A glow-up app for men: skin, sleep and strength training in one plan

In your first week, Glod asks which basics you already do, then has you pick a goal: build muscle, lose fat, clearer skin or more energy. It suggests the few habits that fit, such as strength training 3–4 times a week, enough protein, a steady 7–9 hour sleep window and daily sunscreen. You keep up to 3 of them on a short daily checklist (free) and tick them off each day. Apple Health can tick off sleep and workouts for you. Your glow score, from 0 to 100, goes up when you do your habits most days and down when you don't. Glod doesn't scan or rate your face.

Published November 7, 2026. Free to start. Pro is $4.99/month or $29.99/year on the App Store.

The habits are the same for men and women. Most of what changes how you look over a few months is cheap: sunscreen, lifting, eating enough protein and sleeping enough. Glod puts those in one plan so you don't need three apps.

Skincare basics for men: cleanser, moisturiser, sunscreen

You don't need a 10-step routine. The American Academy of Dermatology's skin care tips for men come down to three products:

• Cleanser. Wash your face with a mild facial cleanser and lukewarm water, not bar soap, which can dry your skin out. Wash after workouts too.
• Moisturiser. Use it daily, right after showering or shaving while your skin is still damp.
• Sunscreen. Broad-spectrum, water-resistant, SPF 30 or higher, on all exposed skin, including your scalp, ears and neck. Reapply about every two hours outdoors, and after sweating or swimming.

Sunscreen is the one with the strongest evidence for how you look later. In a 4.5-year randomized trial of 903 adults in Australia, the group that used sunscreen every day showed no detectable increase in skin aging, and overall aging was 24% lower than in the group that used it when they felt like it. The authors concluded that regular sunscreen use slows skin aging in healthy middle-aged men and women (Hughes et al., 2013). That's why daily sunscreen is Glod's first skin habit. A retinoid can come later, slowly, and prescription tretinoin goes through a clinician (more on retinoids).

Strength training and protein

The CDC recommends that adults do muscle-strengthening activity at least 2 days a week, working the legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms. Glod's strength habit is progressive training 3–4 times a week: add a rep or a little weight over time.

According to a review of the research, 10 weeks of resistance training added about 1.4 kg of lean weight and cut about 1.8 kg of fat, and it may also improve blood pressure and blood sugar (Westcott, 2012). Results vary a lot from person to person, and these are averages.

Protein helps, up to a point. A meta-analysis of 49 trials (1,863 people) found that extra protein during weight training added a modest amount of muscle and strength, and that going above about 1.6 g of protein per kg of body weight per day didn't add more muscle (Morton et al., 2018). For an 80 kg (176 lb) man, that's roughly 130 g a day, from food first. Glod's protein habit is a daily check-off. More in our strength training guide.

Sleep

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society recommend that adults regularly sleep 7 or more hours a night. It also shows on your face: in a small experiment, people photographed after a night of sleep deprivation were rated as less healthy, more tired and less attractive than after normal sleep (Axelsson et al., 2010). Sleep is also when you recover from training. Glod's sleep habit is a steady 7–9 hour window, and it can tick itself off from Apple Health sleep data. More in our sleep guide.

What Glod doesn't do

• No face rating. Glod doesn't score your jawline or your attractiveness. The glow score is about your habits, not your face. If you add a photo, the AI "future self" preview is meant as motivation, not a prediction, and on the free plan it's a blurred teaser.
• No looksmaxxing tricks. No mewing, jawline exercises or face-debloat routines. We stick to habits that have studies behind them.
• No fixed program. There's no end date. Visible changes to skin and muscle take months, and you keep the habits as long as they help.
• No medical advice. Glod teaches and tracks habits. It doesn't diagnose anything or prescribe medication.

Glod was first built for women, so a few lines in the app still say "her". The habits and the science are the same for men.

Sources

1. American Academy of Dermatology. Skin care tips for men.
2. Hughes MC, et al. Sunscreen and prevention of skin aging: a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med. 2013. PubMed 23732711.
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Adult activity: an overview.
4. Westcott WL. Resistance training is medicine: effects of strength training on health. Curr Sports Med Rep. 2012. PubMed 22777332.
5. Morton RW, et al. A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. Br J Sports Med. 2018. PubMed 28698222.
6. Watson NF, et al. Recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult: a joint consensus statement of the AASM and SRS. J Clin Sleep Med. 2015. PubMed 25979105.
7. Axelsson J, et al. Beauty sleep: experimental study on the perceived health and attractiveness of sleep deprived people. BMJ. 2010. PubMed 21156746.

Educational only — not medical advice. Talk to a doctor before starting a new training program if you have a health condition. Individual results vary.