It's January and as the cliche goes, many of us will be itching to get back on top of our health and fitness goals. Not too long ago, the New Year was the time to finally put that gym membership to good use and burn off all the extra kcals consumed over the festive period. While that still rings true for many, a growing trend in high-quality health and fitness apps means more and more people will be opting to cut the gym out completely and get fit where and when it suits them - from the comfort of their devices. And even if the gym is still a big part of your life, the rising number of apps out there that can complement your workout schedule means it's easy to be overwhelmed when it comes to choosing the right apps to do that with. There are literally thousands out there all with the same goal: to help benefit our health, whether that’s physical, mental, or our general well-being. I’ve therefore compiled a list of what I deem the best health and fitness apps of this year to help you achieve your goals, whether that’s access to new types of cardio, better resistance training routines, or managing stress levels and sleeping problems. Beachbody on Demand beachbodyondemand.com Beachbody on Demand lets you stream high-quality fitness classes from your phone, tablet, TV or laptopBEACHBODYONDEMAND Beachbody On Demand provides streaming access to hundreds of uber-premium Beachbody workouts as well as the tools needed to offer you an all-rounded approach to health, helping you to conquer your fitness goals. The app allows you to choose from hundreds of Beachbody workouts, from programs including 80 Day Obsession, 21 Day Fix, PiYo, Core de force, Insanity, P90X, and 3 Week Yoga Retreat. There is even a bunch of customized meal plans so you've got your nutrition covered, too, and on top of this, you get access to Beachbody’s own healthy cooking show, Fixate. The app works across all platforms, including Amazon Fire, Roku, iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple TV, and Desktop or Laptop. Esquared esq2.com The Esquared fitness app is great if you hate subscriptions or commitmentsESQUARED Esquared is an easy-to-use fitness-on-demand app. Working a little similar to Uber (it’s based on the same API), the app allows you to find gym sessions and one-off classes in your area, in real-time. Unlike irritating apps like ClassPass what try to catch you out with free trials that tie you in and threaten to charge you if you cancel (Classpass won’t be featuring in this article for this very reason), there are no commitments or subscription fees with Esquared. The app was founded by Eleni Plakitsi, a former city accountant in London and IFBB & WBFF Figure Pro athlete and winner of the Fame and WBFF Fitness Model Awards. Its main goal is to help people sign up to classes/gym passes around London and encourage more movement rather than the endless excuses; the attraction being that there are no commitments. I've really enjoyed using the app over the past few weeks, and there are some really amazing premium clubs thrown in there. It's great in that it gives you the flexibility to experience a variety of classes and studios instead of the same gym and a feeling tied down to a membership. MyFitnessPal The MyFitnessPal app offers you everything you need to count your kcals and keep on trackMYFITNESSPAL Think you're eating healthily but still piling on weight? Well, there's an app that can help you work out where you're going wrong. It's called MyFitnessPal. The app is a super easy to use Apple Watch ap. Simply pop in the meals you've eaten throughout the day and it will work out the calories against your daily target, calculated from your weight goal, and tell you how much you have left. It's great for giving you a sense of which foods you regularly eat have high-calorie content and what foods don't, helping you to manage weight in the long run. FIIT fiit.tv The FIIT app is so well designed it'll actually make you want to use it (and exercise) moreFIIT FIIT is one of my favourite fitness apps, mainly due to the great design and fun way to bring you premium boutique class experiences,wherever you are. Referred to as the “Netflix of fitness apps”, the best thing about the app is how premium it feels. The interactive classes are very well produced, which helps you better engage with the workout. What makes it unique, however, is you’ll receive a heart-monitoring chest strap when you sign up. This links up to the app and will track your progress as you workout. By integrating your stats on screen, offering real-time performance metrics that are dependant on effort levels, and then giving you “personal best” goals to beat, it kind of feels like you’re playing a video game, just with much healthier outcomes. As far as costs go, memberships start at £20 a month and will work out cheaper depending on how long you sign up for. Quarterly will cost you £45, and on a yearly basis, it’s £120. Move GB movegb.com As the model stands, gyms dream of signing customers up to their premises on the hopes that they'll never use them. And statistically, that's the trend. Customers buy expensive gym memberships, visit a few times, lose motivation and never return. But MoveGB looks to change all that. With over 250,000 users and more than 5,500 providers, MoveGB believes that individuals who visit multiple venues to exercise are “four times more likely to be active six months after joining than those who visit single venues”. Hence why it’s a great alternative to gym memberships. Once you’re logged in, you can search for activities on your page and narrow it down by day or time. You can also browse a whole list or search for specific things. It's a really nice, intuitive app to use and if you sign up now, membership trials are just £1. Sleep++ Itunes store for Sleep++ Sleep++ grabs all the vital sleep info from you while you’re snoozing. By tracking motion, it's able to figure out how restless you are during your slumber – and when. Once you're asleep, the app will instantly analyze last night’s sleep and tell you how good or bad it was - telling you what times you stirred and allowing you to have a better stab at figuring out the problem. It's also free. Headspace headspace.com Being completely new to meditation, I found Headspace offered a gentle introduction to a concept that felt very alien at first. But the great thing here is that the app eases you into the practice. It starts you off on a free Take10 program, which gives you the chance to meditate for just 10 minutes a day over 10 days. You’ll also find there’s a variety of guided breathing and visualisation exercises which you can tailor to focus on what matters to you most, with options for those that suffer from anxiety, or those that might need to calm down in an emergency, such as a panic attack. The app isn't free, but basic starter sessions are. A subscription - which unlocks access to a deeper range of mindfulness exercises up to one hour in length - will set you back £9.99 per month, or £74.99 for the year, which is equal to £6.25 per month. Edo edoapp.co.uk The Edo app allows food shoppers to find out exactly what’s in supermarket products with the simple click of a button. Giving users the lowdown on food items, the app is scanning food labels and uses an algorithm to analyze ingredients based on scientific studies and nutritional values to 'rate' products - with 10 being the healthiest and zero being the least healthy. Edo is all about helping you to understand what's on food labels so you can know exactly what's inside your food and choose consciously. The app can also indicate if a food item is Gluten-free or Lactose-free as well as offering healthier alternatives for you. TruBe trubeapp.com Calling itself “the Uber of personal training”, TruBe is a free app that allows users to purchase PT sessions at the drop of a hat, from over 300 highly-qualified trainers in London, from kickboxing heavyweight champions to professional ballet dancers. Whether it’s for a one-off session or an ongoing training program you’re after, the lets you browse all available PTs in the local area, with reviews, pictures, and book in an instant. You can also decide where to have the session, from the comfort of your own home, office or hotel or at a selection of the London gyms, including boxing gym Fight Zone, dance studio Danceworks, and luxury health club Dolphin Square Fitness. Available for iOS, TruBe’s Pay as you go sessions are priced at £50. Multi-session programs start at £140. You can also save the pennies, and buddy up and train with two friends to share the cost of a session. RiseToday www.rise.today Available for both iOS and Android, RiseToday is a subscription-free app that lets users find not just classes but other fitness services and sessions in their area quickly and easily. Promising to overhaul the landscape of existing fitness apps that demand unaffordable fees or put an exasperating cap on their user’s classes, RiseToday caters to the increasingly adventurous and freedom-seeking smartphone user who wants to stay fit and well with no obligations. Source
