Burn by Cara Loren

For the longest time I have been looking for an app that suits my workout style after I finished my previous program. I came across many and they were either too easy or too slow. The burn app felt perfect for me for upper body because it has a lot of circuit training in the home and in the gym programs both. If you like circuit training (3-4 back to back exercises with no rest in between exercises, 30 second rest at the end of each set) then this app is perfect for you. You can do light weights or you can start off with a weight that suits your strength level, but either way it will be intense throughout the circuit and you’ll be sweating halfway through the workout. Each workout session has a lot of different exercises (3-4 exercises in each circuit, 5-6 circuits in each session depending on the program you select). I haven’t gone more than a week yet so I’m not sure if there are 1-2 new exercises added & replaced every two weeks like they did in my old program. Cons: The only thing I don’t like about this app is that it still needs a lot of structural/ formatting improvement meaning that at the beginning of each session we should be able to see all the exercises listed we are about to do in that session. I won’t know what I’m doing unless I keep pressing next. There also is no voice to announce each exercise and the reps and sets to let you know in case you can’t look at your phone screen. I think that would be very helpful. There should also be a workout history section of all the workouts you completed for you to be able to look back at, as well as a section for progress photos which can be helpful with motivation. For the lower body sessions, they all seem to be in circuits in this app. I think there should also be sessions included focusing on each exercise solely instead of just circuits. Overall, the app is very simple to work through and straight to the point.

I hate to be this way, but after trying both FORM and Madeline Moves, I can assure you this app is a waste of money. For $24 A MONTH you get only 6 workouts that you repeat for 12 weeks. Why would I continue to pay $24 a month for 4 months ($96) for the same 6 workouts? I understand Cara likes “consistency” but maybe if that’s the case, drop the price down… Also, the workouts in itself are not thought through. They seem like someone spent 5 min max putting together a workout that I could have made myself. My “challenge” consists of the same 6 workouts a week with each workout having 4 circuits. Each circuit has one random cardio exercise at the end of each set. I also would love to be able to look through each workout the day before without having to take 15 min to skip through each exercise and rest. Also a great idea would be to do normal days where there is different exercises each week so that if you didn’t want to do the same 6 workouts a week or just didn’t want to do a challenge, you could do that which would make the money more worth it. I just think that for $24 it could have had waayyy more thought put into it. It doesn’t seem like the app has even took into consideration all the constructive reviews it has gotten because they seem to have the same issues I have as well.

I wish there was sound with the app that counted down the last 3 seconds of rest / of times exercise. I wish there was a preview page of what your workout would be so you know what equipment you need and are ready for the first exercise (these are all aspects of the SWEAT app which if consider the gold standard since it’s been around for so long and I’m surprised the creators didn’t take note of some of the more helpful features). I like that you can choose different levels of workout each day, I don’t like that all that means is that if you want in intense day you might be doing 100 reps of an exercise at one time or 3 min of burpees at one time rather than maybe adding a circuit, adding weight, or adding a few more challenging full body moves. I also like that each circuit does one standard movement, an ab movement and a HIIT movement I think this is unique to this all as most exercise programs focus on body part/circuit. I feel like it would be nicer to have more control of your schedule, instead of having it give you 7 days of workouts I should be allowed to assign what days I want to use the app - M, W, F for example to allow for other types of exercise other days of the week while still keeping you “on track” according to the app.