UI/UX Redesign of MuscleWiki’s Mobile App
MuscleWiki is a fitness app with a comprehensive exercise library that includes videos and written instructions for over 1300 exercises. With a simple and intuitive body map that guides you to exercises for a particular muscle, you can simplify your workout with exercises suitable for beginners, intermediate, and advanced fitness enthusiasts.
The problem
The mobile app look and feel did not represent a professional product in the fitness industry. The User Experience, User Interface and flows were outdated and in need of a modern redesign.
The goal
The goals were to improve the onbroading process with a cleaner new design, create an exercise list component that is easy to use and filter, design a user profile which includes tracking and viewing metrics such as weight, calories and macronutrients. The research of the current app also made me conclude that the new design needs a new workout flow which includes a switch between exercises and instructions in every workout, so users never feel lost.
Tools used
Google Play Store & App store (reading reviews to gather user pain points)
ChatGPT (feed all the reviews to AI, making it easier to pinpoint the most common user pain points)
Figma (wireframing, prototyping, UI design)
Pain points
1. Users struggle to effectively use MuscleWiki's mobile app due to login & onboarding confusion, counterintuitive UI.
2. Problems using exercises page due to video tutorials being too many clicks away.
3. Issues finding workouts tailored to their experience, equipment and goals.
4. No way of tracking progress in weight or other metrics.
5. Finding exercise video and text instructions while completing a workout is annoying, as it's located in a different app page entirely.
User personas
Sarah Johnson, the beginner
Age: 28
Experience: New to strength training (3 months)
About: Works a 9-5 job, wants to incorporate fitness into her weekly routine, feels overwhelmed by complicated fitness apps with advanced jargon, prefers short and simple workouts she can do at home or at the gym with minimal equipment.
Motivation: Learn proper form with clear instructions (videos or easy-to-read text), discover exercises that target specific muscles without guesswork, build consistency without getting lost in complicated data tracking.
Pain points: Has difficulty finding beginner-friendly exercises or filtering out advanced equipment, missing or hard-to-reach instructions when she’s mid-workout.
Key needs: Wants an easy & intuitive UI (fewer menus, fewer clicks), prefers guided, step-by-step instructions within the workout so she doesn’t leave the page, may track basic progress but is not heavily focused on analytics.
Alex Martinez, the pro lifter
Age: 32
Experience: 4 years of regular exercise
About: Goes to the gym 5+ times per week, follows estabilshed workout programs but enjoys exploring new exercises to push past plateaus, reads about fitness research and is comfortable with advanced exercises that help him progress further.
Motivation: Track progress over time (progressive overload, macros, bodyweight) in a clear and organized manner, refine form with videos and advanced tips, quickly discover new exercises and filter them by equipment, muscle group or difficulty.
Pain points: His progress is stagnating because of lack of new exercises, bored of doing the same exercises, needs accurate muscle group details for targeted training.
Key needs: Wants advanced filtering (e.g. by equipment, muscle subset, difficulty level), seeks improved performance and varied routines).
Josh Banker, the intermediate
Age: 26
Experience: 3 years of on-and-off training
About: Enjoys occasional gym sessions but not strictly following a program, gets bored doing the same exercises and like to “mix things up”, sometimes logs weight or progress, but not consistently.
Motivation: Spontaneously pick exercises based on mood, available equipment, or time constraints. Occasionally track body weight or simple metrics. Keep workouts enjoyable, discover interesting exercise variations quickly.
Pain points: Finding new exercises or variations can be cumbersome if there’s no easy search or filter. Prefers minimal friction - too many navigation steps or pages break his flow. Hard to find what he needs all in one app.
Key needs: Needs straightforward filtering without forced advanced features, values quick transitions between video demos and readable instructions, get ideas for fun new exercises, track weight.
Key takeaways
Data-Driven Insights: Leveraged user reviews and AI analysis to identify core pain points, ensuring the redesign directly addressed real user challenges.
User-Centric Design: Tailored the experience for beginners, intermediates, and pros by simplifying navigation, streamlining onboarding, and offering advanced filtering options.
Enhanced Usability: Integrated video and text instructions within the workout flow, reducing clicks and ensuring users never feel lost during their routines.
Modern Aesthetic: Upgraded the UI to reflect a professional, contemporary fitness brand, which elevates user trust and engagement.
Holistic Experience: Combined exercise discovery with integrated progress tracking, enabling users to monitor key metrics like weight, calories, and macros seamlessly.
Iterative Process: Emphasized the importance of continuous feedback and iterative design to refine and enhance the user experience across all touchpoints.
