GymMonster vs MyFitnessPal vs RepCount: Which Workout Tracker Actually Wins?

"Just use MyFitnessPal" is the advice every new lifter gets — and it's the wrong tool for the job. MyFitnessPal was built to count calories, not sets. RepCount and apps like it go the other way: they count reps, but stop there. Neither was designed around the thing that actually makes you stronger — structured training you can see progress on, week after week.

Here's an honest comparison.

The 60-second verdict

• MyFitnessPal — excellent food diary, huge nutrition database. Workout logging is an afterthought: no routines, no set-by-set strength tracking, no muscle analytics.
• RepCount — does what the name says, a simple rep/set counter. Fine for a quick tally, but no pre-built programs, no progress charts, no social layer.
• GymMonster — purpose-built strength tracker: pre-built routines, exercise videos, PR and volume charts, a muscle heatmap, and a friends leaderboard — free to start, with a native iOS/Android app and a zero-install option via Telegram.

If you only care about calories in vs. calories out, MyFitnessPal still wins on nutrition. If you want a tracker that actually understands training — sets, reps, progressive overload, and whether you're keeping at it — keep reading.

Feature comparison

	MyFitnessPal	RepCount	GymMonster
Primary focus	Nutrition/calories	Rep counting	Strength training
Pre-built routines	—	—	✓ (PPL, Upper, Full Body)
Exercise videos	—	—	✓
Progress & volume charts	Basic	—	✓
Muscle heatmap	—	—	✓
Personal records tracking	—	Manual	✓ Automatic
Social / leaderboard	Friends feed (food)	—	Leaderboard + streaks
Install required	App Store	App Store	iOS/Android app, or none via Telegram
Free tier	Ads, limited features	Limited	Core logging free

Why a food app isn't a training app

MyFitnessPal's exercise log exists mostly to add calories back to your daily budget — you type "bench press" and it estimates a burn. It has no idea what weight you lifted, whether you beat last week's numbers, or which muscle groups you're neglecting. That's not a bug; it's just not what MyFitnessPal was built for.

RepCount solves a narrower problem — it'll count your reps in the moment — but a tally isn't a training log. Without routines, history, or charts, there's nothing to look back on and nothing pushing you to progressively overload over time.

GymMonster is built around the actual training loop: log a set, see it against your history, get pushed to beat it next time.

What a real strength tracker needs

• Pre-built routines so you're not designing a program from scratch — Push/Pull/Legs, Upper/Lower, Full Body, all ready to go.
• Exercise videos so form questions don't derail your set.
• Automatic PR tracking — no manually remembering your last max.
• A muscle heatmap so you can spot the muscle group you keep skipping, especially if you're tracking weekly training volume.
• Something social — a leaderboard or streak that gives you a reason to open the app tomorrow, not just today.

MyFitnessPal and RepCount each cover a sliver of this. GymMonster covers all of it, and — because it runs as a Telegram Mini App as well as native iOS/Android — there's nothing to download if you don't want there to be.

Who should pick what

• Pick MyFitnessPal if calorie and macro tracking is your main goal and workouts are secondary.
• Pick RepCount if all you want is a stopwatch-simple rep tally with zero setup.
• Pick GymMonster if you actually want to get stronger and see it happen — routines, videos, PRs, and friendly competition, free to start.

You can use MyFitnessPal for food and GymMonster for training at the same time — they're not mutually exclusive. But if you're choosing one app to run your actual workouts, it shouldn't be a calorie counter or a bare rep tally.