MadFit Review

Free on YouTube, with an optional MadFit app that is freemium, roughly $19.99 to $29.99 a month or a discounted annual and lifetime plan · a huge follow-along channel from Maddie Lymburner, with around 11.6 million subscribers · real-time HIIT, low-impact and “apartment-friendly” no-jump cardio, dance-cardio, dumbbell strength, Pilates, barre, yoga and stretch · sessions from about 5 to 45 minutes · a mat and a pair of dumbbells cover it · Optional light to moderate dumbbells.

Is MadFit right for you?

What MadFit Actually Is

MadFit is, at heart, a free YouTube fitness channel, and one of the biggest in the world, with around 11.6 million subscribers and roughly 1,400 videos. Maddie Lymburner started it in 2018 and it grew into a phenomenon during the pandemic on the strength of one idea: real-time, follow-along workouts you can do at home in a small space. Her signature is the “workout to a song” format, routines timed to popular music, alongside a large low-impact, no-jump, apartment-friendly range and a mix of HIIT, dance-cardio, dumbbell strength, Pilates, barre, yoga and stretch. Sessions run from about 5 to 45 minutes.

Around the free channel sits a paid MadFit app, and it is a separate product from the YouTube library rather than the same thing. Browsing it, it is more substantial than the channel alone: several trainers beyond Maddie, a large filterable library that you can sort by trainer, intensity, equipment and time, structured multi-week programmes such as a 4-week beginner plan and phased Barre Pro, Hybrid, Rise, Strength and Prime programmes, a custom-programme builder, real-time challenges, a recipe section and mindfulness content, on a freemium subscription.

For this audience it is worth being precise about what MadFit is and is not. It is a large, fun, genuinely free library of low-impact and strength movement, with a warm, calm teacher and real small-space appeal, and for a woman who wants to move at home without spending, that accessibility is real. What it is not is a midlife or menopause platform. The content is built for a young, general audience, the framing is aesthetic, and there is no perimenopause or menopause programming, no progressive strength system, no bone-loading work and no pelvic-floor content. Read MadFit as a low-cost, fun way to move that a woman over 40 can absolutely use, rather than a programme designed for her stage of life.

Who Is Behind MadFit? Credibility

MadFit is Maddie Lymburner, a Canadian creator who built one of the largest fitness followings on the internet. Her background is in dance: she trained as a competitive dancer for around 17 years before moving into online fitness, and that shows in the choreography-led, music-timed style that made the channel famous. She is a genuinely skilled, likeable and hugely popular movement teacher, and the app runs under her company, Maddie Lymburner Wholesome Influence Inc., with several other trainers now leading classes alongside her.

What she is not is a certified trainer or a clinician. We found no evidence of a personal-training or exercise-science certification for Maddie herself; she is best understood as a talented, self-taught fitness creator rather than a credentialed coach, and she is not a physician, physiotherapist, registered dietitian or menopause specialist. There is no medical or menopause advisory behind the content. For a midlife audience that means high appeal and safety for general low-impact movement, and low authority on menopause-specific medical or training questions. Read her as a well-loved movement creator, rather than a source of menopause or clinical guidance.

Content and Features

What Equipment Do You Need for MadFit?

Very little, which is a big part of the appeal. Many MadFit workouts are body-weight only, so a mat is really all you need for those, and the low-impact, apartment-friendly range is designed for a small space with quiet, no-jump movement. For the strength and sculpt sessions, and the dumbbell workouts I did, a pair of light to moderate dumbbells is the key addition, and some app sessions also use a bench.

Because MadFit offers no progressive strength system, the more valuable midlife purchase is a set of adjustable dumbbells for a separate strength habit, so you can add load over time, since building and keeping muscle and bone is exactly what this content does not do.

Recommended spec examples. These picks are curated by specification and feature fit, not personally lab-tested for long-term durability. Prices are examples; verify before buying.

A quick heads-up: some of the buy links above are Amazon affiliate links, so if you grab something through them I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. I only ever point you to kit I would happily use myself.

How We Scored MadFit: the 6.2 / 10 Breakdown

Hands-on scores on our 9 weighted criteria. Women Over 40 is our most heavily weighted menopause criterion, and its full 12-capability breakdown follows in the next section.

Is MadFit Good for Women Over 40?

In a general way, yes, and the price and format make it easy to say so. MadFit is free at its core, the real-time follow-along style is unintimidating, the sessions are short, and the low-impact, no-jump range is quiet, small-space friendly and kind to the joints, which removes real barriers for a beginner. Pilates, barre, yoga and gentle cardio all support core strength, mobility and posture, so a woman over 40 who is easing back into movement can start here without spending a penny.

Who it suits, and what is missing. The gaps are specific and important for this site. First, the training emphasis: midlife guidance prioritises progressive resistance to protect muscle and bone, and MadFit offers dumbbell and body-weight work with no progression, so it does more for strength than it looks but still little for bone density. Second, the audience and framing: this content is designed for a young, general crowd, so it is aesthetic-led, and the HIIT and dance-cardio can be faster than a cautious midlife body wants on a given day. Third, the menopause gap: there is no perimenopause or menopause programming, no hormone or symptom content and no pelvic-floor work. It suits a woman who wants free, fun, joint-friendly movement and will add her own progression; it is a weak single choice for someone whose priority is bone or a menopause-specific plan.

How MadFit Fits Perimenopause, Menopause and Beyond

Our capability breakdown of how well MadFit suits women across perimenopause, menopause and post-menopause. Women Over 40 is our most important criterion for this site, and this is the full breakdown behind the Women Over 40 row in the scoring table above.

MadFit is strongest for low-impact movement, a beginner on-ramp and a mind-body range, and weakest for progressive strength, bone loading and every menopause-specific capability, in our menopause and midlife capability assessment for women over 40. My hands-on look did not move these menopause capabilities, because the menopause content simply is not there.

This is the perimenopause and menopause assessment, and it is separate from the overall score. Twelve things a programme either does for a midlife body or does not, each scored out of 10 with my reasoning next to it. Together they produce a single menopause fit score, and that becomes one of the nine categories in the overall scoring below.

These are evidence-informed suitability ratings, not clinical measurements. They combine exercise science with hands-on and feature analysis, and are approximate. Individual response varies. A starting point, not medical advice. How we score menopause fit.

What the Research Says: MadFit’s Approach Checked

The movement MadFit offers is well matched to some real midlife needs, with clear limits. Its low-impact cardio and HIIT are genuinely useful: a 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis found high-intensity interval training significantly improved cardiorespiratory fitness in middle-aged and older women, a time-efficient benefit that suits short home sessions.^[1] And low-impact, land-based exercise is safe for older joints: a Cochrane review found it reduced knee pain and improved function with no serious adverse events, which supports the gentler, no-jump work.^[2] Because a brand built on consistency lives or dies on adherence, it is worth noting that enjoyment reliably predicts sticking with exercise, and dance-based movement has shown mood benefits in menopausal women, both of which play to MadFit’s fun, follow-along format.^[3][4]

The caveat that matters most for our audience is strength and bone. Across the menopause transition, body composition shifts, with the rate of fat gain roughly doubling and lean muscle declining, which is exactly when muscle needs protecting.^[5] Progressive resistance is the active ingredient: a large Cochrane review found progressive resistance training produced big gains in strength and everyday function in older adults, and MadFit’s dumbbell and body-weight work, without programmed progression, does not fully provide that stimulus.^[6] Bone is the same story: a network meta-analysis found at least moderate-intensity resistance was needed to improve bone density, and in the LIFTMOR trial heavier, progressive loading improved bone density and function where light exercise did not.^[7][8] The sensible way to use MadFit is as fun, low-impact movement and strength variety that supports fitness and mood, paired with your own progression for the muscle and bone it cannot programme for you.

What Users Report: Verified Sentiment

Rating snapshot, and a split worth naming: the free content is loved, while the paid app divides opinion by platform. The MadFit YouTube channel has around 11.6 million subscribers, and independent coverage from outlets such as Toronto Life, Global News and Tom’s Guide is consistently warm about the accessible, living-room workouts. The MadFit app holds about 4.7 stars on the Apple App Store from roughly 5,900 ratings, but only about 3.0 on Google Play from around 1,200 reviews on more than 100,000 installs, both read in 2026. That gap is the story: iOS users are happy, while the much lower Android rating is driven largely by app bugs and billing complaints rather than the workouts. My own time in the app matched the positive picture on content and instruction, with the paywall and the store split the main things I would flag.

Devices, Platforms and App

MadFit is easy to reach. The free channel is on YouTube, so it plays on any phone, tablet, computer or smart TV and casts easily to a screen, which suits a woman who wants to follow a workout on the television in her living room. The MadFit app adds iOS and Android, with a free tier of workouts plus a premium subscription that unlocks the structured programmes, several trainers, challenges, recipes and trackers, and it syncs with music, health and calendar apps. Browsing it, the filtering is genuinely handy: you can narrow by trainer, intensity, equipment and time to find, say, a 20-minute advanced dumbbell session quickly.

The catches are app catches, not workout ones. The app is paid, so you cannot fully try it without subscribing, owners report bugs especially on Android, and there are recurring complaints about subscription cancellation and auto-renewal, with any free trial appearing inconsistent. For a woman over 40 who mostly wants to press play on a free video, the YouTube channel is the smoother, no-cost experience; the paid app is inexpensive and better structured, but more variable, so try the free library first.

MadFit specifications

MadFit Price 2026: What You Actually Pay

Will You Actually Stick With It?

MadFit Pros and Cons

How MadFit Compares to Similar Platforms

If you are deciding between free and low-cost, at-home options, this is how MadFit sits against the alternatives. Scores come from our independent reviews and update automatically as each is scored; Pvolve is included as the menopause-built contrast, and free options are shown alongside.

Competitor prices are approximate; verify on each platform’s website. Scores reflect our independent reviews. See each full review for methodology.

MadFit vs FitOn: Which Is Better for Women Over 40?

This is the closest pairing for a woman who wants quality home workouts without paying much, because both lead with a genuinely useful free offering and cover a broad range. FitOn is built around a large library of pre-recorded classes across many disciplines, with named instructors, spoken coaching and a strong free tier, and it leans a little more toward accessible, coached variety. It suits a woman who wants a friendly, class-based free library with instruction throughout.

MadFit is the more improvised, creator-led option: a vast free channel on YouTube built on real-time, music-timed follow-alongs and a signature low-impact, no-jump range, plus an inexpensive, better-structured app with several trainers. It is the better pick if you like a warm real-time teacher, the apartment-friendly quiet format and pressing play for free, and testing showed more strength variety than its reputation suggests. Neither builds programmed progression or bone, and neither is a menopause programme, so pair whichever you choose with dedicated progressive-strength work. For genuine menopause programming and the pelvic-floor and structured strength both lack, a purpose-built option such as Pvolve goes further than either.

If MadFit Is Not Right for You: Best Alternatives

MadFit’s gaps for our audience are programmed progressive strength and bone work, and the absence of any menopause, hormone or pelvic-floor content. If those matter, these published options map to the gaps.

MadFit FAQ

Final Verdict

Hands-on Score: 6.2 / 10 · Sample-tested

MadFit is one of the largest and most approachable free fitness resources anywhere, and a hands-on look confirmed it: fun, low-impact, real-time movement with clear posture cues, a big low-impact and apartment-friendly range, and more strength variety than its reputation suggests, with dumbbell and dropset sessions and a properly structured app. Maddie Lymburner is a talented, much-loved movement teacher. The moderating factors for our audience are clear and important: the content is built for a young, general crowd, the strength is self-loaded with no programmed progression, and there is no perimenopause or menopause programming, no bone work and no pelvic-floor content.

MadFit is for women who want free, fun, low-impact movement and strength variety they can follow at home in a small space, and who are happy to add their own progression. MadFit is not for women whose priority is building bone or following a menopause-specific plan, who should pair it with a dedicated progressive-strength habit and, for menopause, a purpose-built option such as Pvolve.

Testing Status

Sources and Further Reading

1. Cai, L. et al. (2026). Effects of high-intensity interval training on cardiopulmonary fitness and physical function in middle-aged and elderly women: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Physiology. Available at: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. HIIT significantly improved cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max) in middle-aged and older women.
2. Fransen, M. et al. (2015). Exercise for osteoarthritis of the knee. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Available at: cochranelibrary.com. Land-based exercise reduced knee pain and improved function with no serious adverse events reported.
3. Teixeira, D.S. et al. (2022). Enjoyment as a predictor of exercise habit, intention to continue exercising, and exercise frequency. Frontiers in Psychology. Available at: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Exercise enjoyment significantly predicted exercise habit, intention to continue and frequency.
4. Coelho de Farias Marques, M. et al. (2024). Effects of jazz dance and concurrent training on psychological variables in menopausal women: a randomised controlled trial. Archives of Women’s Mental Health. Available at: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Sixteen weeks of jazz dance improved anxiety and depression in menopausal women (single modest trial, n=70).
5. Greendale, G.A. et al. (2019). Changes in body composition and weight during the menopause transition. JCI Insight (Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation). Available at: insight.jci.org. Fat-mass gain accelerated and lean mass declined across the menopause transition.
6. Liu, C.-J. and Latham, N.K. (2009). Progressive resistance strength training for improving physical function in older adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Available at: cochranelibrary.com. Progressive resistance training produced large gains in strength and improved everyday function in older adults.
7. Wang, Z. et al. (2023). Comparative efficacy of different resistance training protocols on bone mineral density in postmenopausal women: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Frontiers in Physiology. Available at: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. At least moderate-intensity resistance training was needed to improve bone density; low-intensity loading was not superior to control.
8. Watson, S.L. et al. (2018). High-intensity resistance and impact training improves bone mineral density and physical function in postmenopausal women: the LIFTMOR randomized controlled trial. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. Available at: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Heavier, high-intensity loading improved bone density and function; light exercise did not.

This is a sample-tested review based on a hands-on look, not a full multi-week test. Pricing and features were verified in 2026 and may have changed. Some affiliate links may be present. This site does not accept payment from platforms reviewed. Education, not medical advice; speak to your clinician, especially about HRT, bone health or existing conditions.

Related Guides

What To Do Next