The best personal training apps

Created for cyclists but for runners now, too, the subscription-based virtual-reality Zwift app does more than transport you and your bike into Zwiftopia and other imaginary worlds. Zwift has over 1,000 structured online workouts and a host of training plans for both riders and runners.

Workouts range from 30 minutes to over two hours and the training plans are goal-oriented programs designed by world-renowned coaches with backgrounds training Olympic athletes, pro cyclists, and more.

Its workout offering is incredibly diverse, too. If you want to increase your endurance, there's a program for that. If you want to train for a 5K or 10K, just scroll through the workout directory, choose your program, and hit start.

Zwift is a massively popular platform, with roughly 35,000 members on the app simultaneously, and up to 8,000 participants in a single race or event. Run participation is on the rise, too as Zwift says daily run mileage has seen a 6x increase year-over-year.

Whether or not it's taboo to meet your friends in person to train, Zwift lets riders and runners meet-up in the virtual world. You can plan to meet in one of Zwift's virtual worlds at a set time, arrange to be in the same event, or you can schedule your own private, invitation-only virtual hangout that's a Zoom-style meeting and training session with up to 100 friends.

If you're worried about being all trained up with no place to go, Zwift is also the virtual starting line for many running and cycling races. Just hop on your trainer of choice and you can ride with and compete against your peers and heroes.

Cost: Cycling: Free for 10-days, then $14.99/mo. Zwift Run is free.

Equipment required:

• For cyclists: Rollers and power meter and bike, or smart trainer (like the Wahoo Kickr) plus bike.
• For runners: Foot pod (like RunPod), an optical sensor for a treadmill (like the Zwift NPE Runn), or a smart treadmill.

Pros: Lets you connect with community, best site for virtual racing

Cons: Clocking miles to earn kit for your meme is distracting

Dee Tidwell, a soft tissue therapist and coach for the Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team, has been a trainer, mountain biker, and racer for 25 years. He's led thousands of mountain bikers through this program and it's the same program he uses to train himself. It's even put him on the podium of the Big Mountain Enduro bike race series for the past three years.

Tidwell's program helps riders get faster but for Tidwell, strength, and power go hand in hand with being limber, build flexibility and when you train, race, and on occasion crash, you're less likely to get sidelined because you're tight or muscularly out of balance.

Tidwell's MTB Strong Program is three months, six months, or an entire year long. You're able to start wherever you're at skill-wise, whether you're a casual rider or an experienced racer. The first five weeks work out kinks and imbalances before getting into more guided sessions like building power, strength, and speed.

One of MTB Strong's best features is that it isn't an AI coach but rather was developed by a rider, racer, and physical therapist. And, if you're in it and have questions, you can email Tidwell or set up a private coaching session.

Even if you don't have access to much home gym equipment, Tidwell currently shares weekly home workout videos and a step-by-step bodyweight exercise program for free. Twice a week he hosts free Zoom workouts that anyone can join.

Cost: Free for seven days, then $99/year, enduromtbtraining.com

Equipment required: Resistance bands, a bar and plates, dumbbells, yoga mat, foam roller, rolling stick, lacrosse ball, bike, and bike trainer.

Pros: Athlete-targeted; builds fitness, speed, power, and strength and helps prevent injuries; equipment-free programming and coach-led zoom workouts available

Cons: The full program is equipment intensive

One of the best-established online coaching apps for building fitness, getting toned, and losing weight with exercise, Freeletics was designed to challenge and inspire users to become their best selves mentally and physically. It's a credo many people seem to relate to as Freeletics now has more than 40 million users in 160 countries — the app is even available in 10 languages.

Freeletics' approach is holistic body and mind coaching through personalized, AI-powered programs designed to help you build good habits and reach long-term health and fitness goals. Coaching includes a workout plan, as well as educational and motivational audio courses with nutrition coaching and community support completing the package.

Fitness programming is running-based, weights-based, bodyweight-based, or all three, and if you want to follow a pro athlete's training program, you can join a specific athlete's workouts, regardless of your own fitness level.

Freeletics workouts are all HIIT-based for maximum metabolism boost and calorie burn. AI coaches incorporate 170 different exercises in an infinite number of workout sequences to make sure your workouts don't feel stale, too.

The app's 57 signature workouts, named after Greek gods and mythological characters, are the site's most popular and feature leaderboards that encourage competition. Interval workouts are a more private affair, built for you by the AI coach based on your goals and fitness level. You can track your progress and commit to a fitness Journey for six to 12 weeks.

Freeletics knows life is unpredictable, so they built an Adapt Today feature that lets you notify your coach if you're sore, injured, quarantined, or short on equipment, time, or space for prescribed workout. The AI coach tweaks the programming instantly and provides a workout to fit your needs to keep you on track.

In addition to HIIT, Freeletics offers a Mindset Coach that works with the app's AI algorithm to teach mindfulness techniques. Each 5- to 20-minute session is geared to establishing routines, coping with setbacks, managing stress, improving focus, and fine-tuning recovery and sleep.

Freeletics nutrition coach even helps users shift to cleaner eating, whether for weight loss or health. The app recommends caloric intake, meal numbers, and macronutrients providing weekly meal plans, personalized advice, and healthy eating-out alternatives. A social media-like feed lets app users connect with other Freeletics athletes for motivation and support.

Cost: $75/year (coaching only to $147/year (workouts, mindset, and nutrition coaching). Three and six-month rates are also available.

Equipment required: Running sneakers and yoga mat to gym with weights

Pros: Connects you with a worldwide community of users, flexible fitness goals; virtual coach fine-tunes and personalizes workouts as you provide feedback

Cons: No event training option

TrainingPeaks believes that the confidence to perform comes from the perfect strategy combined with the best training tools. It offers a program that allows users to commit to a clear goal and structures their training so they can work out smarter. It also closely monitors their progress as they work toward a specific event or race.

Created as a coach/athlete interface, and a place for athletes to plan and track their training and chart their progress, TrainingPeaks also connects athletes with TrainingPeaks-certified coaches, and it sells a library of training plans geared towards specific goals.

If you just want a training plan to help you reach your goal, the app has thousands of plans available, ranging from $5 for a three-week beginners running guide to $1,800 for a year-long personalized coaching program. Every plan shows sample workouts and gives you a coach bio before you have to enter your credit card.

Whatever level of athlete you are, the app can connect you with one or more live coaches to meet your goals. All coaches on the site are TrainingPeaks vetted and high-level coaches are both trained and certified by the brand itself.

Choosing a coach can be done in one of two ways. The first is with a short survey that lets you indicate your sport from a list of 19 options, including adventure racing, collegiate cross-country, speed skating, and organizational wellness. You'll also enter your goal and how much you want to pay for coaching, from $99 for an hour consultation to $299 a month for an elite coach. Then, the app makes a recommendation and introduction.

Athletes can also browse the coach database to find their best match, searching by services offered including 1-on-1 coaching, group training, biomechanical analysis, and more. You can sort by coach gender and narrow your list by where the coach is based — most TrainingPeaks coaches offer remote coaching, too.

Whether you're training with a coach or solo, the app doesn't just record your workouts but it tracks your fitness and freshness, both current and predicted. Using its Performance Manager Chart, you can watch your fitness as it trends upward with training, and can also see when you need a rest day. When planning your workouts, the app predicts your future fatigue so you can plan accordingly.

Cost: Free for Basic Membership, which allows setting goals and tracking workouts. $120/year (monthly and quarterly rates available) gives you full functionality and the ability to work with a coach on the platform.

Equipment Required: Variable. Smartwatch or bike computer recommended.

Pros: The best place for remote athletes and coaches to connect; easy to import and export workouts

Cons: Data tracking most valuable when navigated with a coach

Whatever running event you're training for, Nike's Run Club is designed to get you ready for race day. The app has training plans for 5k to marathon length races, and is as good for first-timers as it is for experienced runners who want to improve.

When you're running, Nike Run Club's app tracks your distance, time, speed, pace, elevation, and heart rate and records your mile splits. You can geo-locate with the map screen if you get in the zone and miss a turn, or when you want to try a new route. On guided runs, Nike trainers, coaches, and athletes talk you through the workout via Headspace, providing encouragement, and helping you focus.

The app is also compatible with custom Apple Music playlists to help energize your session, and there's even a social media side that lets you share your workouts or give high fives to friends.

In the Nike Run Club App, the workouts aren't restricted to just running, either. Hybrid workouts combine running with core or upper body training. Because it's Nike, the Run Club App also lets you track the wear and tear on your shoes and when you need to replace them, even if it happens to be a pair of shoes from another brand.

Cost: Free

Equipment required: Running shoes, headphones. Smartwatch recommended

Pros: Run-focused; Welcoming, accessible and motivating

Cons: Not as functional for experienced athletes. Nike Training is a separate app.

Whether you're in quarantine or living a normal, busy-to-the-max life, not everyone is training to get six-pack abs. Some of us need help to stay balanced and centered in the vortex of life. It's no less noble to get coaching to help you feel happy and relaxed as you're trying to regain work/life balance, or maybe redefine it.

If you're juggling homeschooling, working from home, and trying to manage the demands of each day, you may not have multiple hours a day to commit to your health and growth. SimpleHabit helps you make strides with 5- to 30-minute sessions that allow you to access the app's 2,500 mood-specific meditations, yoga sessions, and sleep-enhancing bedtime stories. Each session is led by one of the app's 150 meditation teachers, yoga teachers, therapists, and executive coaches.

Start your day with 15 minutes of morning Power Yoga, or release neck tension with a specific 15-minute program. Take 10 minutes to train in Surfing the Waves of Change, or spend an hour cultivating inner peace and balance. And when it's time to unplug but your brain doesn't know how to do that, we also loved SimpleHabit's sleep-inducing soundscapes.

All programming is available through the app with one flat subscription fee. The app tracks how much time you're spending training your mind and body, and lets you know how many days you've sustained the habit, too.

Cost: $100/year. Weekly and monthly subscriptions are also available.

Equipment: Yoga mat and meditation cushion optional.

Pros: Short form programming; coaching site teaches applying calmness personally and professionally; no equipment required

Cons: There's no FTP test for getting Zen