GymBook ・ Strength Training Reviews

by Bhanson32

The only issue I have with GymBookStrengthTraining is the timer functionality. I have transferred by setting up all the custom exercises and workouts from another app into this one. I understand there is a global timer and you can individually set test times for each exercise. However when I transition from a cardio to strength exercise the timer does not work for the individual time I set it for. I don’t even know what the “second timer” is supposed to be used for because no hints explained it. I wish there was a manual for GymBookStrengthTraining to specifically explain all of its functionality. Who knows this could be a bug but I need this to be fixed especially since I think the Platinum in-app purchase is a “must-buy” to use GymBookStrengthTraining fully.

by 45Caliber

I just wanted to move from filling out tracking worksheets to recording workouts on my phone. Of a dozen or so apps I tried, all had restrictions on the most basic functions without paid upgrades (2-3 workout limit, no custom exercises, no backups, etc.) and the paid upgrades were usually insane. $100/yr for simple rep tracking??!

Though GymBook is a bit cumbersome in building routines, it at least let’s you do so in the free app without limitations. If you then want to add more stock exercises or other “extra” bells and whistles, it’s only a one-time charge of $5.99 to fully unlock those features (or $1.99 per ad-hoc feature).

My only real complaint is GymBookStrengthTraining ’s inability to set durations instead of reps. This is addressed in the FAQ with a clunky workaround, but I don’t quite understand why it’s difficult to incorporate as it seems a simple data point switch.

by NinjaEMT

I found GymBookStrengthTraining and gave it a try. I purchased an upgraded version and do not regret it. I currently have 5 different workout plans stored in GymBookStrengthTraining : GVT, 5x5, total body 3x week, lean muscle EDDF, and a basic intermediate mass plan. I love that it keeps track of my progress and it has a rest timer. It keeps me going and my head rate up. I’ve added a ton of custom exercises and GymBookStrengthTraining comes with a ton of exercises. I record everything via my Apple Watch but you don’t need one to use GymBookStrengthTraining . I highly recommend GymBookStrengthTraining.

UPDATE: I have lost over 20lbs and 4 inches on my waist. I have been able to stick to my program and seen continued success with the help of Gymbook.

UPDATE 2: with the new iOS update, my workouts are being saved to the wrong day. Sometimes it’s the prior day. Sometimes it is a week ago. I uninstalled GymBookStrengthTraining and installed it again and it still has this problem. I still love GymBookStrengthTraining . It does everything I need and is easy to use. Hopefully a bug fix is released soon.

by ThisNicknameIsTakenTryAgain111

(1) I am doing 10 sets training and using the watch app, that app do not show sets after the 5th set, so it’s hard to tell if I am on the 6th set or 9th for example. Would be great to show number of completed sets and not the individual circles(as it is now)
(2) if I changed the weight in the middle of my training, I have to adjust it on each set, GymBookStrengthTraining does not remember my new weight and keeps filling my old weight as a default. I have to change the weight for each set again and again. Would be great if GymBookStrengthTraining would keep the changed weight for all later sets after the change. Tried different settings in GymBookStrengthTraining for that issue, still did not work as i expected

by Gsusnake

Short version: just download it already and pay the $5. You won’t regret it. Best money I’ve spent on my workouts since I bought my Alpha Grips.

Long version: I’m a fairly experienced lifter who doesn’t need to be told or shown how to do a workout or an exercise. I have my own plans I do and most of the workouts available on GymBookStrengthTraining Store don’t do what I want them to do. This one is perfect. I’ve tried all the current gym log apps out there. BodySpace, FitList, Gymatic, Gymaholic, and several others not worth mentioning. BodySpace is great, but no Apple Watch support. FitList is great except you have to uninstall and reinstall every month or so when it stops syncing to your watch and you lose all your data, even if you’ve paid for premium. And the other two are way too expensive.

I used an app called GymBuddy way back when on the first gen iPhone and it was terrific, but unfortunately it’s no longer supported or updated. GymBook is similar to that in that you can add your own exercises, make custom workouts, and it doesn’t get in your way with trying to show or tell you what to do. GymBookStrengthTraining works seamlessly with the Apple Watch for logging, tracks your workouts to Apple health so you close your rings, and for $5????? Hell yeah I’ll take it! I’d give 10 stars if I could.

by Roc Windy

I have downloaded and tried almost all similar apps from App Store and this is the best in my opinion. Very clean and simple, yet all functions are very accessible. I purchased the premium function without hesitation, to unlock more capabilities and support developer, and it’s very reasonable pricing.

Only suggestion, please consider add a “goal” function. Can be as simple as do x number of workouts per week, or if more detail separate by x number of chest workout and y number of cardio, etc. It will greatly help motivate more workouts. Thanks for considering and for a great app!

by Wrh25

I love GymBookStrengthTraining. It’s super intuitive and easy to use. The watch and iPhone apps are easy to use. I have two points of feedback:
1. I wish this update synced with the cloud. I had built a ton of workouts into GymBookStrengthTraining as I used it for more than a year. I then receive a new iPhone and wanted to start fresh. Since most everything is in the cloud these days, I simply started over with a clean new iPhone and all of my iCloud items refreshed—but not GymBookStrengthTraining. All of my workouts and exercises I had spent hours entering over the past year had been erased. I also found that there is an iPad app and it does not sync with my iPhone app. This means if I add an exercise to my iPhone, I will have to enter it again on my iPad. Depending on the workout I will use a different device so I need the devices to be interchangeable. Please add cloud capabilities.
2. More workouts. I upgraded to unlock all the workouts and I still find myself entering a ton of workouts. Please add more so I don’t have to tediously enter more. I would even go to a marketplace to buy more workouts so I don’t have to enter them and they come with the professional images. Please add more workouts!

Other than that, GymBookStrengthTraining is basically perfect.

by Bpkenyon

This has made it so easily to track my workouts. There are plenty of preset lifts built in that you can use in your workout, but if for some reason it’s not in there, it’s easy to create it from scratch, as well as putting in what muscles that lift works. I also like how it tells you the difference in terms of total weight you lifted as well as how much longer or shorter it took you from the previous workout. My only complaint, and it’s a minor one is that when using the watch app, it doesn’t track your calories, heart rate, etc. I just use the stock Apple weight training tracker to do this. Keep up the good work!

by Purrreow

A lot of the apps for lifting want to suggest workouts for you and want you to pay for them. GymBookStrengthTraining lets you easily put your own workouts in (great for anything above beginner lifting) and tracks progress. Very minimalistic which is great, and it’s free if you want it to be. You can add your own exercises and edit the preloaded ones. Love the muscle heat map feature, too. Overall, GymBookStrengthTraining is great. I chose to pay the $5 because I thought it was worth it but you can definitely use GymBookStrengthTraining without the added cost. I was able to find this great app by reading someone else’s review so I hope this one helps anyone just looking for a way to log your workouts besides google sheets! :)

by Nickolas.Lupo

GymBookStrengthTraining can be slightly confusing at first due to its very minimalist design. However, after you figure out how logging works, it's lack of clutter becomes its greatest strength. My only improvement is to add a greater variety cardio exercises. Additionally, jogging is only tracked in minutes, and while I understand a lot of lifters don't fret about the seconds and rarely run, most average people (and the Army) do. Seeing running mileage broken down by pace and heart rate graphically would be awesome. I gave GymBookStrengthTraining 5 stars because the graphical data and various modes of displaying it is unparalleled. Please add a way to share your workout (not just your performance) with other users, that way I can make workouts for my wife. ;)

by Eliashh

I’m a beginner to strength training, and I wanted a workout app that would allow me to easily input my exercise routines, could track my progress with nice graphs, and had a simple and pleasant user interface. I tried TONS of iPhone apps (pretty much every one I could find), and GymBook was my favorite. Just about everything I wanted and needed, and the price was amazing too. The only negative thing (which some other reviewers have mentioned too), is that the interface for editing and navigation is not completely intuitive. But after not too long of playing around with it, it wasn’t too hard for me to figure everything out. Overall, highly recommend 👍

by Skiddywompus

As an avid lifter GymBookStrengthTraining has the simple structure I look for, yet is insanely cheap for the premium version. (One time payment of $5)

Updates I would highly recommend:

Have a Bigger Variety of Workouts to pick from.

Include other basic cardio workouts: Stair Steppers, Stationary Bike, etc.

Put the Exercises in alphabetical order. Personally, I don’t enjoy the fact all the exercises are separated by their respective body part which aren’t even in alphabetical order, so you have to search for it. Although it’s a great idea, that’s why we have filters to better locate those exercises. (Another idea, FILTERS)

Give the Ability to rename and personalize the names of the exercises. I personally have a few exercises I like to call certain things, and I think if I had the ability to rename the exercises GymBookStrengthTraining would be soooo good.

Overall, it seems like a good app. I see a ton of potential and hope the Devs will take this review seriously and look into small adjustments like that.

— Fingers Crossed!!!

by Lcuy2

I really like GymBookStrengthTraining. I wanted something simple that I could pay for upfront without using g a subscription model. This suits my needs perfectly
Pros: the catalogue of exercises in the free version is extensive enough to test GymBookStrengthTraining and get familiar with the interface. Workout creation is REALLY flexible. I especially like that I can add an exercise multiple times to a single workout and can add them from the workout or the excervises screen. The upgrade price is very reasonable. NO SUBSCRIPTION! The FAQ instructions are easy to understand.
Cons: Creating workouts and logging exercises does take a bit of trial & error and I had to visit the FAQ several times to really get it. And the default human form is male. Women lift too, it would be nice to see the female form represented as well.

by Bleubell23

Exactly what I was looking for easy tracking and flexibility, and not a subscription! I was looking for something that would allow me to track both weight training and exercise and stretches from physical therapy on my phone and watch. I really like that I can add my own exercises as well as create workouts and groupings within those that aligns to my routines. I also like that I don’t have to schedule my workouts. My routine varies based on a number of factors so that flexibility is great.

Also appreciate the simplicity as I’m already well educated in weight training and don’t need the extras that come with subscription services.

It would be great if you could:
- Add exercises that were time based or resistance rather than weights based as my PT focus on aspects but this isn’t a limit factor in being able to add these types of exercises.
- I find the usefulness of the graphs limit. I’d love a calendar view that would let you click a date and it would show what exercises by workout you did on that day.
-Also, as a woman, it would be great to have a female version of the person image rather than just the default male.

But overall, after trying all of the other weight training apps, this is the winner. Agreat app that does what I need it to do.

by JaboAnthony

I’m a minimalist at heart. I hate crowded apps. Clunky apps. GymBookStrengthTraining is clean and everything I could have wanted, plus more. For a very small ONE TIME price (I’ve paid more for a single beer), I can create my own workout and save it. I can log my workouts each time and it will let me know the weight I did last time so I can either progress or stay the same. Jefit has this weird glitch where it would keep the same weight you did last time no matter what day of the week it was. Plus all the ads and having to sign up for the online profile as well. Yea, no. Get GymBookStrengthTraining....once you learn how it works you won’t look back. Very impressed with this one. Plus you can change the color of GymBookStrengthTraining on your home screen! 10/10. Trust me, I scour Reddit and websites for the best, and this one wasn’t even mentioned except by one person. Well here’s another real user. Do it.

by BradleyBradford

Before this I had literally tried every Apple watch supported workout app out there (FitList, Strong, etc). I’ve been struggling for some time to get an app that is able to seamlessly track a workout even away from the phone using my watch for a reasonable price... until now. $4.99 for the lifetime full upgrade? Easily the best $5 I’ve spent on my health in quite some time, especially if you compare to the only other app that works equally as well: Strong for $5/month or $100 for lifetime (which is completely ridiculous). Download it, pay the $5, learn the strength and simplicity of GymBookStrengthTraining , create the workout(s) on your phone, sync it to your watch, crush said workout AND track it all with ease (even with awesome set timers and watch haptics) and you definitely won’t regret it. This is the one you want, so get it (before they realize they gave the key to gym-logging heaven out for a couple shekels haha).

by Lkunze3

GymBookStrengthTraining is fantastic! No glitches, no frills, just exactly what I need for my workout. I love the timer, and the options to stop it or hide it during a workout. I love that it will set a new goal weight for you after you’ve achieved your previous goal. And the logs are very informative, allowing me to see my true trends over time (Maximum, Average, or Total reps/weight lifted each workout). My only wish is that I could get the logs to graph my 1RM over time, but that’s a minor point, because it shows me my 1RM for each set of an exercise while I’m doing it in the workout. The exercise selections cover the basics, I’ve only needed to add a couple of my own exercises (and that process is super quick and easy). Creating your own workout from scratch is so easy, not like other apps I’ve tried that make the process clunky and complex. I don’t think I’ll use any other app for my workouts because GymBook has truly made GymBookStrengthTraining seamless.

by BillyP1970

By far the best app I’ve used. At first I just used the free version as it did almost everything I needed. Then after I used it for a few weeks I decided to purchase the Platinum version. Seriously $6 for forever updates and everything? It’s amazing. Most apps I’ve found charge that a month. It doesn’t have all the exercises I do, but even with the free version you can add your own. The only thing I’d like is that as far as I know the “custom” exercises I added and logged reps in can not be carried over to the “official” app exercises if you purchase them. For example, I “created” an exercise called Lat Pull Down and logged a few workouts with it. Then I purchased the Platinum version and an exercise called Push Downs is there. The exercises are the some, one my custom the other is GymBookStrengthTraining . I can’t flip as far as I know the one to the other. Seriously though that is the ONLY complaint I have with GymBookStrengthTraining...and for me it’s NOT a really big issue at all.

by TheKis3r

This has to be the best workout companion app in the AppStore and definitely worth the $5. No unreasonable monthly subscription, excellent Apple Watch app, easy to set up and use, prompts for increasing reps and/or weight if you outdo yourself in a set (can be configured to not prompt and handle it one way or the other), and responsive devs.
I had an issue a while ago where a workout would be wiped when I went to complete it in GymBookStrengthTraining . I sent the developer an email and he promptly got back to me and had it fixed within a couple of updates.
There's several built-in workouts to choose from when building your routines but it doesn't have everything. Thankfully adding custom workouts is simple and doesn't take much time. Navigating the built-in workouts could be improved with collapsible sections or a filter/nav to help you get to the muscle group you're after quickly, though.
If you want something to track your workouts I can't recommend GymBookStrengthTraining enough. It's nearly perfect but is well supported by the devs and for the price it can't be beat.

by Bear Dad

I was looking for a way to replace my paper based workout logs that allowed me to create my own workouts and log my sets/reps without the subscription requirement found on a lot of apps in GymBookStrengthTraining Store. I mostly work out at home with dumbbells and a very basic cable system. GymBook has fit my needs perfectly! I started with the free version and worked with it for a couple weeks. I found that a few of my Norman exercises were not available, but GymBookStrengthTraining let me create them without an issue. I decided to upgrade to the one-time premium version to see what other exercises and features became available- and yep- the missing exercise became available.
I have only used GymBookStrengthTraining for about a month but it fits my needs to create workouts with my preferred sequences of exercises, track the actual reps and sets and view the historical data to make informed decisions on when to increase or adjust the workout. All of this was satisfied in a simple to use app. I highly recommend GymBookStrengthTraining and give my kudos to the developer for a well designed and easy to use app!

by NotNowRobo

Overall, GymBook works really well. I’ve been able to pretty easily track my exercises and progress. I did purchase the total package (~$6) and have enjoyed the extra features. Few things I would like to change is a better system for adding images/gifs that look similar to other exercises already in GymBookStrengthTraining in the custom exercise creator. Also, I’d prefer if the reps/weight updated on the main screen instead of just when you click on the exercise. Would make it easier to set things up when doing supersets instead of looking at each exercise in detail before starting.