How to Choose the Best Fitness and Workout Apps

A guide to selecting the right app to help you perfect your physique and achieve peak physical condition.

Fitness is on everyone’s mind these days. While no previous generation has been so conscious of the importance of staying healthy and leading a healthy lifestyle, none has been more stressed—working longer hours and facing greater exposure to sugary and processed foods.

In short: staying healthy is easier said than done.

That is where fitness apps come in—those little “magic” programs designed to help us reach our goals, whether we are men or women, young or old. Millions of people around the world use these apps as a vital boost to get into shape or maintain their fitness. Fitness apps are designed to help you track your progress, whether your goal is weight loss, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, or simply staying active. These apps offer consistency and motivation—a combination that users find essential for achieving their fitness goals.

Choosing A Fitness App

Since fitness is important for everyone, there is a wide variety of apps available. How do you decide which one is best for you? Here are a few questions to ask yourself to make the best choice:

• What do I want out of life?
• What is my current fitness level?
• What types of exercises do I enjoy?
• Which features are important to me?
• Is cost a deciding factor?

By answering these questions honestly and with self-awareness, choosing the right fitness app suddenly becomes much easier. Read on to find out how these questions can help you narrow down your options.

Best Weight Loss Apps

C25K (Couch to 5K) is an app designed for beginners who need help going from the couch to running a 5K. It is a great choice for beginners, whether you want to boost your weight loss efforts or cross marathons off your bucket list.

Another excellent weight loss app is 7 Minute Workout, which offers a scientifically backed approach to exercise and fitness. Its routines were developed by the Director of Exercise Physiology at the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute. These 7-minute workouts are accessible and include brief training tips to help people lose weight.

Best Workout Tracker Apps

Fitbit, an industry leader, put fitness tracking on the map and remains one of the best workout apps available. Runkeeper is another excellent app that tracks activity and measures progress. With real-time activity and heart rate tracking, intuitive goal-setting tools, personalized workout routines, and motivating challenges, Runkeeper is a great choice for those seeking a more structured training regimen.

Best Free Workout Apps

For a great workout, you can look for fitness apps that don’t require expensive subscriptions or are completely free. One of the best free workout apps was developed by Nike itself. This sportswear and lifestyle giant offers Nike+ Training Club—a completely free fitness app featuring personal workouts, personalized yoga sessions, and bodyweight exercises led by Nike Master Trainers.

Best Workout App for Women

If you have already lost weight and want to maintain it, choose a fitness app that encourages regular workouts, offers activity tracking, and provides plenty of motivation. Strava is a great option. Designed for runners and cyclists, Strava includes social networking features that allow you to share and compare your results with other members of the fitness community.

Best Workout App for Men

Sworkit offers a bit of everything for those who don’t know where to start or want to incorporate cross-training into their overall routine. This app features over 400 personalized workouts, including plans for strength training, cardio, weight loss, and yoga. Sworkit allows you to customize your workouts so you can select and maintain a fitness regimen that suits your needs.

Staying Fit: A Lifetime Achievement

Physical fitness requires consistent effort and, frankly, hard work.

Fortunately, we don’t have to put in this effort alone. The right fitness app can provide the support you need to achieve your goals, take care of your health, and engage all your muscle groups.