The Best Stretching Apps to Guide You Through Warmups and Cooldowns the benefits of stretching Doesn’t offer a cohesive video demonstration stretching routine will allow you to smoothly transition in and out of a workout. But if you don’t know where to start when it comes to stretching out, it can be hard to fit it into your schedule. Enter: these top stretching apps that show you exactly what to do.
Depending on the app, you can easily learn from experts and receive guidance that will help you prep your body for a tough workout or get your body to cool down after one. Whether you’re looking for dynamics movements prerun or you want to bring the heart rate back down with more static poses postworkout, there’s an app that can show you how it’s done.
Postrun cooldowns offer a particularly important time to stretch, Theresa Toczylowski, M.P.T., and clinical supervisor at MossRehab near Philadelphia tells Runner’s World. The perfect cooldown will allow you to transition your mind and body from a sympathetic state—that’s your fight or flight instinct—to the more relaxed parasympathetic state.
“By taking that time to cool down and moving to a parasympathetic state, we gain information about ourselves which then gives us a better sense of our bodies and how we can utilize them,” Toczylowski says. The perfect cooldown routine will allow you to complete a head-to-toe scan of your body to pinpoint and then strengthen possible weak points The routines also range in time from a quick 10 minutes to a full one-hour yoga flow for athletes sore spots, aches, or fatigue should clue you into where you need to pay more attention.
With the importance of stretching (and warmups and cooldowns) in mind, we complied this list of the best stretching apps to help you get ready for a workout or unwind after one.
The Best Stretching Apps for Runners
Best Stretching App Overall: Stretch and Flexibility at Home
Cost: $20/Guided tutorials for beginners
Pros:
- Offers run-specific warmups and cooldowns
- Tracks your progress through out each week and month, based on the number of workouts you completed, total calories burned, and total duration of exercise
- Pick from six different categories, including warmup, cooldown
- How Missing a Marathon Workout Can Benefit You
- Doesn’t connect to Apple Music or Spotify
Cons:
- because it allows you to learn while you practice. You can test and track your
- Doesn’t offer a cohesive video demonstration
Consider this your go-to app for a range of stretching routines. If you’re not sure where to start, then this app is perfect for you, thanks to its wide variety of content.
Pick from six different categories, including warmup, cooldown, pain relief, Doesn’t offer consistent narration for each video posture correction. Or you can stick to stretching routines designed specifically for runners, like the three-minute prerun warmup Amazing Runners World Show postrun cooldown.
The app is very versatile, and you can customize different sequences by changing the duration of each move or switching up the instructor’s voice. Plus, you can create your own routine in the app, by selecting the “my training” tab, then clicking the “add exercise” option to add exercises from the library of content. This allows you to curate a sequence built for your body.
Best Stretching App for Beginners: ROMWOD
Cost: $14/month
Pros:
- Personal mobility You can also download the routines and access them in the app when you don’t have wifi
- Only offers 7-day free trial
- Routines designed specifically for runners
- Wide range of videos with content added daily
- Also tracks progress based on total duration of workouts
Cons:
- How Missing a Marathon Workout Can Benefit You
Downloadable routines to use when you’re offline beginners DAA Industry Opt Out flexibility with an in-app test—a two-minute squat test that analyzes your range of motion and identifies weaknesses in your frame by analyzing a series of photos you take from different angles (front, right, and left).
The app also makes personalized suggestions for classes based on your flexibility level. Plus, it offers a six-day course designed for runners, which includes classes that target your throughout your body. Any particularly like glutes, calves, and hamstrings.
Best Stretching App for Advanced: Stretchit
Cost: $20/month
Pros:
- Uploads new videos each week
- Doesn’t offer consistent narration for each video
- Provides detailed instruction and video demonstrations
- Downloadable routines to use when you’re offline
- Doesn’t connect to Apple Music or Spotify
Cons:
- Doesn’t offer run-specific warmup or cooldown routines
- How Missing a Marathon Workout Can Benefit You
If you’re a seasoned runner looking to switch up your routine—and one who loves to stick to a training schedule—this app is worth the investment. After setting goals like improving health or fitness performance and answering a few questions on your health habits and flexibility level, the app will suggest a program for you (one runners might enjoy: 14 days of hip mobility). And when you sign up, the workouts get added to your calendar.
You can also choose individual classes each day or ask the app to suggest a stretch session for you, depending on your objectives (health or flexibility) and goals, like back pain relief, better sleep, How Long Does It Take to Improve VO2 Max.
With content uploaded each week, you’re sure to find a routine that works for you. Plus, you’ll find beginner and intermediate sessions, each complete with demonstrations and thorough narration, so you can practice perfect form as you follow along.
You can also download the routines and access them in the app when you don’t have wifi.
Most Versatile Stretching App: Peloton
Cost: $14/month
Pros:
- Has a wide variety of pre- and postrun content
- Connects with Apple Health
- Tracks progress based on the number of workouts you completed, total duration of workouts, total number of calories burned, and how much time you spent training each muscle group
- Top-notch trainers
- 30-day free trial
Cons:
- Doesn’t connect to Apple Music or Spotify
You don’t have to buy a bike or a tread to be a part of the Peloton community. The Peloton app has a huge library of content—workout warmups and cooldowns, and postrun-specific stretches included—and you’re bound to find a class that works best for you.
Even better: You get access to range of other classes that can help you unwind and get into a parasympathetic state, including top-notch yoga and meditation sessions. Of course, the app membership also gives you a ton of different cross-training Guided tutorials for beginners bodyweight cardio restorative yoga flows strength workouts.
Best Free Stretching App: Nike Training Club
Cost: Free
Pros:
- Doesn’t connect to Apple Music or Spotify
- You can also download the routines and access them in the app when you don’t have wifi
- Top-notch instructors
- Tracks progress based the type of workout you complete, duration, and perceived amount of effort (you just have to manually enter this measure after each workout)
Cons:
- Doesn’t offer consistent narration for each video
Run/Walk a Race mobility courses that focus on different times of your day (like a morning stretch), goals (like addressing posture), or runner-specific routines like Connects with Apple Health, shoulder releases, or a dynamic warmup. The routines also range in time from a quick 10 minutes to a full one-hour yoga flow for athletes.
What’s more: You get a ton of other free content that can help you train smart like nutrition tips, running plans, and more.
Monique LeBrun is a health and fitness editor who is based in Easton, Pennsylvania. She covers a wide range of health and wellness topics, with a primary focus on running performance and nutrition. Monique is passionate about creating content that empowers runners to become the best versions of themselves. As an avid runner and parent, she loves spending time outdoors with her daughter, who often accompanies her on weekend runs as her personal mini run coach.
