Peloton's Strength+ App Is a Customizable Workout Helper

Peloton's Strength+'s strength is customization

The first thing you'll notice when you open the Strength+ app is that you're given two options: to follow a pre-made workout, or generate your own.

When you hit Generator along the bottom menu on the app, you are given a number of options along the top of the next screen: You can toggle on "warm up" or "post-workout stretching," select a time between 10 and 60 minutes, and even select which muscle groups you want to target during that time. You can also choose one of three focus areas between "build strength," "build muscle," and "endurance." You then set the difficulty—beginner, intermediate, or advanced—before finally entering in which equipment, if any you have available. (you can select "none," "only dumbbells," "all gym equipment," or "your equipment.")

Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

You can edit "your equipment" in your account settings so the app always knows what you have on hand. Your options are barbell, bench, cable machine, dip bar, dumbbells, EZ bar, foam roller, jump rope, kettlebell, lat pulldown machine, leg curl machine, leg extension machine, leg press machine, loop band, medicine ball, multi-press machine, plyo box, pull-up box, seated row machine, Swiss ball and trap bar. It's a mix of things people typically have at home, like resistance bands and small dumbbells, plus the machines more commonly available in gyms, so the app can create a workout for you wherever you are.

Build your own workout

My first time around, I set mine to include some of the stuff I have in my apartment—dumbbells, foam rollers, a jump rope, kettlebell, and loop band—and indicated I'd like a warmup and a post-workout stretch, a 10-minute routine targeting upper body, to build muscle, and to go at a beginner's pace. This yielded an automatically-generated workout that included 30 seconds of push ups, a block of lawn mower rows and open lateral raises, and a block of stretching that included a lat foam roll, overhead tricep stretch, child's pose, and downward facing dog. (If the app generates something you don't feel like doing, you can hit a Refresh button that generates an entirely new workout based on your inputs.)

Once you find a routine you like, press Start Workout on the bottom of the screen. You can choose to run music from your preferred audio app, and Strength+ will still play your cues loudly enough for you to hear them. You're also given the option to log the amount of weight you're using as you go. As you move through each of the workouts or stretches in the program, you're shown a looping video of someone performing the movement correctly and a countdown timer letting you know how long you have left before switching to something new.

Access coach-led programs

The customizable workouts are cool because they are truly custom, but when you get down to it, they really are self-led, only showing you looping clips of other people performing the exercises and leaving you to get through it on your own. I don't mind this: I enjoy classes, but I also spend a lot of my workout time doing independent activities, like playing games on the Peloton bike. With the addition of a feature called Programs, Strength+ gives you both options, once again catering to exactly what you want to do on a given day.

Programs is accessible in that same bottom-row menu. These are pre-planned workouts that include audio guidance from expert coaches. For instance, you can participate in one called "Shred It," which lasts for four weeks, includes three to four workouts per week, and is designed to "improve your strength and endurance." Another, "Life to Run," is a one-week course with three sessions, aimed at preparing you to do something specific.

Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

Meanwhile, under Clips, you can find short-form videos from instructors who demonstrate things like how to work toward doing a perfect push up, or share common mistakes with certain kind of equipment, like kettlebells.

What I like about the Strength+ app

After spending some time with the app, I believe you'll find it useful even if you already have the standard Peloton app. Though the regular app offers strength options, they are much more like classes, and far less customizable: You just select a workout and follow an instructor on-screen. With Strength+ you can go at your own pace, customize precisely what you want to do, use a bigger variety of equipment, and enter in the weight and reps you use.

I also appreciate that, since you're logged in with your Peloton account, it syncs with the other app (to an extent). Right now I'm on a 57-day Peloton streak, meaning I have ridden my bike and/or completed a stretching, strength, or running workout through the app every day for nearly two months. After completing a generated Strength+ workout, I checked my streak on the other app and it did, in fact, add to it. That's a small thing, but because I'm motivated by arbitrary accomplishments like in-app streaks, it made me happy. It's also useful that my general information, like my height and weight, is shared across both apps. Under the Performance section of your profile, you can see exactly which exercises you've done, how many reps you've done, and what weight you used to do it. I use the Strong app to keep track of my reps and weights already, but I do appreciate that this app also tracks it all.

The workouts I've done with Strength+ have been challenging but totally manageable, which I attribute to the deep levels of customization. Spending a little time configuring these preferences yields great results, as I only have to do what I'm comfortable doing (and what I have the equipment to do).

Some quibbles (including the pricing)

Because I have a Peloton All Access membership, this app is free for me to use. I love that! But if you don't have a Peloton All Access membership—say, if you don't have a Bike or another piece of official Peloton equipment—and just want to use it on its own, you'll pay $1 per month for the first six months, and $9.99 per month thereafter. Honestly, it's a decent value, considering all you get and how versatile it is. You can use it to plan out your sessions at the gym or just work out at home, modify it to your exact needs and desires, and get great expert tips on a variety of exercises. I'd pay $10 for that.

Unfortunately, availability is currently limited to iOS. It has only been out since last December, so we can give Peloton some grace on this, but unlike the standard Peloton app, you can't use it on an Android phone or tablet, let alone your Roku. Because it's not class-based, I don't necessarily mind not having it on my TV, but I have enjoyed being able to use the regular Peloton app on my television, and having to stare at my iPhone screen to use Strength+ isn't ideal.

Do you need a second Peloton app?