Strava's New Guided Strength Workouts (October 2026): What You Get and Is It Free?

Strava's new guided strength workouts are coach-designed sessions that show you each exercise with an animated demo and track your sets and reps live while you train. They are not free: Strava is rolling them out to subscribers in the weeks after its 15 October 2026 announcement, although free members get one sample workout to try. If you have ever stood in a gym wondering what to do next, that is a genuinely useful update. Below we cover what Strava announced, what it costs in the UK, what is still to come, and how guided sessions compare with a plan that fits running, strength and HIIT together.

What did Strava announce on 15 October 2026?

In a press release dated 15 October 2026, Strava introduced coach-designed strength workouts that you follow and record inside the Strava app. Strava says the workouts were developed by experienced strength coaches, and that they are rolling out to subscribers over the following few weeks, with a sample workout available to free members.

Strava described strength as one of the fastest-growing activity types on the app. It said the new workout series is designed to remove the biggest barrier to getting started, which is simply not knowing what to do. The same update also added new guided running workouts to Strava's library.

This builds on the strength changes Strava made earlier in the year, including its Workout Log and the muscle maps that shade brighter as you complete more sets. We explained how those maps work in our guide to Strava's strength muscle maps for runners who lift, so this article sticks to what is new.

What do you actually get in a guided strength workout?

Based on Strava's announcement, each guided session includes:

• Coach-designed workouts. Sessions are built by strength coaches, so you follow a set routine rather than piecing one together yourself.
• Animated demos. Each exercise comes with a guided animation, so you can see the movement before you try it.
• Form tips and target muscles. Tap into an exercise to see guidance on good form, extra tips, and the exact muscles it works.
• Live set and rep tracking. You record sets and reps as you go, instead of trying to remember them afterwards.
• Automatic saving. When the workout ends, every exercise, set and rep saves straight to your activity.
• A muscle map update. Your muscle map refreshes to show where the effort went.

The automatic saving is the quiet win here. Logging a strength session by hand is fiddly, and a half-finished log means a muscle map that does not match what you really did. Following a guided workout fills in the detail for you.

Are Strava's guided strength workouts free?

Mostly, no. Strava says the coach-designed workouts are rolling out to subscribers, and free members get one sample workout. That makes the sample a good way to see whether the format suits you before you pay for anything.

At the time of writing, Strava's UK website lists its individual subscription at £8.99 a month or £54.99 a year, and the UK App Store shows the same two prices. Strava's website was also offering a 30-day free trial on the annual plan when we checked. Prices and trial offers change, so check the app for current details before you sign up.

The subscription covers more than strength. It also includes features such as route tools and Instant Workouts, the weekly session suggestions we looked at in Strava Instant Workouts vs a personalised training plan. If you already pay for Strava, guided strength workouts are simply a new reason to use it.

What has Strava not said yet?

Strava's announcement leaves a few practical questions open, so it is worth keeping expectations realistic. It does not say:

• How many workouts are available at launch, or how long each session lasts.
• What equipment you need, for example whether there are bodyweight-only options for training at home.
• Which devices you can follow a workout on, such as a watch as well as your phone.
• Whether a series builds week by week, or works more like a library of standalone sessions.

If any of those matter to you, the free sample workout is the quickest way to see how it works on your own phone.

What is Strava adding next?

Strava says more workout series are coming before the end of the year. It is also working on two new ways to record strength sessions:

• Screenshot upload. Take a screenshot of text-based sets and reps, for example from a training plan or a notes app, and upload it to log the session.
• Build your own workout. Put together your own session and record it in Strava.

Strava also says it keeps adding partner integrations, so strength data can flow in automatically from the apps and devices people already use. As with any announced feature, timings can slip, so treat these as plans rather than promises.

Who are Strava's guided strength workouts best for?

They suit a few groups particularly well:

• Strava subscribers who want to start lifting without paying for another app.
• Runners adding one or two strength sessions a week who want a ready-made routine and clear form tips.
• Beginners who feel unsure in the gym and like to see a movement demonstrated before trying it.
• Anyone who enjoys a tidy log and a full muscle map after every session.

They are less likely to be enough on their own when you have a specific goal, such as a first half marathon, a HYROX race or a stronger squat, and you need your strength work arranged around everything else you do.

How do guided sessions compare with a personalised plan?

A guided workout answers the question of how to do today's session. A plan answers the bigger questions: which session goes on which day, how hard it should be, and how it builds over the coming weeks. If you run and lift, that matters, because a tough leg session the day before intervals or a long run can leave you flat for both.

Strava calls its new content a workout series, which suggests some structure, but its announcement does not say whether the sessions are arranged around your running. Edge takes a different approach. It treats running, strength, HIIT and mobility as one plan, so leg days and key runs are set out around each other from the start.

Prices and features change, so check each app for current details. Accurate at the time of writing.

How can runners get the most from guided strength workouts?

Whichever app you use, a few simple habits make guided strength sessions work better alongside your running:

• Start with the free sample to check the format, the equipment and how logging works on your phone.
• Aim for two sessions a week. UK guidelines recommend muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days a week, and two short sessions is a sensible target for most runners.
• Keep hard leg sessions away from key runs. Where you can, leave a day or two between heavy lower-body work and your intervals or long run.
• Choose a weight you could lift a few more times. Finishing each set with two or three reps in the tank keeps your form tidy while you learn.
• Use the form tips. Tap into each exercise the first time you do it, and keep every rep slow and controlled.
• Progress one thing at a time. Add a set or a little weight, not both in the same week.
• Check your muscle map weekly. A muscle group that never shades over a couple of weeks is a gap worth filling.

Can you use Strava's guided workouts alongside Edge?

Yes. Edge syncs with Strava, Garmin, Apple Health and Coros, so you can keep Strava as your feed, enjoy your muscle maps and still follow one joined-up plan. Edge is free to use, and Edge Pro gives you a fully personalised plan across running, strength, HIIT and mobility, ready within 24 hours, with a real coach you can message anytime. That helps with the questions a demo cannot answer, like whether to move a leg session in a busy week before a race. Edge also has coach video demos for general strength and mobility moves.

Edge Pro is from £19.99 a month with a 7-day free trial, which needs a card to start. When Edge Rewards launches in November, any logged workout, including sessions imported from Strava, will earn points at 1 point per minute, up to 50 points a day. Edge has 20,000+ members, and if you are weighing up the two subscriptions, our honest comparison of Edge and Strava's subscription covers the differences in more detail.

Strava features, rollout timings and subscription prices change, so check the app for current details. Accurate at the time of writing.

This article is general guidance, not medical advice. If you are new to exercise, returning from injury, or managing a health condition, speak to your GP before starting, and see a physio for any niggle that does not settle.