Ladder app review: what you get for $29.99 a month

Ladder against its closest alternatives

Ladder is the better product if a coach, a team and a voice in your ear are why you train. If you want your own plan with the weight set for you, RIRLift does it free.

What Ladder is, and what to check before you pay

• A coach writes your week

  Each team's coach programs six workouts a week, released Sunday at 9 AM, in 6-week Strength Series with 2-week Open Season deloads between them. You can edit a workout for that day; the edit doesn't carry into next week, and you can't build one from scratch.

• Follow-along and timed

  Every movement has a video demo, a coach voiceover that turns your music down, and a set time. If the clock runs too fast, pace settings add seconds before a movement or pause after each rep.

• Your weights: logged, not picked

  You type reps and weight into the Journal, with last session's numbers beside them. Ladder estimates your one-rep max, marks PRs and shows a Plateau Alert when a lift stalls, suggesting a small increase or more reps. The number is still your call.

• Price and platforms

  $29.99/month for one team with two changes a month, or $179.99/year for every team, after a 7-day trial with no card. iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and a web app; no Android app. Meal and macro logging is in the iPhone app.

• Where RIRLift is different

  RIRLift has no coach and no follow-along classes. You pick or build the plan, log weight, reps and reps in reserve, and the next weight is set after every set and every session. Free, with 4 active routines. How it decides.

  

Ladder and the alternatives in a real week

Two Strength Series in, a Plateau Alert on the incline press

You train six days at a commercial gym on a bodybuilding team and log every set. The Journal says your incline press has stalled and suggests a small increase.

App	What it does here	For this lifter
Ladder	Shows your last records, an estimated one-rep max and the alert. You choose the new weight; next week's workout is still the coach's.	Yes, if the coach's split and the team keep you showing up.
Sweat	Trainer-led gym programs where you log your weights.	A sideways move: a different trainer, the same weight decisions.
RIRLift	You run the six-day push/pull/legs below. The incline press weight is set from your last set, and three sessions without a new rep bring a suggested step back, about 10% lighter, that you accept or skip.	Yes, if you want the plan and the progress without the coach.

Ladder tells you a lift has stalled. RIRLift picks the next weight and offers the step back.

Your own push day, weights set as you go

You left Ladder and kept the gym. Same press machine, same dumbbells; now the number on each set comes from the one before.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Smith Machine Incline Press	Set 1: 125 lb × 10, 4 left (planned 2)	Set 2: 130 lb × 10	14 reps to failure against a planned 12, so 125 × 43 ÷ 41 ≈ 131 lb, loaded as 130 lb.
Arnold Press	35 lb, 12 / 12 / 12 reps, 2 left	40 lb × 8	Every set at the top of 8–12: one 5 lb dumbbell step, reps back to 8.
Machine Lateral Raise	50 lb, 15 / 14 / 12 reps, 1 left	50 lb × 13	The weakest set hit today's target of 12, not the top of 12–20. Same weight, one more rep.

No alert to interpret: the next number was on the screen before you loaded it.

Plans for lifters leaving a coach-led app

• The best workout routine for the days you can train

  6 days a week: push/pull/legs

  Six days, like a bodybuilding team's week, on three routines inside the free four.

  6× a week · 102 sets a week · ~45 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

• The best workout for women, for your week

  Full gym, 3 days a week

  Three full-gym days if six was more than your week holds.

  3× a week · 43 sets a week · ~40 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

Make it fit you

• Start each lift with one honest set

  RIRLift imports from Hevy, Strong and FitNotes, not Ladder. A new lift starts at a light Estimate; do as many good reps as you can on the first set and the rest of the session uses that measurement.

• Reps in reserve instead of a clock

  Ladder runs sets on a timer. Here a set ends when you stop: log how many more reps you had, usually 1 or 2 left.

• Ask Coach for a week like your team's

  Describe it in plain words, six days, bodybuilding split, commercial gym, and review the plan before it applies.

• Pick Ask first if you want the final say

  With Ask first, next session's weights wait on the recap until you confirm them.

When a different app fits better

• A coach's voice and a team are what keep you training. Stay on Ladder. That's what you pay for; RIRLift has friends and challenges, but no coach and no public feed.
• You want HIIT, Pilates or yoga strength days. Ladder or Sweat. RIRLift has no interval timers or classes.
• You're on Android. Sweat or Caliber. Ladder has no Android app, and RIRLift's Android version is a waitlist.

Questions

Read next

• Ladder app alternatives, ranked for lifters

  Seven options, ranked by why you're leaving.

• Ladder vs Sweat

  The closest like-for-like comparison.

• Fitbod vs Ladder

  A generated workout against a coach's week.

• Caliber vs Ladder

  A free tracker with coaching tiers against a team coach.

• How RIRLift picks your next weight

  Where the 130 lb came from.

More ways lifters use RIRLift

• Ladder app alternatives, ranked for lifters

  Seven Ladder alternatives, from free to 1-on-1 coaching, ranked for leaving Ladder to pay less.

• Ladder vs Sweat

  One coach and a team, or a wide trainer library: Ladder and Sweat compared, plus a free option.

• Fitbod vs Ladder

  Fitbod's generated workouts against Ladder's coach-written week, and the free option in between.

• Caliber vs Ladder

  Caliber's free tracker and coaching tiers against Ladder's coach-led team, and a free third option.

Every lifter and goal