Strava, the fitness app with more than 180 million users worldwide, has announced the introduction of "Instant Workouts" for all subscribers. The new function, which can be found in the carousel view at the top of the feed, analyses users' previous activity data and generates personalised training recommendations. According to the company, the suggestions are intended to help users stay active on a regular basis and provide new training impetus. The recommendations are based on individual training history and are generated for four different training goals ("Maintain", "Build", "Explore" or "Recover") and for more than 40 different sports. Since the first test of the function with a limited user group in November 2025, running and strength training recommendations have proved particularly popular. According to Strava, 85 per cent of user feedback on the recommendations was positive.
"Instant Workout" function from Strava
The "Instant Workouts" function is aimed at both beginners and experienced athletes. The recommendations are intended to provide inspiration and structure for people who are just starting to exercise regularly or want to get back into it after a break. Users with already established training routines could use the suggestions to bring new variety into their daily training routine. The personalisation of the recommendations improves continuously as more activities are uploaded, Strava explains. As a result, the training suggestions will be better and better tailored to the individual needs and preferences of users.
Automatic route generation
A special feature of "Instant Workouts" is the automatic route generation for GPS-based activities. For training sessions that require a route, the app creates a customised route that starts directly at the user's current location. According to Strava, these routes are generated by the app's own "heat map", which consists of billions of activities from the community and shows where runners, cyclists and other athletes are actually travelling. The function also provides context for each recommendation: for each training suggestion, the app gives a reason as to what benefits this type of training offers. This is intended to help users learn more about certain types of training and understand how they fit into their personal training history.
New function to be developed further
For some users, the weekly recommendations may also include workouts from trusted partners such as Runna. These expert workouts offer professionally created workouts that are integrated into the personalised recommendations. Strava announced that "Instant Workouts" will be further developed in the coming weeks and months. Planned improvements include the ability to send workouts directly to Garmin or Apple devices and improved step-by-step guidance during training. These enhancements are intended to further improve the user experience and make the function even more practical.
Kristian Bauer
Editor
