The best muscle building app

There are numerous apps for building muscle. Many promise great success and rapid muscle growth. However, they often do not take into account all the important parameters for individual training and the exact objectives of the strength athlete.

In this article, we will take a closer look at the most popular fitness apps for strength training and analyze their key features.

• The most popular muscle building apps tested
• Comparison of all important features
• Feature analysis

Alpha Progression

The Alpha Progression App is for everyone who wants to optimize their workout and build muscle effectively. It is the top-rated strength training app and has already been awarded twice by Apple as "App of the Day".

In contrast to Strong, Alpha Progression creates plans that are precisely tailored to the user's needs. So there is not just a certain number of pre-made plans, but each user gets a plan 100% customized by the algorithm.

In addition, the app gives precise recommendations on how much weight and repetitions the user should perform during the exercises in order to to make optimal progress.

The technique of the exercises is shown through real exercise videos.

Unlike MyFitCoach, Alpha Progression offers more flexibility. For example, users can create multiple plans and switch between them. In addition, Alpha Progression users can periodize their plans themselves.

Another plus point of Alpha Progression is that the app offers many features even in the free version.

Compared to Fitbod, the plans created by Alpha Progression are not randomly thrown together. The exercise sequence, volume, frequency and their adaptation are 100% focused on optimal muscle building.

Another feature that is exclusive to the Alpha Progression app is the exercise ratings. For each of the 620+ exercises, users receive precise information on how well the respective exercise is suited for muscle building. Special attention is paid to the range of motion and stability of the exercises.

Additionally, the Alpha Progression app offers a comprehensive warm-up set calculator that can be highly customized by users.

App	Alpha Progression Gym Training
Target	Optimal muscle building
Rating	4.9*
Price	$79.99 (annual subscription), $12.99 (monthly subscription)
Free trial period	14 days

MyFitCoach

The fitness app is basically aimed at all strength athletes. The developers claim to work with artificial intelligence (AI).

Data is collected on the user's own training progress and basic facts such as height and weight, as well as nutrition. Once the AI has collected and analyzed all the necessary information, it draws up a training and nutrition plan.

So here are offered two key features that have one goal: Muscle building.

The app creates all workouts. Progression planning, periodization as well as frequency and volume are determined automatically.

But is it the best muscle building app? MyFitCoach works completely autonomously. Everything is predetermined by the AI. It is therefore not directly possible to freely decide on all individual training parameters!

Accordingly, there is a lack of variability. Fine adjustments can only be made to a very limited extent.

Moreover, instead of real exercise videos, there are only animated instructions, due to which it is difficult to learn the perfect technique of the exercises.

Also, a major drawback of the app is that there is no free version at all.

Strong Workout Tracker

The app is designed for strength training and offers bodybuilders and powerlifters the possibility to track all relevant training data. Set numbers, repetitions and weight can either be determined manually or taken from predefined plans.

So here is the possibility to create your own training plan or use one of the templates. The progression can also be measured and graphically displayed in a dashboard.

However, the app does not create any custom training plans and does not specify how users should increase weights on their exercises. So beginners in particular are very much on their own here.

Unfortunately, there is also no option to periodize training, which will disappoint many advanced athletes.

Like MyFitCoach, Strong only has animated stock videos instead of real exercise videos.

Another big drawback is that the app does not seem to be actively developed anymore. Apart from bug fixes, nothing has been done here for years. There is a real risk that the developers will abandon the app altogether at some point and that training data will be lost (as was the case with Freeletics Gym and Loox).

Fitbod

This muscle building app uses a training algorithm that puts together a personalized workout plan. Like MyFitCoach, it also advertises AI and highly personalized workouts.

All workouts are continuously analyzed and adjusted in terms of progression. Everything takes place completely automatically. The training possibilities and the equipment of the gym can be included in the analysis.

Fitbod offers the possibility of simple and straightforward training, as all parameters are independently captured by the AI.

However, the plans seem very arbitrarily thrown together. Especially in terms of exercise selection and sequence, which do not follow usual or proven patterns, but sometimes seem really absurd.

For example, the plans often change from week to week. Such frequent changes are absolutely not conducive to optimal muscle building. This is because not enough time is given to perfect the technique of the exercises. Thus, less weight can be moved and consequently a lower muscle building stimulus can be set.

	Strong	Alpha Progression	Fitbod	MFC
Annual subscription	$29.99	$79.99	$79.99	$59.99
Monthly subscription	$4.99	$12.99	$12.99	$9.99

Features	Strong	Alpha Progression	Fitbod	MFC
Custom training plan	❌	✅	✅	✅
Progression recommendations	❌	✅	✅	✅
Real exercise videos	❌	✅	✅	❌
Flexible setting of training parameters	✅	✅	❌	❌
Manual periodization	❌	✅	❌	❌
Free version	✅	✅	❌	❌
Exercise evaluations	❌	✅	❌	❌
Warm-up set calculator	✅	✅	✅	❌