Full disclosure, I originally wrote this blog post about 4 years ago when I was actively using Madeline Moves (now Moves App). I had a great experience with Madeline Moves, and this was a really popular review of the Moves App, but I wanted to be sure to update it so it’s as up-to-date and relevant as possible.
If you’ve seen Moves App or have followed Madeline on Instagram and wondered if it’s a good fit for you, this article will definitely help. I’m a personal trainer and macro coach who used Moves App for a few years and loved it – I’m excited to share my experience with you.
Why I Tried Madeline Moves’ App
Back in 2019, after having my second baby, I was looking for a way to drop the baby weight and get back in shape. Prior to delivering my baby, I was a pre and post-natal fitness coach, coaching women in person, but after having my baby, I was homebound and needed to find a fitness program that allowed me to work out from home.
I had been playing around with Beachbody (now BODi) for a couple of years, dabbling in various workouts like 21 Day Fix, but I only had 5 lb dumbbells, so I really wasn’t seeing great results. And, to be fair, I wasn’t following the program to a T either. I was also a cardio queen – growing up in the 90s and early 2000s, cardio was the preferred method of exercise for weight loss amongst women. We were taught that lifting weights would make us bulky, so we didn’t do it. Or, if we did, we used super light weights (hence my 5 lb dumbbells).
However, around this time, I started following some women on Instagram who had lean, “toned” bodies, and I loved the look. No matter how much running and cardio I did, my body always looked and felt soft. Madeline was one of the trainers that I was following at this time, she was sharing a ton of at-home workouts because it was during the pandemic when gyms weren’t open. I was really attracted to the type of workouts she was sharing and the results she was getting, but I was still pretty nervous to fully commit to weight training.
At some point, after working my tail off doing random cardio workouts and HIIT training, I decided to just go for it. I signed up for one of Madeline’s Tighter Together challenges. These challenges included 4 weeks of workouts plus custom macros (my first introduction to macros!).
I was really excited but also nervous. I had watched from the sidelines for months and learned so much about how body recomposition worked (decreasing body fat and increasing muscle mass) and the benefits of strength training and adding muscle to your frame, and I finally felt ready to go for it.
Tighter Together Challenge
My experience with Madeline Moves started with one of her Tighter Together challenges, so I started there. The challenge was set to run for 4 weeks and included 4 weeks of workouts, a custom macro count, and some recipes in an ebook. Madeline and the Moves App still run these challenges a couple of times per year, and they remain insanely popular.
The workouts in the Tighter Together challenge are pretty intense. There are a lot of exercises laid out in single sets, supersets, and circuits. Most of these workouts contain 10 or more exercises, which is a lot. The workouts are “go-at-your-own-pace,” meaning they aren’t follow-along workout videos – I was a little nervous about that style at first, but ended up falling in love with it. These days, I can’t imagine following a workout routine that requires me to keep up with an instructor on the screen.
The workouts took an hour or more to complete, which felt pretty intense, but that was the goal. Today, Moves App offers users the option of selecting a 30 or 60 minute workout, but the general feedback from users is that the workouts still take quite a bit longer than those timeframes each day.
The Tighter Together workouts felt fun, challenging, and new for me. It was a different style of training for me. It challenges me, and I definitely saw good results from sticking with the workouts and trying my hand at macros during the challenge. One of the best parts about the Tighter Together challenge was the community. I ended up finding and connecting with multiple other women who were doing the challenge, and we had some camaraderie on Instagram. Once the challenge was over, Madeline encouraged members to join her weekly moves membership, where you got a new set of workouts to do each week. I enjoyed the workout format, so I went ahead and joined.
Using the Weekly Moves Membership
The workouts in the Weekly Moves Membership were very similar to those in the Tighter Together challenge, but slightly less intense. There were still a lot of exercises and circuits within each workout, and I still found myself needing at least an hour to complete each one. By the end of all of the workouts, I usually felt pretty exhausted, but my body was experiencing changes that looked and felt good. This is what a lot of people call “newbie gains,” which is essentially the results you get rather quickly when you’re new to consistently lifting weights.
I ended up slowly adding more equipment to my home gym so that I could complete the workouts successfully and keep progressing. I added some heavier dumbbells, got a bench, and made sure I had the right bands to be able to do all of the workouts from home without a struggle.
After about two years of being consistent with Moves App, I stopped seeing any new physical changes; my body was more or less staying the same. This also coincided with heading into my mid 30s, and I started to notice that the high-intensity workouts that used to work really well for me were no longer working. My body was changing, and the more research I did into training and how to get the best results as a woman over 35, the more I realized that I really needed to be focusing more on building muscle through progressive overload vs constantly trying to “keep my muscles guessing” through novelty and new exercises each week.
Madeline’s program delivers 5 new workouts every week, which can feel really fun and exciting at first and can definitely deliver results, but there comes a point, for many women, when that training style fails to deliver the same results. There also comes a point where that style of training becomes exhausting – from super long workouts to high reps and circuit training, it’s the type of workout that can drain your energy, especially as you get into midlife and beyond.
Switching to Progressive Overload
During this time, I was doing a ton of research into fitness, training, and how to get the best results without feeling overwhelmed. I went back to “school” and got re-certified as a personal trainer and also became a certified macro coach. I saw such great results from pairing strength training with a macro-friendly approach to nutrition that I wanted to learn more and be able to help others do the same.
I started to realize that, although I loved Madeline and had enjoyed her workouts, I would need to make a change if I wanted to keep seeing progress. This became even more evident when my body basically decided to revolt against me when I turned 35. I was working so hard in the gym and doing a ton of extra cardio, and my body more or less got overwhelmed. I gained a good 15-20 lbs and, no matter what I did, I couldn’t get the weight off.
It was at this point that I decided, enough was enough, I needed to use my knowledge and training to change my approach to fitness and nutrition and follow a plan that was optimized for building muscle and feeling good without burning out. I took the knowledge I had and built my own fitness program and app. The Simply Strong App was built out of my desire to find a progressive overload program that still kept things fun and interesting while also delivering results and respecting time constraints. It’s really hard to maintain workouts that take over an hour per day as a busy, full-time working mom.
I built the Simply Strong App based on my experience with Moves App and a few others – I really couldn’t find the exact program I was looking for, which prompted me to build my own. Progressive overload, which is gradually increasing load and getting stronger over time, is the key to lasting body composition changes, and it requires that you repeat exercises for at least 4 weeks at a time and track your weights and reps so that you can make progress week to week.
Progressive overload is vital for building muscle. You have to give your muscles a reason to change, and that is applied via continually increasing load (weight, reps, sets) to your exercises each week. If you’re constantly switching up the exercises you’re performing, you’re not allowing yourself the chance to improve on them. This basic strength training principle is the foundation of the Simply Strong App.
My Approach to Fitness Now
To be clear, this review is not to bash Moves App or Madeline in any way – it’s a great program that served me well during the time that I used it. I used Moves App as an introduction to real weight training and as a bridge between the random workouts that I used to do and the basic, structured workouts that I do now.
Since switching to the programming in the Simply Strong App, I have gotten stronger, leaner, and more “toned” than ever in my life. I have been able to stop tracking macros and just focus on fueling my body. I lost the 15-20 lbs that I gained when I was doing too much and have kept that off for almost 2 years now. And I’ve discovered a love and appreciation for the concept of progressive overload, which gives me a “me vs me” mentality every time I step into my garage gym.
This is what works for me now, and I can’t imagine doing it any other way. I strength train in the Simply Strong App 3-5x per week for 30 minutes and focus on walking as my preferred cardio. My approach to fitness is much more relaxed and intentional than it ever was before, and my body has responded so well to this approach as I age. These days, as a woman in her late 30s, my focus is on protecting my body, building strength, and making sure that I age gracefully, not on how many calories I can burn.
If you’re reading this and wondering if Madeline Moves’ App is a good fit for you, I want you to know that it’s a great program, but I’d also encourage you to consider the results you’re seeking, the time you have to dedicate to working out each day, and whether or not you need more novelty in your workouts to stick with them. The truth is, the best workout plan is the one that you can be consistent with. I’m going to add a comparison chart below that shows the differences between the Moves App and the Simply Strong App. I encourage you to do your research and try the app that feels like the best fit for you. It may even take trying multiple apps to discover the one that works best for you and delivers the best results.
Simply Strong vs Moves App
| Vs | Simply Strong App | Moves App |
|---|---|---|
| Primary modality: | Weight training | Weight training |
| Home vs Gym: | Home-based (all moves are dumbbell-based, but users with gym access can swap) | Home-based (some moves use gym machines, but she provides home alternatives) |
| Equipment required: | Weights, bench, bands | Weights, bench, bands, med balls |
| Workouts per week: | Up to 5, can choose 3 or 4 | 5 |
| Time commitment: | 30 or 45 minutes workout options | 30 or 60 minutes workout options |
| Workout Split | 2 lower body, 2 upper body, 1 full body | 1 lower body, 2 upper body, 1 conditioning/cardio, 1 full body |
| Focus: | Progressive overload, strength-based | Weekly new workouts, mainly strength-based but with a mixture of cardio and HIIT |
| New workout frequency: | Every 4 weeks there are new workouts | Every week there are new workouts |
| Access to other programs: | Beginner program, 3-day per week full body program, Macro-Friendly Recipe Membership | Prenatal program, beginner program, endurance program, and strength program |
| Cost: | $24.99/month with over 500 macro-friendly recipes | $20 per month |
| Check out the app: | Simply Strong App | Moves App |
