Top Ten: iPhone health and fitness apps

If you have an iPhone and are constantly downloading apps, it’s time to make use of your 3G more productively. With the majority of health and fitness apps cost-free there is no excuse to grab some professional assistance in organizing, executing and advancing your health and fitness lifestyle. From everything from sleep efficiency, water consumption, muscle building to cutting down on cigarettes here are the top 10 current iPhone health and fitness apps.

10. Monitor your weight – Free

‘Monitor your weight’ is one of the best ways to keep track of your BMI, weekly and daily weight loss as well as an easily useable graph that is all monitored in co-ordination with your age, height, gender and body frame upon signing up. There are a lot of similar apps out there but  where others fail to go into as much detail ‘Monitor your weight’ stores all the needed without the confusion or complexity. Use the app in conjunction with your workout or diet to keep tabs on progress and help reach your goal in no time

9. AbsAtWork – Free

A free app that consists of minimal effort ‘AbsAtWork’ begs the question, why not ? Whilst on the train, sat in the office or on a 20 minute break simply turn the device on and leave in your pocket. The system operates by vibrating at different intervals over a period of 10-30 minutes depending on your selection. Each time you feel the buzz clench your abs firmly and release. ‘AbsAtWork’ is an easy way to a complete a small abdominal workout wherever you are without the threat of killing your battery.

8. Livestrong MyQuit Coach – Free

Unlike other quit smoking apps that record data and provide analysis, this app from Livestrong will provide you much more support and make you feel like you have your own personal coach. Physician approved, the smart device supplies you with the option to gradually decrease your smoking intake or quite straight away. Combined with social media links for added group support you will feel more motivated than ever to quit the harmful habit. Achievement badges, rewards and motivational tips will help pull you through especially at times of hardship when you can push the ‘having a craving’ button.

7. Nexercise – Motivation to lose weight – Free

One of the hardest aspects when it comes to weight loss is motivation. The philosophy of ‘Nexercise’ incorporates signing up to the app with friends to enjoy a playful, competitive and successful weight loss campaign. With the ability to record activities from aerobics, dancing, playing with your kids to walking the dog this app will help accumulate all of your daily exercises. By gaining exclusive ‘Nexercise XP’ for the exercises you complete it is easy to compare ‘XP’ points with friends on a daily basis and compete effectively. Track, earn, connect and best of all it’s free.

6. Full fitness: Exercise Workout Trainer – £1.49

There are 100s of different workout routines, exercises, tips and diets available in the app world but the fact is that every individual body will react differently and it is up to you to find the most suitable workout. With this in mind ‘Full fitness’ offers the most extensive range of both individual muscle group exercises and overall workouts. The application will give you the knowledge combined with detailed images, videos and step by step processes to develop your own personal routine. There are many replicating free versions but once downloaded you will never have to look any further than ‘Full fitness’ when it comes to hitting the gym.

5. PhysiqueBuild – £1.99

‘PhysiqueBuild’ helps list some of the lost and basic fundamentals when it comes to building muscle, finding the right exercises for your body type. Although you have to pay for the privileges the wealth of information and detail that comes with the app is well worth it’s price. Developed for bodybuilders of all levels the app will help determine the best muscle building program based on your body type, whether it may be ectomorph, mesomorph or endomorph. Including everything from planing your meals, menus, goal setting, mass building to muscle definition ‘PhysiqueBuild’ will help you turn you body into a sacred temple.

4. Interval Timer – Free

An essential for all budding gym enthusiasts. The ability to effectively time your rest periods can define the difference between a good and bad workout. Interval timer is very easy to use and quick to set up with the ability to have multiple workout routines stored and ready to use. Set the amount of exercises your wish to complete and desired rest times in between with no added hassle to disrupt the rest of your session. The countdown alarm style will keep you well informed as time closes whether you are plugged in with headphones or not and the best feature is the ability to sync the app to any iTunes playlist so you can listen to music at the same time.

3. Sleep time – Free

Sleep is essential, vital and one of the most overlooked aspect of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. In order to effectively recover from exercise, mentally switch off and generally recoup a good 7-8 hours sleep is recommended. But the secret to waking up fresh lye’s in your sleeping pattern. Through simply placing your phone under your pillow ‘Sleep time’ will help track your REM (Rapid Eye Movement) which is key aspect in a good nights sleep. In co-ordination with your alarm time the app will wake you up between 5-15 minutes before your set wake up call based on the best time to disturb your sleeping pattern. The app will also monitor your sleep into a graph that depicts how long you are in a ‘light/deep’ sleep, say goodbye to the snooze alarm and start waking up fresh and ready to go.

2. Drink-O-Matic PRO – Free

Another factor you should be paying more attention too is your hydration levels. The rumors of how much daily water you should be consuming seems to be constantly changing whilst nobody is sure what a cup of coffee really counts for. Not to worry, with ‘Drink-O-Matic’ you simply note down the beverage you’ve just consumed and the app will keep track of your fluid intake. Keep updated with push notifications to see if you’re having an overload of caffeine or perhaps alcohol whilst the neat graph will display how much water you have exactly had each day.

1. Runtastic PRO GPS: £2.99

If your serious about running or an amateur needing to add motivation to your routes then this is the app for you. ‘Runtastic’ will automatically sinc to your GPS so if your moving to a new area or want to shift your direction somewhere more exciting you won’t have to worry about stopping to ask for directions. Calculating speed, distance and even elevation the app can take your running experience to a new level. My favorite tool that separates ‘Runtastic’ from other applications is the live voice coach that will help motivate and update whilst out running, with simulated cheers and applause you will feel like doing the MoBot every time you reach home.
By Liam Curtis

@lcurtis92

iPhone By Yutaka Tsutano