Bend: Stretching & Flexibility

I was having a really hard time staying motivated to stretch every day to get my splits, and my dance teacher recommended this app to me. It’s awesome because it really motivates you to stretch. It has a daily streak, and to keep up the streak, you have to do stretching every day, which is motivating. Plus the app is just motivating in general because it’s really fun to use. It’s really cool how you can tell it what specific areas you need to work on and what your focus is and it creates a whole entire custom routine for you. it has little timers for the routine, and after each stretch or when it’s time to move to the other side for that stretch, it plays a beeping noise and tells you on the screen, so it’s easy to tell when to move onto the next one. And you can share your routines to friends and try out each other’s routines! Plus, it shows you how to do each stretch with a person demonstrating the stretch as well as written directions underneath. This app is amazing, it helps me stretch every day!!

This app has helped me to slowly add/regain flexibility. It's probably helping me to manage pain too but that's harder to assess. I appreciate the picture guides, and the beeps are helpful as I move through the routines I know. As a busy person with young kids, the streak feature isn't so helpful for me. Life happens, and the all-or-nothing nature of streaks is that when they're broken, you return to zero. I would much rather set a goal like "stretch 25 out of 30 days". This is the biggest issue with the app for me. Streak nagging is why I quit Duolingo and I don't want this app to turn into that. Other wants: some kind of beep when the transition timer is done would be nice. Information about adjustments for stretches I can't do would be really helpful.i said I was a beginner, and some of the stuff still requires a higher degree of flexibility and fitness than I have right now. I've had to figure those out on my own. Dark mode would be a nice touch as well. And finally... pausing a routine shouldn't zero out the transition timer between stretches. Give me those seconds back!

This app, like many of the fitness/body wellness apps, has a solid foundation of having different programs that meet different needs — targeting certain body areas, time frames, etc., but there’s no guidance. For example, when you set up the app, it asks you a variety of questions to learn about you. But it doesn’t really structure a program tailored to you, where you currently are at in your wellness journey, or your needs. You click beginner, but in all of the programs you have five seconds to transition into the next pose/stretch with no auditory or visual guidance as to how to properly do that. It’ll give you five seconds to go from a back bending pose to a lunge pose. That doesn’t make sense nor is it healthy. They have a little button you can click on to read how to properly do a pose but you’d have to stop the timer so you can read without wasting the time you’re given to do the pose. That’s not effective, and one of the reasons I wouldn’t pay for this app. For beginners, and all levels really, it’s more efficient to be guided in a visual and auditory manner. That makes it more inclusive, mindful, effective and unique.