As this is the Freshman Fitness blog…

It makes sense that first and foremost I would recommend downloading the Freshman Fitness app as it is the BEST beginners fitness app on the market right now.

While it is not perfect and new features are being rolled out continuously, it is a very simple app to use which makes it better than other apps that have more features but are more confusing to use.

As a beginner, we want to make everything as simple as possible for you so that you can stick to your journey.

Features:

Exercise library sorted by muscle group

My personal favorite feature of the app is that if you need or want to figure out what exercises work which muscle groups, you’ll be able to find that broken out for you in the exercise library (3rd button from the left on the ribbon on the bottom of the app).

Additionally, if you want to just use the search feature instead of the exercise library itself, you would be able to filter your search between body part, types of exercise, and the equipment you want to use.

For example, if you’re specifically looking for an isolation movement that you can do on a cable machine for your triceps.. BOOM! It will pull up those exercises for you.

In order to pull up this filtration system, you need to hit the search glass in the top left corner BUT you have to be on the exercise library tab or it won’t work. If you hit the search on the home tab, it will simply just allow you to search whatever you want in the app with no filtration.

Community

Whenever we run a challenge in app, which is every few months, the community is used to post challenge tasks, and to support and cheer on other members within the app.

It is also used for general questions.

Learning opportunities

Among nutrition, there are also mindset learning opportunities & a recipe pack loaded into the app.

Most of the learning opportunities are just blog posts/podcast episodes I’ve done through here but they are neatly organized in the app so that you can get the most learning done in the order that makes sense to you.

Additional features

As mentioned before, there are challenges run from time to time, and stretches available in app for you to put a routine together for yourself.

Another cool features is that a daily motivational quote will get sent to your phone directly via notification!

And if you want to shop my eBooks, 1:1 coaching or check out the companies I’m affiliated with, you can do that in the shop tab.

Downsides

A feature I would love to add to the app eventually (if my app developer can handle it hehe), is tracking of sets/reps/weight in app as it is highly requested.

I would also love to add an integration where you can track food via MyFitnessPal or have an in app tracking system of it’s own.

Those may be on the horizon, who knows!

Pricing

The only free features in app are the blog posts/learning materials (since you can normally get them for free through this site).

To access the workouts, recipe packs, community, etc. you must subscribe to the app.

Options for subscription are monthly, quarterly and yearly (best value).

Subscriptions start at $14.99/month 🙂

Reviews

Regardless of the few downsides, there are still amazing reviews & ratings in the app store for the Freshman Fitness app which you can check out below:

Other apps

If you want to be able to track your reps, sets & weight in another app, I would recommend my Emily Robinson Fitness app where I host my 1:1 clients. This app has much better tracking abilities.

The only caveat is that you must put that workout together yourself in the app so that you would be able to track it (which can be annoying).

Since it takes up a client seat as well, it is $4.99/month to use the app.

In this app, you can also track all of your food right in app + use the barcode scanning feature OR sync it up with MyFitnessPal so that your nutrition pulls all into one place.

This leads me to my last app recommendation which would be MyFitnessPal.

If you don’t want to pay the $4.99, don’t worry I get it! There’s a lot of subscriptions going on right now haha.

MyFitnessPal is a completely free food tracking app that you can use to track your food.

It does have a premium version where you can use the barcode scanning feature and have your goal set to macro focused instead of specifically calorie focused but again, not free.

Conclusion

In my (of course completely unbiased) opinion, these apps are the best options to get you started at minimum costs (when compared to actually hiring a trainer).

If you are looking for more personalized guidance though, I’d love to work with you in my 1:1 coaching program.

I recently just rolled out a few different coaching package options which you can read about here.

As we head into the new year, client seats are getting less and less available. Demand is going way up which means that prices are going to rise. I’m sorry, it’s just simple supply & demand folks!

Get in now while the getting is good 🙂

Until next time,

Coach Emily