12 Best Fitness Apps of 2016
If you have a need, chances are there’s an app for that. With fitness trackers and fitness-related technology (Hello, FitnessHQ!) being the number 1 trend for 2016, there are literally tens of thousands of fitness-related apps out there to help you achieve your best bod, run your first race, rock out during your workout or track your WOD times.
We went ahead and rounded up a dozen of our favorites so that you don’t have to guess if the fitness app is worth downloading or wonder if it’s worth the price.
Whether you’re looking to lose weight or hit a new PR, these apps have you covered and give you loads of tools and features to help you get there.
Food
MyFitnessPal has been around for years, and is still hugely popular and widely used. Why? Because it has loads of features, a huge database, an awesome community and tools that are constantly being updated.
If you’re looking to track your nutrition, MyFitnessPal is definitely the way to go.
Their database boasts over 5 million foods, making it easy to search for and locate just about everything- including meals at restaurants, alcohol selections, ethnic choices and more.
The app syncs with 50 different devices, including the Apple Watch, Fitbit, Garmin, Strava and others allowing savvy users to merge all your health, fitness and nutrition data in one place.
The app also hosts typical weight-loss data fields, allowing you to enter daily/weekly weigh-ins, goals, and participate in monthly challenges.
Probably the best part about the app — it’s free. There is a premium feature available ($9.99 per month or $49.99 for the year), but with so many amazing features available for free, the upgrade isn’t really necessarily unless you’re looking to strictly track macros and need detailed goals, charts and breakdowns of your daily intake.
Another great app for tracking nutrition is LoseIt. With over 1 million foods in their (always growing) database, they offer lots of selections when it’s time to track.
One awesome feature that LoseIt incorporates is their barcode scanning capability. With an in-app barcode reader, it makes logging your packaged food one easy step.
In addition to a normal nutrition trackers features, LoseIt’s premium upgrade also allows you to track things like hydration, body fat, sleep and measurements, giving you a really great overall picture of your success.
This app is a great resource for athletes looking to lose weight and also has a robust social community of folks who love supporting you in reaching your goals.
LoseIt is a free app, with premium upgrades available. As a stand alone free app it’s extremely comprehensive, but if you’re a data junkie like me, the premium features and tracking are worth it at $3.34 per month or $39.99 per year.
Music
It’s been shown that running or working out while listening to music can improve our performance by up to 15 percent. But let’s face it — not all of us have the time (or mad skillz) to sit down and concoct killer playlists for each of our workouts.
Enter Rock My Run — the curated music app that has thousands of awesome playlists right at your fingertips, with a few fun twists!
Choose from playlists sorted by genre, DJ, activity (running, weight lifting, etc.) or BPM to keep you motivated and moving.
While that might sound like every other music app out there, Rock My Run’s body-driven music technology, a premium feature, is what really sets them apart. The feature will actually adjust the tempo of the music so that it matches your steps or your goal cadence for the workout.
Runners everywhere know — this is HUGE! If you have a goal pace in mind, all you need to do is run to the beat to reach it. New users get a free trial of the full platform and the app itself is free. After the trial, I highly recommend upgrading to the premium membership for $4.99 a month or $35.99 a year to keep all the playlists and features.
FitRadio is another awesome music streaming service for fitness fanatics. The app boasts thousands of playlists, DJs and genres, and also has playlists curated for specific workout types, including a CrossFit section!
The app allows you to tag favorite DJs and mixes, and get notifications when they release new mixes to jam to.
Cardio
Strava
Warning — it’s totally possible to become addicted to Strava. Runners and cyclists everywhere use the app, and even notable pros get in on the action with tracking their workouts and working to earn KOMs (king of the mountain) in various segments.
Strava is a GPS-powered ride and run tracker that tracks key stats like your distance, pace, speed, elevation and calories burned based on your profile. The app can sync with a variety of devices including Garmin and Fitbit to include metrics like heart rate, power and cadence data.
With a huge following and social community, you can connect with friends in your area to compare workouts and motivate each other, as well as participate in Strava challenges monthly. The leaderboards show how you stack up locally, both on key segments and in challenges to keep you motivated.
The app is free to use, and is super effective in the free format. There is a premium upgrade available for $5.99 per month or $59.99 for the year that gives you access to extra features, most notably the ability to set weekly mileage or time goals and keep track of your daly progress. Premium members also get access to premium gear and discounts throughout the year, so if you want a Strava cycling kit, be sure to upgrade.
Sure, walking running and biking is good for your body, but Charity Miles wants to do good for others as well. This innovative app allows you to get fit and give back at the same time.Download the app and use it anytime you’re walking, running or riding outside and the GPS-enabled technology will track your distance. For every mile you go, cyclists earn 10 cents, and walkers and runners earn 25 cents to the charity of your choice that you’ll select in the app each time you login for a workout.
The fundraising is supported by corporate sponsors like Times, Humana and Lifeway Foods, and the app does all the calculations and disbursement for you.
All you need to do is download the app and get to work. No brainer!
Not a runner? At least, not yet! Check out the C25k app. There are loads of “couch to 5K” type programs out there, but this app is the bee’s knees.
It’s free, so so SO easy to use. The app gives you the full 8-week program and is perfect for new runners. The training program incorporates walk and run intervals for 3 days per week, 30 minutes a day with the end of goal of running 3.1 miles straight.
The app integrates with others like MyFitnessPal, Rock My Run and all GPS and pedometer apps, as well as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram giving you lots of tools to both track and share your success.
The app is totally free, the only upgrade removes ads but doesn’t add features, so it’s not necessary to have a great app experience.
Strength/Gym
Three-time Welterweight UFC champion Georges St-Pierre, affectionately known as GSP, made an app. And let me tell you, it’s one heck of an app.
I’ll start by saying I literally never pay for apps. Maybe $1.99, MAYBE — if it’s something I really want. When I saw that this app is $4.99 just for the download, I almost didn’t do it. But let me tell you, it’s more than worth the $5.
You choose 20, 40 or 60-minute workouts that you can do at home with limited equipment and GSP puts you through the paces. At the end of each exercise you rate the movements as “easy,” “tough,” “impossible,” or “need to learn,” and the app’s algorithm will remember that for next time and adjust your workout accordingly.
The workouts all incorporate gymnastics, bodyweight exercises and HIIT — so think of them like a really tough gymnastics WOD at CrossFit with video demonstration and motivation.
In addition to the workouts, you’ll get a whole host of video content from Dr. John Berardi, one of the premiere nutrition coaches and experts in the world.
In addition to the download fee, there is a monthly subscription. $3.99 for the month, or $9.99 for the year gets you access to all of the goodies.
If you’re someone who does a lot of home workouts, or who likes the idea of having a trainer put together personalized and individualized workouts for you, but doesn’t want to pay $50 or more per session, this app is the solution.
Fitness Builder by PumpOne just got an upgrade, and it has improved this app to the point of being a can’t-miss for 2016.
Whether you’re a regular gym-goer, or a fitness professional, like a personal trainer or physical therapist, Fitness Builder has literally every tool that you need to build, track and measure your progress for your workouts.
The free access account gives you access to over 400 workouts and fitness plans, as well as access to their My Stats feature that tracks all your body stats and progress.
The app itself is pretty incredible. It’s pre-loaded with tons of workouts designed to help you meet your goals (fat loss, weight loss, strength, etc.), and every exercise comes with a detailed description, a how-to guide, and an easy to use tracking system so that you can remember your weight, reps and sets for next time.
Lots of upgrades are available in this app, including a Plus subscription ($6.99 per month or $59.99 yearly) that gives you access to over 1000 workouts, as well as access to “builder,” which lets you build and track your own workouts — a must-have in my opinion.
Fitness professionals can track all of their clients, their workouts, logs and progress with the Pro feature ($39.99 per month or $299.99 yearly) and Physical Therapists have access to their own version which includes everything Pro has, plus access to over 1,400 rehab exercises, videos and recovery protocols ($49.99 per month or $399.99 yearly).
Another great app for strength training workouts is Full Fitness. While it’s a bit more limited than FitnessBuilder, it still offers hundreds of exercises and has dozens of pre-loaded 30-minute workouts broken out by your goals to give you great motivation.
Their directory includes full color photos, detailed descriptions of each movement, and they have hundreds of videos uploaded for the more complex movements to make sure your form is perfect.
Another fun feature of this app is the ability to email yourself your workouts, allowing you to not only track your progress in app, but also revisit your success as needed.
The app is only $2.99 in the app store, and there are no in app upgrades or purchases. They do lots of updates on this one, so they’re always adding new, free features.
CrossFit
When it comes to tracking workouts, CrossFit is kind of a different animal. Not only do you need to keep track of your daily WODs, lifts, and PRs, but you’ll also want one place to find all of your times and scaling on the big benchmark workouts (can we say Fran?)
MyWOD literally has it all. You can easily track your daily workouts, including your strength reps, weight and sets, the WOD, any PRs and more. They also have over 150 pre loaded “common” workouts — think the benchmarks, Hero WODs, the Girls, etc. — to make it easy to simply upload your time and keep track of what you need to beat the next time.
They also have a nifty weight percentage calculator, so the next time your coach tells you that you’re front squatting 5×5 at 85 percent of your 1 RM, you can do the math quickly (or just whip out your phone) without needing to use your fingers (and toes, and however else kids do math these days).
Best part? Totally free.
Tabata isn’t Tabata without a timer, and Seconds has you covered. I love this app for a number of reasons.
One, it’s super easy to use. It already has the most common timers uploaded into it (circuit, interval, Tabata, etc.), and it’s easy to customize the pre-loaded templates.
It has lots of options with how it notifies you, and personally I love the “boxing” option — it gives you a 10 second warning that sounds like someone whapping the mat three times, and then a bell at the end of the round.
The display is huge, and stays active without needing to touch your screen. You can also control your music and playlist through the timer itself, making it easy to quickly skip a song that just isn’t what you need to get through that interval.
As a free timer, you can configure each time you go, or for the $4.99 upgrade to the Pro version you can save anything you’ve created in the past and simply hit Start when you’re ready to rock.
What apps are you using this year? How do you keep track of your success? Be sure to let us know if we missed your favorite in the comments!
