Fitness & BodyBuilding is one of the most downloaded workout tracking apps in the mobile app market, especially on Android. Is it the best app in the fitness market or are there better alternatives for quick and accessible workout tracking?
The popular app created by VGFIT is one of the most primitive fitness apps, as it was released in 2015 and is still being updated on a regular basis.
I consider it to be one of the worst free fitness applications on the market, I'm not crazy, I have my reasons, and they are really objective reasons based on comparison and user experience, from the perspective of someone who trains daily and has experience in using mobile workout tracking apps.
Why is Fitness & BodyBuilding the worst free app on the market?
I have been testing the app for free for a few days to get the most out of it. It has undoubtedly been the worst experience I have had to date in reviewing this type of app, it seems like the app is trying its best not to be used.
Disadvantages of using Fitness & BodyBuilding.
Fitness & BodyBuilding is a basic fitness app guide, which means it focuses more on the huge catalog of visual exercises it has. As a workout tracking app, it fulfills the most basic features.
For these reasons, I believe that the free version of Fitness & BodyBuilding is not worth it as a workout tracking app option:
Lack of essential features for good training progress: Body tracking, 1RM tracking, more complex graphs, and goal setting.
You cannot save your workout data on servers, nor can you save it in a file.
You cannot share your workouts either in text or images.
Difficult-to-understand design on Android while on IOS it is quite easy.
Lack of a tutorial to get to know all the functionalities.
Very heavy ads in the free version, for each exercise you select there are several seconds of ad until you can skip it. If your routine has 6 exercises, at least 30 seconds of your time is spent watching ads.
This lack of features does not make the app useless, on the contrary, it is quite useful to learn how to do exercises, but since there are thousands of alternatives on the market with these features, I consider the app to be outdated. It will receive continuous updates, but it fails to innovate and be a complete app, remaining a simple app with a large exercise catalog.
Now, the point of the ads is unbearable, I do not recommend it to anyone who wants the free option. If you have a special affection for it and want to have useful workouts, buy the paid version, but I wouldn't even use the free version to track my workouts.
Within the bad, there are certain advantages.
As not everything is bad, I'm going to start by saying what I liked most about the app:
Extensive catalog of exercises with visual images, text, and videos to learn how to perform the selected exercise.
Create your own personalized workout routines by taking advantage of the existing extensive exercise catalog. If your exercise is not available, you can easily add it yourself.
Simple training reminder.
Basic workout log: Weight, repetitions, and sets.
Basic data analysis of your exercise history: Weight, repetitions, and performance.
Exercise calendar: Keep track of when you performed a selected exercise.
Without a doubt, Fitness & BodyBuilding is a basic training log app, as promised on its Google Play page. It's not just a recording app, but a guide to improve your workouts. Its strong point is the extensive visual catalog of exercises with images, text, and videos that they possess.
Their target audience is beginners who are new to training. This app is a good way to learn how to perform exercises. However, it is still a transitional app. People who have been training for a few months or years will realize that this application lacks thousands of important features to make good physical progress, whereas for beginners, this app will seem ideal.
How does GymNotes compare to Fitness & BodyBuilding? Which is better?
Both applications are similar, but they have different purposes. While Fitness & BodyBuilding is a guide app for training and attracting a beginner audience, GymNotes focuses on a fun workout note-taking with competitiveness as its highest exponent.
Fitness & BodyBuilding is a simple and attractive app for new users, and GymNotes is the app that offers a competitive experience with workout logging for both new and experienced users.
Features that make GymNotes an attractive alternative to Fitness & BodyBuilding.
The most important factor in choosing between GymNotes or Fitness & BodyBuilding is, in my opinion, each person's goal. If your goal is to be competitive with your friends, have fun at the gym, record and share your workouts in a totally accessible way, then your best option is GymNotes. However, if you want to learn how to perform certain exercises, have workouts created by experts, then your option will be Fitness & BodyBuilding.
Some advantages of choosing GymNotes over Fitness & BodyBuilding are:
Competitive System: GymNotes has an innovative system that promotes rivalry and fun in training, while Fitness & BodyBuilding is a simple guide for your workouts with basic workout logging.
Constantly Updated App: GymNotes is updated every month with new features, the big difference between GymNotes and Fitness & BodyBuilding is that GymNotes does create new features in its updates. Just look at Fitness & BodyBuilding, which has been around since 2015 and is still a basic workout logging app.
Attractive and Accessible Design: For a casual user and competitive fitness enthusiast, GymNotes is the best option, as Fitness & BodyBuilding has a horrible design on Android, while it does deliver on IOS.
Efficient Workout Logging: GymNotes has a fast and organized system, you won't get lost in pages like you can with Fitness & BodyBuilding. Fitness & BodyBuilding on Android is quite slow and difficult to understand initially, while on IOS, it is easy to use and fast.
More Features: Sharing your workouts, creating workout variations, distributing weight on barbells or dumbbells. These are just some of the many properties of GymNotes, plus more to come. Fitness & BodyBuilding doesn't focus on features, being a basic app for new users but not for experienced ones.
In conclusion, both have a different target audience. If you want to focus on a training log with useful features for gym workouts, download GymNotes. If you are new and don't know how to do certain exercises or create a workout routine, then download Fitness & BodyBuilding. However, before downloading Fitness & BodyBuilding, check out other market applications that focus on being a guide and have a large exercise catalog, as there are more complete options that are not as bothersome with ads as Hevy.
