The 10 Best Apps to get Fit
How to find the right fitness app for you
Training with the help of a smartphone or tablet? Fitness apps provide athletes with valuable help in their athletic journey. But what exactly are the advantages and disadvantages of training apps and what does a fitness app have to offer? In this article, we present our 10 favourite apps.
- Advantages and disadvantages of fitness apps
- What makes a good fitness app?
- How to see success with fitness apps
- Our 10 App Favorites
Advantages and disadvantages of fitness apps
Fitness apps can help you train, but they don't just offer benefits. Here, we'll give you an overview.
Advantages
- Apps are typically cheap if not free, so you'll save on gym membership fees.
- Training with apps has a low start-up cost. You can start at home without any equipment. All you need is a smartphone, smartphone strap and headphones.
- Training performance is tracked, recorded and evaluated. This means performance is assessed from the app immediately and the user can review his or her performance without a trainer.
- Reminders can help you stay on track to train habitually.
Disadvantages
What makes a good fitness app?
Clearly, a fitness app should have more advantages than disadvantages. But how can I recognise a good training app? These are important points to keep in mind:
- Through the app, you should be able to perform a fitness test or check-up before starting your workout. The benefit: The workout intensity is then adapted to your fitness level.
- The app allows you to set a training goal or plan.
- Exercises are explained in detail or shown with video instructions.
- You should be able to adjust the training intensity as you see fit.
- The app offers warm-up and cool-down sessions.
- The app's pricing should be transparent.
- Information on data protection is easy to understand and transparent.
Here's how to reach your goals with fitness apps
Not every fitness app is suitable for every hobby athlete. The following tips can help you choose the right app for you.
- Maybe you're a beginner or just starting to train agian after a long break. We recommend consulting with a doctor or trainer before you start training. This can help you determine your fitness level and prevent overtraining.
- Set goals: strength training, endurance, weight loss or added flexibility?
- Think about what features you want in an app for a successful workout: Apps with community support, training plan, types of workouts, etc.
- Test different apps in their free version before committing.
- You've decided to use an app? Then establish a workout schedule and use the app regularly. This is the only way to establish a fitness routine that will hopefully lead to success.
Our 10 App Favorites
Can't see your athletic success anymore because of all the fitness apps? Allow us to bring clarity to the app clutter and present our favourites from the areas of endurance, strength/full-body training, and weight loss. Maybe your new favourite app is in this list.
Endurance
Are you a passionate runner, cyclist or skier? Then the following sports apps can help you train your endurance.
Strava
Passionate runners say running is addictive - and with the right running apps, that's especially true.
One these ambitious runner is none other than Thomas Pier, who in his blog „Harlerunner” writes about his experience in running and the clothing you need to run. As an early adopter, he shares his experiences about a wide variety of fitness tracking devices with his readers.
On his smartphone, he uses the Strava app, which he describes as a "runner's Facebook. On Strava, you can like, comment, share or publish training routines. In addition, you can post competitions and challenges, in which athletes can measure themselves against each other. Whether over your Iphone or Android, the activities of all devices used are recorded, synchronized and stored by an activity feed.
Runkeeper
With Runkeeper, you can track your runs and prepare for runs or a marathon. But it's not just runners who get their money's worth. In the app, you can choose from a selection of around 12 sports. Via "Live Tracking" friends and training partners can follow your training sessions live.
- Availability: Android and iOS
- Cost: The base version is free. Runkeeper Go costs 9,99 Euro a month (contains a geolocation API and training plan).
- Audience: Runners, cyclists, runners, skaters and much more
- Where the app shines: With Runkeeper you can precisely record any route, whether as a runner, cyclist or swimmer. In-app challenges provide more motivation. With Runkeeper you can train specifically for competitions such as a marathon.
- Where to download: runkeeper.com
Nike Run Club
Nike Run Club offers a range of training plans, guided runs with audio coaching and everything you need to track your progress. Nike Run Club is perfect for Apple Watch users, as the app is optimized for the smartwatch.
- Availability: Android and iOS
- Cost: free to use
- Audience: Runners
- Where the app shines: Nike Rund Club is one of the few fitness apps that is completely free of charge. The audio-guided runs and community challenges provide much needed variety to your workout regime.
- Where to download: nike.com/nrc-app
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Strength Training
Whether HIIT, Yoga or Pilates – you don't need to go to the gym to build strength. Here's our favourite strength training apps.
Freeletics
From couch potato to six pack with Freeletics: the app offers a selection of different workouts, aptly named after Greek gods. The focus here is on high-intensity interval workouts (HIIT).
Freeletics expert Christian Wenzel explains the app's philosophy in his blog vegan-freeletics and offers help, motivation and inspiration. Both beginners and advanced users can find useful articles here.
„Freeletics is a type of workout, in which the exercises are performed using one's own body weight. This means freeletics can be done anytime, anywhere.“
Seven – 7 Minute Workout
Fit in just seven minutes? That's what the 7 minute workout promises, developed by sports scientists Brett Klika and Chris Jordan of the Institute for Human Performance. A session consists of twelve bodyweight exercises for 30 seconds each, with a ten second break in between. There are many apps out there looking to become the fitness app out on the market, and one of those apps is Seven.
- Availability: Android and iOS
- Audience: People already with some athletic experience that want to get their blood pumping but don't have a lot of time on their hands. Novices should take care to perform the exercises slowly, else they risk injury.
- Cost: Free to use.
- Where the app shines: Train at home for free and improve your fitness with just seven minutes a day? The Seven app offers a full-body workout in mini format that you can still achieve success with.
- Where to download: seven.app
Asana Rebel
Fitness for both body and mind - that's the promise of Asana Rebel. The app offers yoga workouts, guided meditation and even music to help you focus. Asana Rebel offers a wide range of workouts across a range of difficulties levels and categories.
- Availability: Android and iOS
- Audience: For both beginners and experienced, who want to train their strength and flexibility.
- Cost: Available for free with adds or just €12.66 a month.
- Where is shines: Asana Rebel instead of an expensive yoga studio. Find a workout for you amongst their large array of choices. In the free version of the app, you'll find a new routine everyday.
- Where to download: asanarebel.com/de
Adidas Training by Runtastic
Running isn't enough. At least that's the motto of Adidas Training by Runtastic. The app offers a mixture of strength and endurance exercises including yoga. The app puts together a personal training plan.
- Availability: Android and iOS
- Audience: Those who want a clear path to strength and endurance training. Runners who want to expand the breadth of their endurance and strength training exercises.
- Cost: Features a free version and a premium version for €10 a month.
- Where the app shines: Adidas Training by Runtastic offers up to five different training plans as well as the option to train specific muscle groups.
- Where to download: runtastic.com
PumaTrac
Who needs the gym when you have PumaTrac on your smartphone or tablet? The app offers a selection of different workouts, from Pilates to dancing and low impact workouts. The sessions are led by experienced fitness trainers. The selection of workouts is based on your specified fitness goals and experience level.
- Availability: Android and iOS
- Audience: People who want to bring gym classes home.
- Cost: PumaTrac is free.
- Where the app shines: Instead of just one specific type of training, PumaTrac offers you a large selection of workouts from different areas. For that extra dose of motivation, you can collect TracScores for every successfully completed training session and compete with the community.
- Where to download: pumatrac.puma.com
Weight loss
Fitness apps don't just help you build muscle; they also help you lose fat. Apps such as MyfitnessPal and Noom help you lose weight or change your diet.
MyFitnessPal
With MyFitnessPal, you get a free calorie counting app on your smartphone. With over 11 million foods in its database, an integrated barcode scanner and a fitness community, the app helps you to shed those extra pounds.
The app puts together healthy meals to suit the user's taste and motivates them to complete their training sessions. Long-term diagrams record training progress and encourage the athlete to achieve their best performance. These functions make it very easy to measure calorie consumption and fitness success.
- Availability: Android and iOS
- Cost: Features a free version. The premium version costs €10 a month.
- Audience: Those who want to better track their eating habits with the help of a calorie counter.
- Where the app shines: With the MyFitnessPal app, you can adapt your diet and training sessions to your individual fitness level without having to go hungry.
- Where to download: myfitnesspal.com
Noom
The Noom nutrition app focuses on the topic of behavioral change. It aims to combine a personal trainer, health coach and nutritionist in one app. A personalized nutrition and training plan is created for each user and foods are rated using traffic light colours.
- Availability: Android and iOS
- Cost: Noom offers different subscription models, the 1-month subscription with a 14-day test phase is available for 49 euros.
- Audience: People who are interested in a long-term change in diet and behavior.
- Where the app shines: Changing your diet instead of strictly counting calories. Noom offers a lot of background knowledge on the subject of nutrition and does not prohibit any foods. A personal health coach is on hand to answer any questions you may have about fitness and nutrition.
- Where to download: noom.com
Get Fit Apps
Whether it's yoga, changing your diet or running - the goal of every fitness app should be your athletic success. Our recommendation: try out different apps and find what sticks.
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