Anyone tried a fitness app with any success? I've seen ads for both regular and "AI" apps like BetterMe, Ladder, and others that supposedly "tailor" a routine to reach your goals. Do they do any more than provide discipline, fun, and motivation? Or maybe that's their point…

What are you looking for them to provide? I think the things that you listed are pretty much their purpose.

With the abundance of online coaches and fitness influencers/coaches nowadays, if I was looking for something like this I'd probably look at someone I enjoy following and whose goals align with mine and then look into any apps they may have.

Quick examples would be ATG stuff, Sebastian Oreb (Australian Strength Coach), or Ganbaru Method.

Zwift, Strong, Garmin Connect, MyFitnessPal, & ChatGPT cover nearly all my needs.

I use FITIV.

Garmin connect + Tonal working pretty well for me in my 50s

BigOil said:

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Zwift, Strong, Garmin Connect, MyFitnessPal, & ChatGPT cover nearly all my needs.

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+1

Haven't used Zwift, but I'll check it out. Edit: Oh, it's a bike. I have Peloton bike and tread.

Tonal keeps track of strength score which really helps keep me motivated over time.

I keep hearing good things about Tonal.

What's your username? We should get all the Texags users together on friends lists.

Best fitness investment we've ever done. Wife and I use ours almost daily.

Pahdz said:

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What's your username? We should get all the Texags users together on friends lists.

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KidDoc99

Pahdz said:

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Best fitness investment we've ever done. Wife and I use ours almost daily.

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My wife tried it for a bit but hasn't stuck with it. She is lucky though and stays slim with no effort in 50s. For myself it has been my most consistent lifting program since college and I'm much stronger and pain free than I have been since my late 20s. 52 now.

I bought a squat rack but I'm in my 50s now too. Lifting heavy may not be the best for me now

GF and I use the heck out of the Peloton Bike and Treadmill classes and other apps on there so that may be something I need to look into.

Oh and my GF loves cardio but HATES lifting. She might use that.

Your wife sounds like mine. I had a power rack, bench, adjustable PowerBlock dumbbells, 300+ lbs of plates the whole thing. Sold it all last fall and got the Tonal. I'm 45 now and was getting sick of having to design my own plans, taking the time to swap plates and all that.

Edit: Oh and I guess I need to go ahead and get married. Mainly because I get sick of saying GF. We've been together going on like 8 years or so. I guess I could just call her my wife. She wants to get married less than I do.

I use the TRX system mainly because of time and I don't want constantly swap out weights and changing rack settings, etc... Her son smashed a giant mirror in the exercise room. I find that lifting in the morning works best since I'm usually tired/worn out by the end of the day, but time is a factor trying to get stuff in before work. Free weights and a squat rack are a pain.

I saw some reviews complaining about shifting the Tonal arms around, etc... but it can't be worse than using a squat rack/bench with free weights, can it?

Absolutely not, complaining about adjusting the arms is quite frankly laughable.

GeorgiAg said:

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Edit: Oh and I guess I need to go ahead and get married. Mainly because I get sick of saying GF. We've been together going on like 8 years or so. I guess I could just call her my wife. She wants to get married less than I do.

I use the TRX system mainly because of time and I don't want constantly swap out weights and changing rack settings, etc... Her son smashed a giant mirror in the exercise room. I find that lifting in the morning works best since I'm usually tired/worn out by the end of the day, but time is a factor trying to get stuff in before work. Free weights and a squat rack are a pain.

I saw some reviews complaining about shifting the Tonal arms around, etc... but it can't be worse than using a squat rack/bench with free weights, can it?

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It takes a few seconds to move the arms and swap out bar/handles/rope.

The only bad thing about Tonal is the cost. But it is like having a gym and personal trainer in your house on your schedule.

We have a TexAgs Strava group. Some how i am one of the Admins.

https://www.strava.com/clubs/texags

I've found that with the Tonal programs/workouts they leave the arms in one position for the set, then if they move they are static for the next set of exercises

I started using the Hevy app in August and it's been a game changer for me and my man both. This would be for lifting only.

It would take me too long to type all of the reasons we love it. We enter routines for the programs we follow, but there are also recommendations. I <3 it pretty hard.

rynning said:

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Anyone tried a fitness app with any success? I've seen ads for both regular and "AI" apps like BetterMe, Ladder, and others that supposedly "tailor" a routine to reach your goals. Do they do any more than provide discipline, fun, and motivation? Or maybe that's their point…

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I use the RP Hypertrophy app. It is great and very intuitive. The AI/algorithm is pretty smart and adjusts up or down according to how you answer questions after you complete the required sets per exercise. A lot better than just keeping track in a notebook. B/c it knows if you are potentially accruing too much fatigue and adjusts your sets/reps accordingly and it obviously adds weight or reps or sets depending on which one or more of those variables (so you can use a dual progression if you'd like) you use for progressive overload. Plus it tracks each session and gives you reports you can look at to see mesocycle performance. The only issues I have are ones that they are working on, like deloading. And this is very advanced stuff many will never probably need. Currently, it is set for 6 week mesos, but you can increase those to 8 weeks right now. After that, it auto deloads you. And that is fine, but in reality, your quads and biceps might truly need to deload but your back, chest, tris and hammys are all still getting better each week. Even with 0 RIR you might still be able to squeeze out 2 more weeks potentially. Gains would honestly be minor but still gains. You can set this up as a new short meso and focus on the area still growing and having setting up a , but eventually it sounds like the app will allow for you to drop multiple parts to deload while continuing the same meso with the rest of your body, which would match the current literature on deloading. Again, this is stuff that is for advanced trainees and folks like me who love to nerd out on this stuff, so no biggie.

Overall the app features a ton of different workouts and focuses, and also allows you to set up your own if you'd like. It is created byt Dr. Mike Israetel and Jared Feather and maintained literally by Feather (I found that out recently and the replies if you have issues or questions are mostly directly from him). It is mostly a hypertrophy focused, ie body building. Great stuff and highly recommended if that is your goal.

GeorgiAg said:

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I bought a squat rack but I'm in my 50s now too. Lifting heavy may not be the best for me now

GF and I use the heck out of the Peloton Bike and Treadmill classes and other apps on there so that may be something I need to look into.

Oh and my GF loves cardio but HATES lifting. She might use that.

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I'm 51, and heavy lifting in your 50's is fine. 60's even. The key is technique and form. That's the most important thing. But, that would be the case if you were 17 years old as well. Hypertrophy (body building) is fine too and that is my focus currently. But, I'd have no issue switching to strength and would just be smart and leave the ego at home. A lot easier to do when you are more mature and don't give 2 ****s what others think about how much you are lifting. Try telling a 20 something to focus on form only, and see how many actually take that advice fully. So one could argue that lifting for strength in your 40s and up is a great time to do strength as your maturity level is usually better and if you are doing a 425 lbs squat, you're actually doing a true, full depth deep 425 with ridged form that you methodically worked your way up too. And given that muscle atrophy is a really big concern as we age, focusing on strength, body building or combining the 2 and power building is extremely important and per literature, may be a slight bit more important than cardio focused training (do that too though. Why not?).

My goals are to maximize how jacked I look (having a hypertrophy focus), and by default, it makes me look 10-20 years younger. Obviously genetics plays a role too. But being lean and muscular makes it harder to discern me from the 30 somethings until you really take a look at me. Hence why I always get a "no way!" when I happen to tell people my age. And no, they aren't "being nice" as 51 isn't really that old. Not when you are in good shape. But I credit my nutrition and training for all of that. Hell, my training and nutrition are likely one of the top priorities in my life, behind my family and Aggie sports...Sorry job, but no. You're a tool to pay for that other stuff, and nothing more!

I've been using Future for the past 4 weeks. It is the most consistent I've worked out in years. It's expensive but I highly recommend it.