If you're looking for one of the best fitness apps in 2023, the first thing we want to say to you is congratulations! Taking control of your physical fitness is one of the best decisions you'll ever make, as it will lead to a higher quality of life, and we think will just make you happier overall.
However, while the benefits of improving your physical fitness are practically infinite, that doesn't make it any easier to do. Our busy schedules, combined with the overwhelming amount of information available to us, make it really difficult to know how to start and keep up with our fitness routines.
Fortunately, the Internet is here to help us. There are countless apps specifically designed to help you set and achieve your fitness goals, and when used correctly, they can be fantastic resources.
The issue is there are too many to choose from. And when it comes to fitness apps, there's a clear line between those that are actually useful and those that just make the process harder.
To help you avoid confusion and to make it easier for you to achieve your fitness objectives, we've compiled a list of the top 10 fitness apps in 2023.
When it comes to improving your physical fitness, the first thing most of us think to do is joining a gym.
For some, this works perfectly. Going to a physical location to work out can provide a number of benefits, especially if you're someone who spends a lot of time at the house, or who has trouble motivating themselves at home.
However, for those who don't want to spend the money (an average gym membership costs around $500 for the first year), or don't have the time to go to the gym, fitness apps make it much easier to stay on top of your physical health.
Of the many benefits of fitness apps, here are some of the most significant:
To help make it easier for you to achieve your physical fitness goals, we compiled a list of the 10 best fitness apps out on the market. All these apps are available for both iOS and Android, so no matter which type of phone you have, you can make use of their services.
Note: this list is not in any particular order. Each person will have different goals and objectives when it comes to fitness, so we've identified a number of different apps that will help you achieve different goals so that everyone can find what they need.
For those who are into biking, swimming, and running, the best app you can use is Strava.
The thing we like most about Strava is its social component. Some people require a little bit of competition to be able to motivate themselves to set new goals, and Stravaprovides does just that.
Not only can you set monthly goals for yourself and track your progress, but you can also join challenges with other people and compete against one another in a friendly way in an effort to encourage each other to push harder.
You can even share photos and videos with your Strava friends as a way of monitoring your own progress and also motivating others.
Strava also includes a nifty feature that allows you to map your routes when you workout outside, calculating distances, and calories burned and comparing your efforts to previous workouts.
If you want to take things a step further, you can pay $7.99 per month for the premium version. This allows you to preplan your workouts, and also gives you access to more customizable features.
For example, with the premium version, you can plan out longer race training goals to help you achieve loftier objectives.
However, if you're not basing your workouts around one of these three sports, Stravais not going to be an ideal choice. But for those with a heavy focus on these three activities, it will be tough to find an app that's more useful.
When it comes to taking control of your physical fitness, always member there are two parts: exercise and nutrition. Arguably, nutrition is more important than exercise, something that not most people know.
To help you successfully achieve your goals, MyFitnessPal allows you to plan and track your progress in both areas.
First, the app integrates with over 50 other fitness apps, which means you can automatically upload your workout information. MyFitnessPal will then automatically calculate the calories you burned while exercising.
On top of that, MyFitnessPal includes an exceptionally good food tracker. There are more than 11 million foods in the app's database, which means you can easily enter what you eat and track how many calories you're consuming and how well you're executing your nutritional plan.
What's more, if you go out to eat, MyFitnessPal has a restaurant logger that allows you to add the food items you eat while out and even more accurately tracks your caloric intake.
All of these features are connected back to the personal goals that you set for yourself, and the app will clearly and easily track your progress so you can see how you're doing and make adjustments along the way that will bring you closer to your goals.
The app is free, but if you want to access even more services, you can pay $9.99 per month.
For those who are interested in weight training, JEFIT is going to be the app for you. To be successful when weight training, you need to design a workout plan that specifically targets certain muscle groups so that you can develop your body evenly and healthily.
JEFIT helps you do that by providing you with more than 1,000 exercises, which you can learn how to do by watching videos, to implement into your own workout plan.
The log feature of the app also allows you to track your reps and your weights, so you can see how you're progressing as you move through your plan. You can also update information about your weight, which will automatically calculate your body composition numbers, a key metric for those looking to build muscle through weight training.
If you're new to weight training, JEFIT offers a number of pre-configured training programs to help you get started, find out what works for you, and then make your own plan.
Once you get into your program, you can access the app both on your phone and through a web browser. The web browser feature is a little easier to navigate, so many people like to use it to plan their workouts, and then you can take your phones to the gym to follow them and track your progress.
The basic version of JFET is free, but you can upgrade to the elite version for $6.99 per month, which removes ads and gives you access to more detailed training reports.
The thing that sets Nike Training Club apart from other apps is that it is 100 percent free. This wasn't always the case, but the massive athletic apparel company made its popular app free during the pandemic, and it has decided that it will remain free indefinitely.
This is a great app for those who are new to working out and are trying to figure out the best way to improve their physical fitness. When you first download the app and make an account, you will take a quiz that will ask you about your personal goals and existing fitness level, and when you're done, the app will generate a workout plan to help you get started.
Something the Nike Training Club does differently than other fitness apps is that it plans out multi-week training programs. These make it much easier for you to put yourself to new levels and achieve your goals. Much easier than if you try to do this on your own.
While pre-planned workout programs are what this app does best, there are also more than 100 standalone videos available for you to watch so you can learn about new exercises and implement them into your own plan.
While traditionally a spiritual practice, yoga has become an excellent way to get into shape, increase flexibility, and also clear your head.
For those who have ever done yoga online, there's a fairly good chance you watched a video from the creator "Yoga with Adriene." She's become an Internet sensation because of her ability to teach yoga in an accessible way and to all levels.
Her videos are still available on YouTube for free, but if you want to skip the ads and get access to even more content from this popular yoga trainer, you can use her proprietary app: Find What Feels Good.
What's great about this app is that there is content for all skill levels. Whether you've been doing yoga for years or have never spent more than ten seconds on a mat, you can find a workout program for you and integrate yoga into your daily life.
While yoga isn't necessarily a weight-loss activity, the flexibility benefits it provides are incredible, and it can also do wonders for your strength, particularly in your core. Plus, as a meditative activity, it's great for stress relief and for reducing anxiety.
A monthly subscription to find what feels good costs $12.99.
Although Peloton has become famous for its exercise bikes and treadmills, you do not need one of these expensive pieces of equipment to make use of its at-home app.
What sets Peloton apart is its live classes. Taught by real instructors from around the world, when you use this app, it feels like you're in an actual class. However, what's really great about Peloton is the sense of community that comes from using the app.
The classes are very high-energy and the instructors are very motivating, and there are also lots of ways for you to interact with your fellow exercisers. For example, you can send virtual high-fives, write messages, share photos, and much more, all of which are designed to bring people closer together and encourage everyone to keep going in pursuit of their goals.
The app can also be used outside, for those who want to ride an actual bike, or do workouts in their backyard. A monthly subscription to Peloton costs $12.99.
Thanks to research first published in the American College of Sports Medicine, Health, and Fitness Journal, the idea that you have to work out for hours and hours and hours to see results have been completely debunked.
In fact, all you really need to do is around seven minutes per day. But if you're only gonna work out for seven minutes a day, it's important you do the right exercises for the right amount of time.
The app "Seven "has been designed entirely around this concept. It's a perfect option for those who don't have the time to do longer workouts or go to the gym.
The actual workout videos use a number of audio cues, which means you don't even really have to be watching to be able to do the exercises. Over time, as you learn the routines, you might not even need to use the app. What’s even better is that all of these exercises use nothing but body weight, meaning you can do them anywhere.
If you want to progress even further using this method, you can pay $7.99 for the full version, which allows you to create customizable workouts based on your own personal skill level.
One of the reasons why people decide to hire a personal trainer or coach is because they are super useful at motivating you to work out. However, these individuals tend to cost quite a bit of money, which is often a huge limiting factor.
If you want this type of motivation but don't want to spend the money, consider subscribing to the Jillian Michaels Fitness App. A professional, celebrity coach, and strength trainer, Jillian Michaels has created a number of workout videos that are designed to be challenging but also rewarding. Her unique style of conducting the classes will keep you pushing yourself and completing each exercise, which is ultimately what will drive results.
In general, this app is designed for those who are looking for higher intensity workouts, though there are a few classes for people who are expecting a baby. The monthly subscription costs $14.99.
A lot of people decide to start getting in shape because they want to lose some weight. If that's your intention, 8Fit is a great app for you. It focuses on shorter, high-intensity workouts that only last between 8 and 20 minutes. But while they're not as long as other workouts, they are specifically designed to generate weight loss.
However, what makes this app even better is that it has excellent nutrition features, which we all know are equally as important as exercise when it comes to weight loss.
For example, it has a meal generator to help you brainstorm new ideas about what to eat and to help you establish good nutritional habits.
Is also a handy tracker that makes it easy for you to record your progress, and the accountability feature, which includes notifications and reminders, is built into the tracker so that you don't stray too far from your plan and give yourself the best chance of achieving your goals.
There's a basic version for free, but you can pay $25 a month to get further meal plan customizations and food shopping lists. This is a little pricey, so consider paying for one year at a time. This costs $80, which works out to be significant savings.
If you're new to fitness, getting started can be rather intimidating. It's hard to know where to start, and it's also difficult to find and keep your motivation. OpenFit tries to counteract this by providing you access to hundreds of live classes.
Many fitness beginners report going to classes is super helpful because it keeps them accountable and also makes working out more fun. But beyond offering many, many classes, OpenFit also has a useful tracking tool that allows you to monitor your progress, and it will also notify you when it's time to work out so that you can keep yourself accountable and stick with this new, healthy habit.
There is a free version that gives you access to limited content, but for $38.99 for three months, or around $13 per month, you can use all of the content available on the app.
Thanks to the Internet and smartphones, getting in shape has never been easier. Of course, it requires some self-discipline and a genuine desire to improve, but if you have these, the apps we discussed on the slips list can be invaluable tools for helping you achieve your goals and get in shape.
Now that you have them at your disposal, it's time to download the one that's right for you and take the all-important first step of integrating fitness into your life and taking control of your health.
