It’s no secret that we live in a digital world. We have a mini-computer that we carry around in our pockets and we have just about everything that we need at our fingertips. Though working out is still very much physical, it’s no surprise that fitness has turned digital as well to keep up with rising trends and demands. There are many fitness apps out there but I put together a list of the best fitness apps for you to use to increase your fitness experience and to help you reach your goals.
Perhaps one of the most versatile apps you’ll find, MyFitnessPal helps you track just about everything. Created by Under Armour, this app helps you track and change your habits. With the app, you can log your weight (with progress photos!), food, water intake, and exercise! Though it tracks everything, it’s most important feature is the calorie counter. When you log your food, it keeps track of how many calories you are eating at each meal and throughout the day. It also lets you know other things about the food you are eating such as the macro-nutrients you are taking in (carbs, proteins, fats) and other things like sugar, sodium, and more.
When starting the app, it will ask you for your height, weight, and fitness goals. Whether you want to lose weight, gain weight, or maintain, this app will help you reach your goals. It calculates the appropriate amount of calories you should be taking in according to your height, weight, and activity level. From there, you’ll be able to see how many calories you need for the day to ensure you are getting the appropriate nutrition. Best part is, it accounts for exercise as well! If you burn calories working out, it will add those calories to what you can eat for the day. It truly takes all of the thinking out for you. It even has plenty of restaurant meals verified and logged in the app so that you can easily see what you are taking in when you go out to dinner. With a 4.7 star rating in the app store, there’s a reason why it is one of the best fitness apps out there.
This is one of the best fitness apps out there for runners. It tracks your workouts using GPS to give you accurate distance and time done during your run. After you’ve signed up using your e-mail, all you have to do is open the app and press “Start Workout” and you’re ready to go! The display gives you distance in mileage, shows your pace, and even shows the amount of calories you’re burning. Connect it to your apple watch or Under Armour heart rate monitor to get an even more accurate reading of your workout. You can also connect your apple music so you can have uninterrupted listening during your run.
Perhaps the best part of this app is that it gives you voice feedback during your run. Instead of having to constantly look at your phone to know how far you are into your run, the app will let you know when you’ve reached a certain milestone. It will then tell you your time and pace; all without having to look at your phone or distracting you from your run! The default is to let you know every time you run another mile but you can set it as low as every tenth of a mile and as high as every 25 miles (woah). It truly is one of the best fitness apps because it takes care of the thinking for you so you can focus on your run and reaching your fitness goals.
This app developed by Zen Labs is one of the best fitness apps for anyone trying to get into running. Whether you’ve been running and just want something a little more structured or you’ve never ran a day in your life and suddenly have a goal to run a 10K, this is the app for you.
The app is simple: it trains you to go from a sedentary lifestyle to running a full 10K in a matter of 14 weeks. In fact, it will have you running a 5K in just under 8 weeks. For someone who has never ran in their lives, it can seem daunting, but it works! The best part? You are only required to do the app three days a week! That’s it! The app is very easily set up into weeks, each week having three workouts that you complete in order. Can’t complete a day? That’s okay! Just do it over. It starts off relatively easy with running one minute at a time with breaks in between. As the weeks progress, so will you and you’ll be surprised by how fast your cardio builds. This is one of the best fitness apps because it truly is for any fitness level. Start at whatever week you are comfortable with and you’ll be a distance runner in no time.
Perhaps even better is that this app comes in 4 different variations: 5K, 10K, 13.1 Mile, and 26.2 Mile. That means if you complete one goal and want to keep on going, there’s nothing stopping you!
Out of all of the apps mentioned here, it’s the only one that requires a subscription. Considering the amount of workouts and content you get from it, think of it more as a portable gym membership. The $99 annual subscription is much less than you’d pay for any yearly gym membership and you can carry it around in your pocket as well as use it on your laptop or smart TV.
This app has all of the at-home-workouts you could dream of. Programs such as P90x, 21 Day Fix, and Insanity have been giving people results for years. With this app, you have access to over 1,500 workouts with some of the world’s best trainers. Train with people like Autumn Calabrese, Shaun T, and Tony Horton. These workouts give you individual attention and the motivation you need to reach your fitness goals.
You want to know what else makes it one of the best fitness apps? It has workouts for all fitness levels. Each workout has a ranking from beginner to advanced to let you know what you’re getting into and also let’s you know what the program is focused around; cardio, muscle building, recovery, etc. Most workouts also come with a modifier to allow you to take part in harder workouts and gives you a chance to pull back if you need to. What more could you ask for?
Fitness isn’t just about the physical aspect, but the mental aspect as well. Headspace comes with guided meditations to help you stress less and improve your focus as well as help with a more restful sleep. Improving your mental health is a great way to improve your physical health and to keep you focused on your workouts. When people think of best fitness apps, this probably wouldn’t come to mind, but it’s a great app for improving overall health.
With guided meditations, this app is extremely versatile. It comes with different modes to fit your needs: meditation, sleep, move, and focus. That means it can help if you just need to relax, you need to sleep, or even move with some light yoga to help with stress relief.
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