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A wide range of fitness apps can help you become fitter, stronger and healthier. The best ones are convenient, affordable and tested by sports scientists. They will change the way you look at fitness.
Video apps remind you of your goals and prompt you to follow through with them. They also give you the tools, such as video-based workout sessions, to help you achieve success. With so many fitness apps on the market, it can be difficult to make a choice.
Here are some of the best fitness apps that are worth checking out.
Best All-in-One Fitness Plan: 8fit
iOS and Android
Free (limited workouts)
$29.99 per quarter or $59.99 per year for Pro
This app is like having a nutritionist and personal trainer in one. It creates meal and exercise plans for you based on your preferences, your present stats and your goals.
After downloading the app, you’re prompted to enter information like your gender, weight and height. You also answer various other questions, such as how fit you are and how you prefer to do meal prep.
You are provided with a step-by-step plan, including recipes created by nutritionists and HIIT workouts. You can use the app to explore meal ideas, log what you eat, and exercise with videos. It’s basically an all-in-one fitness plan that you can customize to suit your tastes.
Best for Outdoor Cardio: Nike Training Club
iOS and Android
Free
This app offers over 185 workouts that vary in strength, mobility and endurance. You can choose a 15-minute workout or a longer endurance session. Visual workouts are hosted by celebrity athletes, like Serena Williams, who bust a sweat along with you. Throughout the session, trainers talk to you about form and the benefits of the activities.
The app is effective at the gym or at home. You can do individual lessons but there are also month-long structured programs to help you get even better results. All the videos are free but the app also has a store where you can blow money on Nike accessories.
Best for the Time-Conscious: Sworkit
iOS and Android
$14.99 per month or $89.99 per year
This is the perfect app for those who don't have much time to work out. It’s a practical tool if you’re busy, physically active and don’t want to miss out on a workout. Sworkit’s customized programs mean you can fit a workout in whenever you have the time.
First, choose what type of routine you want: stretching, yoga, cardio or strength. Next, enter how many minutes you have available. You will be given a precisely timed, sports scientist-approved workout to fit the time you have, whether it’s 5 minutes or 60.
Recently added features include the long-awaited small equipment workout series starting with kettlebells. Runners now have six new supplemental workouts.
Best for Runners: Runmeter
iOS and Android
Free
$9.99 for Elite
This app is highly customizable and helps people collect data about their runs. The free app works by using your phone’s internal sensor and GPS to gauge distance, speed, duration and more. It’s a great stand-in for a runner’s watch and offers you maps, graphs, training plans and more.
View pie charts and bar graphs summarizing your workouts. Plan, track, train, analyze and share. With the Elite membership, your experience will be ad-free and you can enjoy many extra features.
Best for Pilates: Fitivity Pilates Training
iOS and Android
Free
$4.99 for the entire Pilates program
Fitivity helps you start training your core, especially your hips, back and abdomen. You won’t just strengthen your muscle groups but you'll also improve your flexibility and coordination. The routines are simple to follow and doing them can help you with balance and posture too.
Experience multiple training programs and switch between them. In addition to weekly workouts, Fitivity Beats is an engaging exercise experience that combines mixes by DJs and supportive trainers. You can try it for free for three weeks and then upgrade to the paid version if you find it useful.
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Best for Quick HIIT Workouts: Keelo
iOS and Android
Free
$12.99 per month, $31.99 per quarter, or $99.99 per year for Premium
Keelo is a high-intensity interval training (HIIT), workout-on-demand app. Browse a catalog of workouts and you’ll see a preview of a session, including exercises, equipment and a map showing the type of exercise and the body parts you’ll engage. The workouts are intense and fast-paced. They are adjusted to your recent history and allow you to hit compound muscle groups.
The app allows you to connect a heart rate monitor and it offers alternatives for some of the exercises if you don't have the equipment available. A strength map is now available that looks at your strength barbell workouts, showing where you are stronger or weaker.
You can try out the app by sampling one of the free workouts.
Best for Quick Bodyweight Workouts: Seven
iOS and Android
Free
$9.99 for club membership
With the Seven app, you can take on the challenge of working out for 7 minutes a day for 7 months. You only have to use a chair, a wall and your own body weight. The workouts are based on scientific studies and you will get the maximum benefit in only 7 minutes.
There is a video game component to the app. You start with three lives — missing a day makes you lose a life. If you miss three in a month, your program resets to zero. If you stick to it, you’ll start seeing the results. The free routines can become monotonous, so it’s worth using a paid version to mix things up.
Best for Fitness Tracking: Strava
iOS and Android
Free
From $2 per month for Strava Summit
Strava is a fitness tracking app for cyclists, runners, swimmers, skiers and more. You can compete against your personal records or others in the community. The app uses the GPS from your phone to track where you go and your speed. It analyzes who else among its members followed the same route segments and pits you against them on a leaderboard.
If you don’t want your data to be made public, you can opt out. You can join challenges, share photos and follow friends. The free app offers plenty to start with but you will need Strava Summit to explore some of the more advanced features.
Best for Personalized Workouts: Fitbit Coach
iOS, Android, Web, Windows
Free
$7.99 per month or $39.99 per year for Premium
You can use the Fitbit Coach app to work out to short videos whether you own a Fitbit tracker or not. Dynamic workouts continuously adjust to your capabilities, feedback and goals.
You will be talked through your exercise routines and see the moves in a video. Many audio cues help coach you along. You can play your own music or choose background music. The free account offers limited options and workouts whereas Premium gives you access to everything.
Best for Stress Relief: Headspace
iOS and Android
Free
$7.99 to $19.99 per month for a subscription
If you keep pushing yourself too hard, you can stress yourself out physically and mentally. Headspace gives you beginner-friendly meditation courses to help you clear your mind. Sessions range from 3 to 30 minutes.
Tracking and built-in reminders help you stay consistent. With meditation, you’ll find you reduce your stress, sleep better, recover faster and benefit more from your workouts.
