There are many fitness and nutrition apps to choose from.
Self-care and wellness are a priority for many Americans, and technology is increasingly becoming a tool to support their efforts. They can use this modern technology anywhere and anytime, and they can customize it to meet their needs.
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of fitness apps out there, and they offer a wide array of bells and whistles. Some stream high-intensity interval training, or HIIT, as well as yoga, low-impact and various other workouts. Other apps track nutrition and daily food intake.
The key, says New Orleans, Louisiana-based personal trainer Aaron Washburn, is “to choose an app that addresses your fitness goals and covers all the areas you are most concerned about.”
Joscilynn Faith Stachowiak, trainer and CEO of California-based online fitness company Game Changer Academy, adds that it is important to find an app you can easily use to meet your goals. She suggests, “When you choose an app, dedicate about 30 minutes to explore every little feature and learn how to use it.”
Personal training apps clearly are a personal choice, but here are some top-rated ones to get you thinking about your fitness goals.
Trainerize
Washburn and Faith both identify Trainerize as a favorite mobile app and web platform. This program is especially beneficial if you are working with a trainer in person because it offers features that enable both you and the trainer to create targeted workouts, track goals and tweak the program as necessary.
Trainers, for instance, can use training templates to build programs for each client as well as add notes and instructions they can access during workouts. They also can monitor clients’ heart rates and view graphs of their progress.
If you’re exercising, you can track workouts, nutrition, fitness targets and progress via a mobile app. You also get access to an extensive library of professionally created exercises and workouts.
In addition, you can receive notifications from your trainer when you check in, and both of you can upload exercise videos to an in-app video drive or import them as YouTube videos.
Exercise and nutrition go hand in hand, Washburn emphasizes, and Trainerize has a full suite of nutrition offerings that enable a holistic approach to a healthy lifestyle. These features include meal plans and tools to document and measure your nutrition goals. The app also offers the ability to sync with other apps, such as MyFitnessPal, or equipment like a Fitbit.
For clients, Trainerize is free. There is a cost for trainers based on the number of clients they are using the app with.
MyFitnessPal
MyFitnessPal is a highly-rated smartphone app and web platform that allows users to track their eating and exercise habits. It counts calories, tracks nutrients, includes workouts that calculate how many calories you’re burning and offers both game-style motivations and feedback on your progress.
This popular nutrition-tracking app is also user-friendly.
Nick Clayton, a certified personal trainer and strength and conditioning specialist and owner of Claytonfit.com, says it’s “really simple and provides good recommendations. The videos are well done, and the workouts are easy to follow, but there isn’t much in terms of how to perform the exercises or how to modify them to fit specific needs.”
Still, Clayton calls it a “really good one-stop shop with workouts and nutrition tracking.” He personally uses MyFitnessPal for nutrition tracking with his online coaching clients. “They can share their food diary with me, and I can provide feedback through the app,” he explains.
The basic plan for MyFitnessPal is free. The premium membership is $9.99 a month with an annual subscription cost of $49.99. The free account offers calorie, activity and weight tracking. The premium package provides additional data regarding nutrition and a breakdown of calories for everything you eat. MyFitnessPal’s premium package also doesn’t have the advertisements that appear in the free version.
FlexIt
FlexIt offers pay-as-you-go access to gyms and fitness centers across the country. Use the app to search for fitness locations you’d like to visit, then check in with the app when you get there. When you leave, you check out, and the app charges you for the time you were there.
“FlexIt is the newest best-kept secret for training,” says David Otey, a certified personal trainer in West Orange, New Jersey. “FlexIt tapped Ebenezer Samuel, fitness director for Men’s Health, to head up their programming innovation. Anything from strength training to cardio-centric sessions can be found in this diverse platform.”
A variety of plans are available. The more sessions you commit to, the lower the cost. For instance, you can get four 30-minute sessions for $36 per session. With monthly plans, you’ll pay $34 for eight sessions or $32 for 12 sessions.
FitBod
This app allows you to build a customized exercise program chosen from a variety of workouts, including bodyweight training, weightlifting, cardio or a combination of all three.
FitBod employs artificial intelligence and machine-learning algorithms to read your workout history and suggest ways to improve your workout plan with different exercises and reps.
Clayton calls FitBod a “great-looking app that’s simple to use. It has a number of programs, and it’s easy to replace an exercise — let’s say you can’t do it, don’t have the equipment, etc. It does a good job of providing exercise technique instruction as well.”
Prices are $12.99 a month or $79.99 a year, with a 30-day free trial.
Ladder
The Ladder app lets you participate in workouts led by renowned trainers, such as:
— The functional full-body “J Method” program from former senior Peloton instructor Jennifer Jacobs.
— The “Body & Bell” kettlebell-based strength and cardio training from Lauren Kanski and Meghan Hayden.
— Sam Tooley’s “Project Alpha” running speed, strength and endurance workouts.
There are also prenatal and postnatal workouts, flexibility and strength-building classes, HIIT classes and more.
After a free seven-day trial, the membership fee varies based on the level of your plan: $29.99 per month with a pro plan, $44.99 per month with an elite plan and $59.99 for an upgraded plan with everything Ladder has to offer. The Pro Plan offers features like five new workouts per week and access to community chats. With the Elite Plan, you get one-on-one coaching and 20 “save and replay” workouts.
This app offers “programming built for anyone to follow, whether starting your first fitness routine or a seasoned veteran to the gym,” Otey says. “You’ll find top-level coaching met with a perfect at-home format.”
Fiit
Fiit, sometimes referred to as “the Netflix of fitness,” is an on-demand streaming service offering more than 600 recorded fitness classes led by experts. You can watch the classes on any mobile device or TV that has streaming capability.
Fiit includes a wearable tracking device and digitized fitness mat for tracking progress during the workout, and it feeds your “stats” onto the screen so you can compete against yourself — or others in group classes — for a better workout.
Fiit comes from Great Britain, and after your free 14-day trial, you can join for $19.99 per month for a month-to-month membership or $119.99 annually.
“This is a solid app for a variety of workouts that are instructor-led,” Clayton says. It’s “a good option for clients who are already working out and looking for a convenient way to add workouts at home.”
Silofit
With Silofit, you can book a private space in a gym near you, where you can work out alone, with a friend or with a personal trainer of your choice. The app will detail the space, equipment and amenities available, and it provides by-the-hour rentals.
For first-time customers, the first week is free. Afterward, the first month of unlimited bookings is $99. The following month, the price bumps up to $249. To see if you like it, you can also purchase one-time rentals for $32 throughout your first month of membership.
Nike Training Club
Free to download for Android and iOS, Nike Training Club offers a basic version with more than 100 yoga, strength, cardio and other workout videos.
The price tag for the premium edition used to be $14.95 a month, but Nike announced in 2020 that it was giving it away free to help people stay fit during the COVID-19 pandemic. As of 2023, the app is still free, but some of those premium features, such as additional workout routines, are gone.
This app provides a variety of group and circuit-style workouts in addition to strength training, Clayton says. “While you can’t build your own workout or switch out exercises, the app does a great job of providing exercise variations, allowing you to somewhat modify the difficulty to match your fitness level and skill,” he explains.
The app also has a strength program that Clayton calls “really well done — the workout is solid, and instruction is great. Outside of that one strength program, however, most of it is fitness-related,” meaning it’s geared more toward aerobic conditioning and flexibility.
Choosing a fitness app
There are any number of good training apps. Which is the best? “The one that works for you,” Clayton says.
To determine that, he suggests you consider:
— Your goals and what you enjoy. Are you looking to have an app that will track your runs, do you want more circuit-style workouts, or are you looking to get stronger? Look at your goals first. “Answering this question will help you pick the most appropriate option,” Clayton says.
— Your limitations. Do you have past injuries that make certain exercises difficult or impossible? Do you have arthritis or other conditions that can make exercising challenging or painful? It is important to talk to your physician or other health care provider before you start on an exercise program or diet. They can help identify activities to avoid and ways to stay safe.
— Your exercise knowledge and experience. “A lot of the apps do a good job of listing workouts as beginner, intermediate or advanced. Make sure you select the version that fits not only how hard you want to work, but also how much experience you have,” Clayton advises. “For example, a kettlebell swing is an advanced exercise, and it’s fantastic for so many reasons. But, like many exercises, if you don’t have the proper exercise technique, it can increase injury risk.” For someone in this position, as an example, he would recommend learning how to perform hip bridges first, then progressing to deadlifts, “and only then start adding in more advanced moves like the swing.”
— Usability of the app. If you are tech-savvy, more complex apps with all the bells and whistles might be perfect for you. However, if you have limited tech skills or devices that are slow or have limited data, you may get frustrated when you are trying to stream videos or have real-time videoconferences.
Avoiding the pitfalls
It’s not uncommon for people to subscribe to an app, get started with great enthusiasm and then stop using it over time.
“One of the biggest mistakes people make is signing up for something without doing their research,” Faith says. “Don’t just go by what someone else says. Do your due diligence. Investing in yourself is a serious thing. You want to make the right choice for you.”
If you are working in person with a personal trainer, it makes good sense to talk with them before you sign up for any app.
“It is very important to be as specific as possible about your goals,” Faith adds.
This will make it easy to create a personalized plan and identify outcomes such as weight loss to track progress.
These are eight top trainer-recommended apps.
— Trainerize.
— MyFitnessPal.
— FlexIt.
— FitBod.
— Ladder.
— Fiit.
— Silofit.
— Nike Training Club.
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originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 04/21/23: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
