“Workout apps are a dime a dozen in today’s digital landscape,” says Amanda Capritto, our expert reviewer and certified personal trainer. Naturally, then, it’s not surprising to find that Strava has some competition even despite its impressive workout tracking capabilities. Below are two popular training apps that compare well to Strava, in our opinion — Garmin Connect and Nike Run Club. All apps offer run-tracking capabilities and are available across a variety of different smart devices.
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Perfect for complete beginners and more advanced runners, the Runkeeper app lets you set running goals and work toward them by tracking distance, average pace, and other important how good is mad muscles metrics. While there are so many running apps in the market, selecting one app based on your needs becomes challenging. Each app works differently in tracking workouts, displaying stats, and supporting social connections. You’ll find Strava and Nike Run Club in any list of the best running apps (including ours, of course). Both track and analyze your activity, help you set goals and follow the activities of friends and family. Strava had already told Garmin users of their platform that they should not be concerned over connectivity stopping.
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Strava is available for download through Apple’s App Store as well as the Google Play store. You can also sign up for your Premium membership through the brand’s website. While our tester rates the pricing at 3 out of 5 given the $11.99 madmuscles app monthly charge, we do rate the value at 4 out of 5 since the included premium features are worth the extra cost. For endurance athletes who want to track their outdoor activities, Strava is one of the best apps on the market.
Apple Fitness+ App
The biggest and best feature for adventurous runners and cyclists is Strava’s Maps tab, which gives you thousands of downloadable routes from other users, plus the ability to draw your own. You can record and review activities, then share them with friends for “Kudos” (similar to giving a “like” on other media platforms). Run, Bike, Hike is the app’s motto, but there’s support for over 50 activities, including kayaking, swimming – great for triathletes – and yoga. From there we further tested our top contenders during workouts at our Men’s Health gym, our training spaces at home, local performance facilities, and outdoors.
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Log your repetitions and weights from each workout, and Juggernaut AI will have you hammering out new PRs in no time. As previously mentioned, these two apps are not an exact choice between one or the other. Price was a hot topic for Strava, with 452 of the respondents mentioning it.
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This suggests that Garmin has no interest in working with a company that would sue them. Either https://realreviews.io/reviews/madmuscles.com way, only time will tell if Strava will be able to survive this fallout. The case was baffling to many in the industry, both from a technical and legal standpoint. From a technical standpoint, it didn’t appear to hold very much water, especially on the heat map side. And on the segments side, it was seen as a potentially risky way for Strava to get their patents invalidated. Adam is Cycling Weekly’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling, he’s happy.
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Community Engagement
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If you spend a lot of time in hotel gyms—or in your home-office-that’s-also-sometimes-a-workout-space—you know what a struggle it can be to stick to a routine when you have limited access to facilities. I’m not the most competitive person, but I have run the occasional low-stakes 5K, and I do run regularly. Having tried all the go-to running apps before, I was really excited to test Runna because it’s a relatively new addition to the running app scene.
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Why is Google Fit better than Strava Running and Cycling?
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They should also be created using scientific principles, and it helps if they are backed by fitness professionals. Strava is more suitable for runners who want to improve their performance. It is an attractive app for people motivated by a sense of competitiveness and responsibility or for those who seek to find inspiration in other athletes.
If you choose a route that an athlete has previously followed, go to the start point and press Start to record your time. While you’re out on the road you can also use Strava’s Beacon feature, which allows you to share your live location with up to three close contacts. That said, I did jump into a new training plan to mark the start of my Connect Plus journey, which has me slowly but surely preparing for the Baltimore Running Festival in mid-October. I know I’m much too far out to start marathon-centric workouts, but I was curious to see how Connect Plus would handle a longer build-up, especially with adding strength workouts to the mix. So, I allowed my little Strava Premium icon to disappear and quickly started my free month of Connect Plus.
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What the data says…
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- These clubs organize events and challenges that further enhance the sense of community within the app.
- In addition to the GPS tracking and the standard performance metrics, there are plenty of detailed specs that elevate their understanding of their completed running workouts and other sport-based activities.
- While the Strava app does have a free version, many of its most popular features are only found in the paid version, which costs $11.99/month, or $79.99/year with the annual plan.
- The videos are clear and well-produced—perfect for people new to strength training.
- We think both apps are great for a variety of activities, but we love how visual and user-friendly the AllTrails app is – especially when you’re looking to explore outside of your local area.
- It has built a vibrant community of athletes who share their activities and achievements with each other.
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This is one of my most used features, because it helps me find new places to run while feeling safe knowing others frequent that route—and it’s especially helpful if you’re new to a city or traveling. You can even check your own heat map to see how much ground you’ve covered in your neighborhood, city, or beyond. It’s strangely satisfying to watch the orange lines connect and overlap on the landscape. The platform also pairs nicely with some third-party training apps like Zwift, Peloton, and Apple Fitness+ which means your indoor and outdoor workouts can be logged in the same place. Yes, Strava does have a free version that gives you access to workout tracking as well as the platform’s community features. However, a Strava Premium membership ($11.99 monthly) is required to access training plans, custom route building features, and other additional functions.