Apps for Fitness

Posted by Coach Sean on Apr 12th, 2011 in Nutrition, Reviews, Workouts | 11 comments

In case you didn’t know, I love my iPhone. Technology can be a great thing. Especially if it makes our lives easier. But did you know that you can also make your nutrition and training easier with apps? Yep, apps for fitness are abundant now. There are a lot of good ones out there that will help you reach your goals more easily and even help to motivate you to workout harder. Fitness apps are a great tool to use to help make sure you are eating properly and staying on track with your diet. You can also find others that will challenge you in new ways and even help to take your workout to a new level. Consistency is key to getting great results with programs like P90X, Insanity or TurboFire. By having nutritional information, a food log and training tips at your finger tips, you can definitely make your fitness journey a much easier experience. Here are some of my favorite apps for fitness. Let me know what you think!

Nutrition

1. MyFitnessPal: One of the best tools that I use to stay on track with my nutrition is a food log. My Fitness Pal is a great, free, website that allows you to do that with ease. The user database is filled with thousands of foods from the grocery store to restaurants so no matter what your eating you be able to find it and customize on their site. This app is the companion to that system. You can log your food from your phone and it will automatically update to your log online.

2. Eat This! Not That!: This app is great for the “On the go” person who is constantly eating out and is using that as an excuse not to eat properly. Based on the best selling book, this app grades and gives suggestions for practically every chain restaurant in the U.S. If your confused on what to eat next time you are at your local chain then install this app and reap the benefits. The cost is well worth it.

3. Restaurants: This is a very similar app to the one above. It is a little more basic though. Restaurants break down the nutritional info for a good amount of fast food restaurants. If I find myself having to eat at one I use this to make the right choice every time.

4. Fooducate: I stumbled upon this app after watching the local news. The cool part of this app is that it allows you the ability to scan the barcode of any food you will find at the store, and have fooducate show you a letter grade and an option for a better choice. Very high tech and very cool.

5. Fitday: Another food logging app that goes along with the online website. I started out using fitday so I wanted to show that they now have an app for that.

6. Dailyburn: Dailyburn has several, food based, apps that can do everything from log your food manually to log your food through scanning. I like the user interface and the ease of this app.

7. Seafood: If your into seafood this one is a must. I am all about eating wild fish that are healthy and good for the environment. Seafood shows you which types of fish you should eat and which you should stay away from. Everything from mercury levels to how over fished particular seafood is.

Training

1. Nike+ GPS: If your a runner than this app is a MUST have. Even though the iPhone comes with Nike+, I found that Nike + GPS was much more accurate and much easier to use. This app gives the ability to track your running route, distance, speed, length, etc. It also has a cool function to sync with Facebook or twitter so you can share your runs with your friends. Every run gets synced online and you can rate your run, see your total distance or do a challenge with friends or the online community. This app also allows you to play your favorite music or playlist from your music in your phone. Feeling run down and need a boost? There is a “power song” feature that allows your to put your go to song to push through the tough part of your run. All around great app for fitness.

2. iFitness or Full Fitness: This is an oldie but a goodie. This app shows different exercises that you can do at home or at the gym for the particular body part or muscle that you want to work. I have used it to come up with new exercises to help change up my routine. Another cool feature is the ability to track your reps and weight. You can then see a graph of your progress as you continue to use it. They have added a food tracker, weight monitor, BMI calculator, and body measurements. They also have workout routines that are pretty decent. Its not going to replace a fitness program but can be fun to help change things up.

3. Nike Training: Nike Training is very similar to iFitness in that it gives you workout routines to use to get in better shape. It try to be a personal trainer in your phone. You can do workouts and drills, track your progress and unlock rewards.

4. Push-up Wars: This is new to me but seems like a very fun idea. Think you can do more push ups than all your friends? Test your skill and fitness with this app. You are able to record your push ups and challenge others on a leader board to see who can do the most.

5. P90X App?: There is talk of a P90X app to keep an eye out for it. If you follow my this blog then you will be the first to know.

No matter what your looking for there is some sort of app for it, especially apps for fitness. These fitness apps help me to stay accountable and to keep giving me new ideas to incorporate into my workout routines. Going through programs like P90X or Insanity is not a simple task. Having an app to help make eating healthy or working out easier or more fun can make or break your results. Take advantage of these free apps and spend some extra cash on the ones that you think will help you out. Eating healthy and working out is hard enough, use the proper tools and you will continue to get results.

Have any other great apps for fitness? Let me know! I will add them to the list. Feel free to comment below and ask any questions you have!

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-Coach Sean