Reviews Of The 6 Best Fitness Apps
Is there anything you don’t know about your body’s health and fitness functioning? Free fitness apps and those that cost a premium can inform you of your blood pressure, steps walked, stress level, floors climbed, hours of sleep, heart rate, indeed, the myriad of the 211 million complex fitness analytics and refined health apps out there can help you keep track of more than 150 parameters of your body’s functioning. It seems that just like everyone knows exactly how much gas they have in their cars, the explosion of fitness apps and trackers now keep you as informed about your body as your car—and actually far more informed.
There is some recent data out of Carnegie Mellon University’s Integrated Innovation Institute that suggests that 66% of people who maintain a healthy diet find fitness apps and trackers helpful to monitor diet and exercise, but 67% of people who don’t maintain a healthy diet don’t find apps helpful. This seems to suggest that the apps provide the most motivation and help for those already healthy!
I’ve scoured the wearable market, spoken with some of the country’s top fitness gurus, checked in with fit tech folks and based on all of that, here are my top six recommendations:
- Radius – $9.99
- Wildfire Life – $99/month
- Couch-To-5k – Free
- Rock My Run – $2.99/Month
- MapMyFitness – Free, $5.99/Month, $29.99/Year
- Argus – Free
Want to view unlimited personalized workouts whenever you want, under the virtual guidance of celebrity trainers while tracking your progress? For $9.99 month, Radius will do just that for you.
Have “gym ADD” and like the idea of trying out hundreds of different gyms? For $99 per month, Wildfire Life will allow you to select from a myriad of group exercise classes and yoga studios as often as you want and try them all out, daily, weekly, whenever you want. It’s in select cities; the developers are expanding this app to many regions of the country over this next few months.
Think running is your thing but just getting started? Couch-To-5K is your answer. All you have to do is select your virtual trainer, share your goal and start moving to the pace the app sets for you. You can keep track of your running metrics easily and play your own music in the app.
Speaking of music, if you enjoy picking a genre of music, want someone else to select the perfect mix of songs, match it to your beats per minute of movement, then Rock My Run is the app of choice for you.
Depending on the level of perks you want, this app is as all-inclusive a fitness app as you’ll find. You can track any movement you make, record distance and time, track your commonly used routes, track your diet, use it as a pedometer along with your iPhone, and far more.
Like the idea of a streamlined, colorful free app, with a great pedometer in it? Argus is the choice for you. You can still record workout options, alcohol and caffeine intake, blood pressure and body temperature! You’ll find your calories burned, steps taken, average pacing, can select food groups to eat from, and be alerted when you need to drink more water. One of the cons is that there isn’t social networking in this one.
Keep in mind these apps are just tools. Like a hammer or a screwdriver, nothing happens unless you pick it up and use it. USE IT.
As a bonus take this easy and fun test from the Washington Post to discover what type of fitness tracker you are!
