I Tried Berg Movement App From Sondre Berg. Here’s My Review.

Calisthenics is trending – so I tried an app and fitness program by one of social media’s top calisthenics athletes. Here’s how I got on…

Fitness Drum’s weekly newsletter recently highlighted the rise of calisthenics and how it’s redefining what strength training can look like.

So… I was keen to personally dive into the world of bodyweight warriors and find the apps, equipment and workouts that are contributing to this surge in popularity.

With close to a million followers across his social media channels, it didn’t take me long until I stumbled across Sondre Berg.

From teaching beginners how to get started with handstands, to impressive planche variations (that wouldn’t look out of place in an Olympics gymnastics routine), I knew Berg Movement was the app I wanted to try first.

From signing up, to following the structured training plans, this review includes lots of screenshots of the app and my own personal experience using it.

In a hurry? Here’s the bottom line… Berg Movement is great app for those looking to follow calisthenics workouts and training plans.

The forum/support, exercise library and structured training plans make it a genuinely useful tool for anyone looking to progress their bodyweight routines. With a 7 day free trial, I think it’s definitely worth giving a go.

Berg Movement – Pros and Cons

Pros

• Fantastic exercise library.
• Variety of workouts and programs to follow.
• Effective calisthenics progressive training.
• Engaged community forum.
• Customize workouts by changing sets/rounds and exercises.

Cons

• No exercise performance tracking.
• No audio cues.
• Some calisthenics exercises and workouts are hard.

What I Like About Berg Movement

Personalized Program Recommendations

Berg Movement includes a quiz that helps suggest the best program for your fitness goals.

This isn’t anything too fancy, but it certainly helps point you in the right direction.

I’d recommend doing this as soon as you sign up, so your first interaction with the content is tailored to your preferences and fitness level.

Also, calisthenics is pretty challenging (it works your strength and cardio), so it’s worth starting with the beginner workouts and progressing over time.

Content Variety

I was pleasantly surprised to see such content variety within Berg Movement.

Handstands, muscle ups and other challenging movements often get all the attention on social media, but I really liked how other useful skills, such as “vertical jump test,” were included too.

A lot of this type of content isn’t as glamorous but is arguably more useful for the every athlete looking to get fitter.

Similarly, there’s also follow along yoga routines to boost recovery and performance.

Community

Berg Movement has by far one of the most engaged community forums and groups for a fitness app.

This is a new feature and definitely adds another dimension to the overall app experience.

There are new posts every day and everyone seems very nice and supportive.

For me, seeing other beginners share their attempts at handstands and other skills helped me better visualize how I might progress over the next few weeks.

Extensive Exercise Library

I was really impressed by the exercise library in Berg Movement.

The app also includes great filters so you can find all the exercises for a specific goal (e.g., upper body mobility, handstands, etc).

I think there’s well over a 1,000 exercises and progressions!

This is where I find myself getting a surprising amount of value from the app, as I use it for daily stretching routines and all sorts too… as well as more structured workouts and fitness plans.

Each exercise is also given a “level” within each category, so you can quickly identify if the exercise is within reach for your current experience. For example, within “horizontal push movements” you can start with an incline push up (level 1) and finish with a 90 degree push up (level 45).

Workout Layout and Quality

I really like the way workouts are displayed within the app. You see the name, a short description, workout length and then you can see which exercises are included in the workout.

You can also modify the number of sets/rounds per block and swap exercises for progressions if you want (allowing you to customize the training).

Once you’re ready, simply tap “start workout” and get ready to break a sweat.

For someone who tends to do more weight lifting style workouts in a gym setting, I found the actual workouts themselves were refreshingly challenging and worked on things beyond just strength and hypertrophy (such as balance, coordination, mobility, and cardiovascular fitness).

You can also skip individual movements if you want, as well as pausing the timer if you want a bit of extra rest.

Simple User Interface

Berg Movement has a very simple, clean layout.

This makes it super easy to find relevant workouts and content.

If you want to find the exercise library, this is found within the “extras” tab.

Quality Exercise Demonstrations

Each exercise has a clear video demonstration and description.

Lots of fitness apps use illustrations for exercise demonstrations which just don’t have the same value as seeing a real human perform these movements, so that’s unquestionably a massive thumbs up for Berg Movement compared to other calisthenics apps I’ve tried.

Things to Consider

No Exercise Performance Tracking

Berg Movement isn’t an exercise tracker, like Alpha Progression or Fitbod, so you won’t have any graphs or illustrations showing your workout history.

This is because the aim is to follow the workouts presented to you, instead of just tracking what you did during your training.

You may find simply recording things like reps/duration of exercises in a spreadsheet helps you visualize your progress over time.

No Audio Cues

There are no audio cues with the exercise demonstrations.

Some Calisthenics Skills are Hard

If you want to master skills like OAHS (one arm handstands), you’ve got to be prepared to work hard. This is a very challenging movement so the training program rightfully reflects this.

Some reviews of Berg Movement criticise the intensity but for me, it has to be a pretty intense schedule if you’re set on mastering such skills.

In the case of OAHS, there is a 5 week program in the app that is high intensity and challenging… but you want to perfect this movement in a quick timeframe, don’t expect any training plan to be “easy”.

How it Compares to Similar Fitness Apps

Berg Movement actually reminds me quite a lot of Sweat (by Kayla Itsines) in how the workouts and training plans are structured – the obvious difference being that Berg Movement is focused on calisthenics as opposed to HIIT routines for women.

Both apps make it very easy to follow workouts and training plans.

Berg Movement isn’t necessarily comparable to weight lifting apps like Fitbod that focus on tracking exercise performance or apps that focus exclusively on following guided workouts.

For a list of other popular fitness apps, check out our guide on the best online fitness programs and workout apps.

Bottom Line

Berg Movement provides a clear path for progressing in calisthenics. The app is easy to use and the workouts and exercise demonstrations are head and shoulders above other calisthenics apps I’ve tried.

The price tag is a little high on the monthly plan, but the annual and lifetime plans are really competitively priced for the value you’re getting too.

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