tracking. Social Athletes If community motivation and accountability help your training, Strava’s social features are unmatched.
To get started, browse through dozens of certified trainers to choose one that best fits your goals and need. From there, your Future Coach creates weekly, highly personalized training programs just for you, and https://www.youtube.com/@madmuscles259 adapts them whenever you need. The in-app chat feature allows users to communicate with trainers on the fly. The free version provides substantial functionality including GPS tracking, basic analytics, segment challenges, and full social features.
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If you’re overwhelmed by the number of fitness apps on the market, you’re not alone. There are seemingly a bajillion fitness apps available, and from logging your personal bests to tracking your pickleball wins, each has its own niche. Strava now boasts an advanced collection of heatmaps that help users – particularly runners – to find and plan routes that are popular, safer, more interesting and so on at different times of the day and year. It filed its patents for heatmaps in 2014 and 2016, which were issued in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
But the privacy issues only exist because Strava has social and mapping features; and the social and mapping features are the best part of Strava. Do I think Strava is a good company doing nothing but responsible things? But I’ve adjusted my privacy settings, and I’m having fun with the app, working my way up the segment leaderboards and using its route-finding tools when I travel. So let me explain what Strava offers that other running apps do not, and I’ll cover all the pros and cons so you can decide for yourself whether you’d like to join me. For free users, I’d say there’s little data crunching beyond what a smartwatch records. You will be able to see your workout stats as recorded on your smartwatch, but Weekly Intensity is out, as is making a training plan.