After nearly eight years in the fitness industry, I’ve managed to find, in my opinion, some of the best fitness apps. They range from timers for interval workouts, so I don’t have to watch the iPhone’s built-in stopwatch, to workout music apps, which I can’t imagine my life without anymore. It took some trial and error to find them, so I decided to share my top fitness apps here to make it an easier quest for you.
My top five fitness apps:
Gymboss
Gymboss is a stopwatch brand that a lot of trainers, including myself, use. They make actual stopwatches you can buy, as well as a free app for iPhone and Android. While I own the actual stopwatch, I find the free workout app has better features. It comes with a set of its own intervals, like Tabata, but you can also create your own. I especially love it because I can set up a timer, leave the app, listen to my music, lock my phone and still hear the sound of the alarm. It’s free, so download your new favourite fitness app here!
H-I-I-T Timer
This was the first interval workout app I ever downloaded. It also comes with its own set of intervals from Tabata, to ascending and descending intervals, push-pause training, Supersets and gladiator metabolic. But to be honest, I’ve only ever used the Tabata timer. In this one you can’t create your own intervals and while you can still play music and hear the alarm, if you leave the app, the timer will keep going but you won’t be able to hear the alarm sound. I much prefer Gymboss, but if you want to scope out your options, download the free iPhone app here (I’m not sure if there’s an Android version).
Spotify
O.K., so Spotify isn’t a fitness-related app per se, but I love it specifically for my workouts as well as my fitness classes. Under the browse section there’s tons of pre-built playlists for working out and running. I use the ‘workout’ list the most. My favourite workout playlists are ‘Dance Workout,’ ‘Workout Remix’ and ‘Motivation Mix.’ You can also set it up to crossfade between songs, which is a great option for instructors. You can use Spotify for free, but there’ll be some advertisements between songs, or you can pay about $11 CAD per month for full access. You can use the Spotify web player, or download the app for a number of devices.
Power Music
This one mainly comes in handy for fitness instructors, as it let’s you adjust the pitch (beats per minute) of your music. It’s a little difficult to figure out at first (you need to create an account and it wants you to buy its own music mixes), but you can take music from your iTunes library on your phone and pull it into the app so you can adjust the tempo. I download a lot of fitness mixes usually at 144 beats per minute, so it’s nice to be able to slow it down for warm-ups and lower level classes. You can get the free Power Music app for iPhone or Android.
My Fitness Pal
I couldn’t decide whether or not to include My Fitness Pal in this list. I love the idea of food journaling – I’m always trying to remember what I ate throughout the day and keeping a record is the best way to keep track. I’ve tried keeping hard copy journals, but I don’t always have it on me and I usually end up using the notebook for other things. Having the app on my iPhone – which, let’s face it, is basically glued to my hand – makes it much easier. My Fitness Pal also tracks calories, though and I find I get so consumed by the numbers that it controls my life. I end up feeling guilty about certain foods, or if I’ve gone over a calorie count. I’ve been working on repairing my relationship with food, so I’ve stopped using the app. But if you like to keep track of calories, recipes, or just journal, it could be a good fit for you. It’s pretty user-friendly too.
CahuteFit 