BetterMen vs. Onyx: Which Fitness App Has More Muscle?
While BetterMen is the more popular choice for home workouts, Onyx gives you a cheaper option that’s worth the price.
It’s no secret that many people are stuck working from home, and their workout routines have changed. If you’re one who’s looking to find something that has little or no equipment involved, as an app focused company, where we spend a lot of time researching and experimenting with apps, we found two that stand out from the crowd — BetterMen: Home Workout and Onyx.
So let’s compare the well know BetterMen: Home Workout with a little hidden gem called Onyx. To start, Onyx has a 4.9 rating on the App Store while BetterMen: Home Workout has a 4.5. BetterMe has a large offering of different BetterMe apps but we’ll focus on BetterMen: Home Workout. It’s also important to note that we have no affiliate agreement with either of these apps.
So, between the two apps, I’m going to compare the ease of use/functionality, workouts, incentives, and price.
EASE OF USE/FUNCTIONALITY
BetterMen: Home Workout’s user interface is pretty straightforward. Once logged in, you have three areas you can access and personalize — Profile, Food, and Workout. You can access all the workouts and then you can see the At Home options, and in Profile, you can further personalize your workout and diet.
I found in my research that Onyx is sometimes overlooked. The UI is pretty easy to follow and you start by personalizing your goals. On the main page, you can access your Home screen, Activity, Friends & Profile. As you can see, the options on Onyx are more robust than BetterMen. With even more options and functionality with Up Next, Categories, Challenges, and Programs, you can pick and choose to keep the workouts new and fresh, and it’s all laid out nicely for easy navigation.
WORKOUTS
With BetterMen, there are 11 plans plus one covering workouts for Gym or At Home. We like being able to pick what exercise to do but, for some, having too many choices and no guidance may not work. The exercises themselves are varied and easy to follow. Simply choose the workout you want, then click “Start Workout” and away you go. The exercise is timed and breaks are added if you want them but you can also skip through them if you want by clicking “Next”. I like that there is a video showing you how to do the exercise with proper form.
There is also a food plan included in this app as an extra element that Onyx does not have. It gives you five daily meal ideas that you can personalize depending on your dietary preferences along with recipes. If you are looking for guidance as to what workout to do first, that’s up to you. There seems to be no specific system to follow, just plans with an assortment of timed workouts ranging in difficulty from Easy, Medium, and Hard.
Onyx takes at home app workouts to another level in comparison to BetterMen. Once you choose the workout you want, you set up a camera to see you while you are exercising. You just line up the camera and click Start Workout.
There are lots of exercises depending on the workout you choose. The cool thing about the AI is that the coach can see your movement and if you are doing the exercise correctly or at all. And like BetterMen, you can also see the coach doing the exercise with proper form.
INCENTIVES
All right, so what about incentives? In other words, what’s going to keep you coming back? We like that you can pick different exercises, body parts, and lengths of workout with BetterMen. Also, BetterMen does track your progress and allows you to share on social media. But if you aren’t disciplined, it might be tough to motivate yourself, but that’s up to you.
We like the fact that the AI coach sees you and knows if you are doing the exercise properly or at all, and cheers you on. We also like the congrats at the end, and that you can share to social media if you want.
Another plus are the Challenges and Programs options just to have competition with others and accountability baked in .
PRICING
Pricing is pretty straight forward and subject to change.
Onyx: Annual $59.99 or $14.99/month (7-day free trial).
BetterMen: Annual $119.99 or $9.99/month. (3-day trial).
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Conclusion
So BetterMen has a basic and easy to use interface and gives a nice combo of exercises for the entire body along with a personalized meal plan. The exercises as a program are not designed to give you a specific system. It’s designed for more of a range of exercises that you can cherry-pick for yourself depending on what you want to work on, what your skill level is, and/or what are your limitations. I do like that I can mix up my time working out.
But if you aren’t a self-starter or just thrive with a coach or even some accountability, this might not be the app for you. Onyx is a very robust app that offers customization and a wide range of exercises. Furthermore, there is an AI coach that literally keeps an eye on you, and even nudges you when you need correcting, along with incentivizing accountability features to keep you motivated and inspired. For me, the AI coach and the additional Challenge and Program features makes Onyx the better bargain.
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