Strong is a focused, polished strength tracker that serious lifters trust. But once you run, cycle, care about recovery, or want to know if your body is ready to train hard today, Strong has no answer.
FITIV is the alternative for athletes who want their strength tracking embedded in a complete training picture, one that includes HRV readiness, recovery scores, training load, and cardio in a single app.
What Strong Does Well
Strong's exercise library includes more than 200 built-in exercises, each with written instructions and an animated demonstration. The set-logging flow is fast and minimal: load exercise, enter weight and reps, hit confirm, rest timer starts. For athletes whose entire focus is barbell or machine work, that simplicity is a real strength.
Strong's templates make it easy to save and repeat your routines, and lifters running a simple progressive barbell program like Starting Strength or StrongLifts 5x5 can set it up as a template in minutes. And the plate calculator, which tells you exactly how to load a bar to a target weight, is a small but useful feature for regular barbell athletes.
If you train exclusively with weights and have zero interest in cardio tracking, HRV, or recovery scores, Strong is a well-built tool for that narrow job.
What Athletes Find Missing in Strong
No readiness or recovery data
Strong logs your workouts, but it can't tell you if you're ready to train: it has no HRV measurement, recovery score, or fatigue tracking. If you show up tired, overtrained, or under-recovered (say you slept four hours before a heavy deadlift day), Strong records the session without flagging that you're compounding a problem.
Athletes who use WHOOP, Athlytic, or Oura alongside Strong are running two separate apps to cover what FITIV handles in one.
No cardio or outdoor tracking
Strong can log a cardio exercise, but it has no GPS. Once you leave the building for a run, a bike ride, or a rowing session, you need a second app. FITIV handles all of it.
Training load has no cardio context
If you ran a hard tempo run Tuesday, Strong has no idea when you squat Wednesday. It logs the squat in isolation. FITIV's training load counts every workout, runs and lifts alike, through your heart rate, in one rolling number that reflects your accumulated fatigue.
What FITIV Adds That Strong Does Not
Each morning, FITIV turns your overnight HRV, resting heart rate, and sleep (from your Apple Watch, Garmin, or Fitbit) into a Recovery score, compared against your own typical range. That gives you a measured read on how recovered you are, separate from how you feel. FITIV then combines Recovery with your recent strain and training load into one Training Readiness score. When readiness is high, push hard and go for PRs; when it's low, reduce volume and protect adaptation.
Training load uses TRIMP and TSS: every workout, cardio and strength, contributes to a rolling load metric through its heart rate. The Training Summary card on the Today tab shows your Short Term (ATL) and Long Term (CTL) load and a bar for the ratio between them; tap it for Today's Training Status, such as Optimal or Overreaching. These are the same kind of metrics professional endurance coaches use.
Progressive overload recommendations: During an iPhone workout or while editing a template, tap the ⋯ menu on an exercise and choose Apply Progressive Overload, and FITIV suggests weight, reps, RIR, and rest for your next session from your recent history with that exercise. The help center's guide to RIR and progressive overload walks through it.
GPS running and cycling: Full GPS tracking with heart rate zones, pace, distance, elevation, and post-workout load calculation. It all sits alongside your strength sessions in the same app.
Bluetooth HR monitor support: Polar H10, Wahoo TICKR, Scosche Rhythm+, and other BLE heart rate monitors connect directly to FITIV. Chest straps like the H10 are usually more accurate than the wrist during lifting and intervals.
Feature Comparison: FITIV vs Strong
| Feature | FITIV | Strong |
|---|---|---|
| Strength tracking (sets, reps, weight) | Yes | Yes (best-in-class) |
| Custom exercises | Yes | Yes |
| Exercise database | Hundreds of exercises, plus custom exercises | 200+ exercises with demonstrations, plus custom exercises |
| Apple Watch app | Set logging, live heart rate, readiness | Set logging, live heart rate |
| Progressive overload tracking | Yes (progressive overload recommendations, with RIR tracking) | Yes |
| Estimated 1RM and PRs | Yes | Yes |
| Plate calculator | Yes (standard, short, and EZ bars) | Yes |
| Workout templates | Yes (build your own, or from a photo or description) | Yes (build your own) |
| HRV readiness score | Yes | No |
| Recovery score | Yes | No |
| Training load (TRIMP/TSS) | Yes | No |
| GPS running/cycling | Yes | No |
| Heart rate zones | Yes | No zone tracking |
| Bluetooth HR monitor support | Yes (Polar H10, Wahoo TICKR) | No |
| Garmin | Direct Garmin Connect sync for workouts, sleep, and HRV, plus Garmin heart rate broadcast as a live sensor | No |
| VO2 max tracking | Yes | No |
| Sleep tracking integration | Yes | No |
| Community challenges | Yes | No |
Who Should Switch from Strong to FITIV
FITIV is the right Strong alternative if:
- You train for both strength and cardio and want one app for both
- You want a readiness score that tells you whether to go heavy today
- You use a Bluetooth HR monitor (Polar H10, Wahoo TICKR) or Garmin alongside your lifting
- You want training load to reflect your runs and rides, not just your gym sessions
Who Should Stay on Strong
Strong remains the better choice if:
- Your training is exclusively gym-based with zero cardio component
- You've built up years of templates and history in Strong and don't want to switch
If you do switch, Strong workouts saved to Apple Health still reach FITIV: it imports the last 30 days automatically, and you can add older ones from the History tab with + → Add From Apple Health. They arrive with duration and heart rate, without the sets.
For a side-by-side breakdown, see FITIV vs Strong.
Strong is a trademark of Strong Fitness PTE. Ltd. Apple Watch and Apple Health are trademarks of Apple Inc. Other product names are trademarks of their respective owners. FITIV is not affiliated with or endorsed by the companies mentioned.
Competitor details checked October 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does FITIV import workout history from Strong?
FITIV does not import set-by-set history from Strong. It does bring in the workouts already in Apple Health, so Strong sessions saved there count toward your training load with their duration and heart rate, without the sets. To rebuild your routines, photograph or describe them and FITIV's Text and Image to Workout feature turns them into templates. If you've been wearing an Apple Watch, FITIV also uses your existing Apple Health history, so your scores and personal ranges start from that data.
Can FITIV replace both Strong and a recovery app like Athlytic?
Yes. FITIV is designed specifically to replace the combination of a gym tracker plus a separate recovery app. If you currently use Strong for lifting and Athlytic or WHOOP for readiness, FITIV brings both into one app.
Does FITIV work for pure strength athletes who do not run?
Yes. Even if you never do cardio, FITIV's HRV readiness and recovery scores will tell you whether to push hard or pull back on a given training day. The readiness score is particularly useful for strength athletes because heavy sessions on poorly recovered days tend to feel harder and go worse.
How does FITIV handle rest timers?
FITIV includes configurable rest timers on both iPhone and Apple Watch. Set your default rest duration once in your weightlifting settings, adjust it during a workout, and get an alert when the rest period ends, without needing to look at your phone.
Is FITIV's exercise database large enough for serious lifters?
FITIV's library includes hundreds of exercises covering the compound movements and accessory work most gym athletes use regularly, with the ability to add custom exercises. For specialized powerlifting movements or a specific accessory you do not find, you can create a custom exercise. For most training programs, FITIV's coverage is more than sufficient.
