Gravl vs Fitbod

Gravl vs Fitbod, with RIRLift as the third option

Gravl for a planned week and progression you can follow; Fitbod for variety, recovery tracking and the bigger library. RIRLift is the free pick if you want the weights decided and are happy to keep the same lifts each week.

What actually differs between Gravl and Fitbod

• A planned week or one workout at a time

  Gravl plans the whole week from your split and recalculates it after each session. Fitbod builds one workout at a time from your goal, equipment, split and which muscles have recovered, and rebuilds it when those change.

• How the weight moves

  Gravl climbs a rep ladder: 8-7-6, then 8-8-6, 8-8-7 and 8-8-8, then one weight step. Fitbod raises load or reps when you finish comfortably, and its mStrength system alternates lighter, higher-rep days with heavier ones on purpose. If you want this week's numbers to beat last week's, Gravl is easier to read.

• What you log about effort

  Gravl asks Easy, Ideal or Hard after each exercise. Fitbod lets you log reps in reserve and schedules Max Effort Days to re-test you. RIRLift asks how many reps you had left after every set and can change the next set straight away.

  

• Price and free use

  Gravl gives 3 free logged workouts, then $14.99/month, with yearly plans from $59.99 to $89.99. Fitbod gives a 7-day trial, then $15.99/month or $95.99/year. Neither keeps logging free; RIRLift does, with no limit.

• Phone in the locker

  Fitbod's Watch app needs the iPhone to start, swap and save. Gravl's needs the phone within reach to start. RIRLift starts, swaps, logs and finishes on the Watch, free.

Gravl, Fitbod and RIRLift in the same situations

You want Thursday's workout on Monday

Three days a week around shift work. On Fitbod you only see today's session, and you want to know the week's lifts before you plan your days.

App	What it does here	For this lifter
Fitbod	Builds each workout from your settings and which muscles have recovered, so the next one isn't fixed until you get there.	Doesn't fit this need; the day-by-day build is the point of it.
Gravl	Plans the whole week ahead, lets you start any of the week's workouts and change their order, and recalculates after each session.	Fits, with the exercises still chosen for you.
RIRLift	Your routines are fixed, so the week is known in advance, and the recap and home screen show next session's weights. Free.	Fits if you're happy to pick the plan or let Coach draft it.

Both Gravl and RIRLift show the week before you start it; only RIRLift keeps the same lifts in it.

Same leg day every week, after generated workouts

You left a workout generator for a fixed plan. Hack squat and pec deck are now on the same day every week, so each session is compared to the last.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Hack Squat	250 lb, 10 / 9 / 8 reps, 2 left	250 lb × 9	Not every set reached 12, so the weight holds. The weakest set hit its target of 8, so the target moves to 9.
Pec Deck Fly	100 lb, 15 / 15 / 15 reps, 1 left	110 lb × 10	Every set at the top of 10–15: one step up the stack, reps back to 10.

Each lift moved at its own speed, and both moves came from sets you did, not the day of the week.

Plans for a lifter leaving Gravl or Fitbod

• The best workout plan for muscle gain, for where you are now

  Past a year of lifting, gains have stalled

  Hack squat and more weekly sets, the same lifts twice a week, for when generated workouts stopped moving you.

  4× a week · 76 sets a week · ~50 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

• The best workout routine for the days you can train

  3 days a week: full body

  Three days of the same full-body sessions, easy to compare week to week.

  3× a week · 51 sets a week · ~45 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

Make it fit you

• Start with one honest set

  RIRLift doesn't import from Gravl or Fitbod. On a lift it hasn't seen, it starts light and asks for one set of as many good reps as you can, then prescribes from it.

• Generate a single session when you want one

  Under Start empty workout, AI generate workout builds one session from a sentence, for days you'd have opened Fitbod.

• Log reps left on every set

  Instead of one rating per exercise, log how many reps you had left after each set. The next set adjusts in the session.

• Pick a pace

  Settings has Steady, Standard and Push. With Ask first, next session's weights wait on the recap until you confirm.

When a different app fits better

• You want a new workout every session and recovery on a body map. Fitbod, which builds around recovered muscles.
• You want the week planned for you, on Android or Garmin. Gravl, on iPhone, Android, Apple Watch, Wear OS and Garmin.
• You're on Android at all. Gravl or Fitbod. RIRLift is iPhone and Apple Watch only.

Questions

Read next

• Gravl review: what it does with your sets

  How Gravl's rep ladder and pricing work in detail.

• Fitbod on Apple Watch, and an app that runs on the Watch alone

  What Fitbod's Watch app needs the iPhone for.

• Gravl vs Hevy

  A planned week against a log you write yourself.

• How RIRLift picks your next weight

  The rules behind the hack squat and pec deck numbers.

• The AI workout planner that keeps planning after day one

  A plan drafted for you, then weights set from what you log.

• Fitbod review: who it's worth paying for

  Is Fitbod worth it, and who it suits.

• Fitbod alternatives, free and paid

  Every app worth leaving Fitbod for, ranked.

More ways lifters use RIRLift

• Gravl review: what it does with your sets

  How Gravl plans your week and picks each weight, what it costs, and when another app fits better.

• Fitbod on Apple Watch, and an app that runs on the Watch alone

  Fitbod's Watch app needs the iPhone to start and swap. RIRLift starts, swaps and sets weights on the wrist.

• The AI workout planner that keeps planning after day one

  A plan built for your goal, gym and week, with every weight set from what you actually lifted.

Every lifter and goal