For me, money IS the key to happiness! The less I spend, the happier I am, so the fact that all of the following free fitness apps cost me nothing makes me pretty damn happy! The slideshow below consists of a collection of nutrition & fitness trackers and fitness tools & trackers, some of which have social media tie-ins for accountability and community. For each app you will find a brief description of what it can do for you. Click the app icons to visit their websites or see below the show to download them for your Android or Apple device!
My Fitness Pal
This app is a great all-in-one app for managing your health & fitness goals. By answering some basic questions you can set up your nutrition goals (or if you already know what they are, you can edit them manually). You can track your stats (weight, measurements, body fat) as well as your daily dietary and fluid intake. There are also some added social features which are only available on the website, like maintaining a blog or posting to a feed (similar to Facebook), so you can share your journey with friends (or strangers).
nutrition & fitness tracker, social/accountability
Lose It!
This app helps you "customize a weight loss plan that fits your life. Set your goals and achieve them on your terms". And you can publish your workouts and results straight to facebook - built in accountability from all your friends!
nutrition & fitness tracker, social/accountability
Fitocracy
Fitocracy is a community of like-minded individuals who are all on a journey to obtaining or maintaining a healthy lifestyle. With the added aspect of earning points for your fitness activities, or by completing fitness challenges, you can compete with friends or strangers to reach the highest achievements, just like a regular game! Recruit your friends to complete challenges with you, log your daily fitness activities, join groups of individuals with similar goals and cheer each other on! From their own website: "Fitocracy’s mission is to make fitness a more fun, more addictive experience. Play Fitocracy to beat challenges, push your boundaries, and show your friends who’s boss. Get addicted to your fitness."
fitness tracker, social/accountability
Endomondo
This app is one of the GREAT fitness trackers out there. It uses GPS to track your workouts and sports activities. Review previous results and share your workouts to Facebook! Best of all, this app works in coordination with certain products such as Polar heart rate bands and Garmin watches. Want more? Upgrade to theSports Tracker Pro version for $4.99 and get added features such as beating your previous workouts as a goal, setting a time goal or calorie goal, interval training, audio coach and more!
fitness tracker with GPS, social/accountability
RunKeeper
"Track your running, walking, cycling, hiking, biking and more using the GPS" with the added ability to track your stats on pace, distance, time and calories, well as track your performance over time. Share your activity results to all your social media networks and enhance your tracking with compatible heart rate sensors.
run tracker with GPS, social/accountability
Nike+
What's better than having your friends cheer you on when you're running your butt off? The Nike+ app allows you to post your run to your social media sites WHILE it is taking place, and friends who comment or like your posts on Facebook will translate into cheers for your ears! Track your pace, set a timed run, play your favorite playlist, even track the mileage on your running shoes!
run tracker with GPS, social/accountability
Hundred Push Up Challenge
The On e Hundred Push Ups Challenge is a six-week training program to gradually increase your strength and the number of push ups you can do. This app will test your current level and provide a schedule of push up intervals that will get you arms ready to do 100 push ups in no time!
JEFIT
Looking for a new strength routine? JeFit has a redonkulous database of strength exercises (over 1300!) with images and instructions on how to execute them. Build and save your own routines in the app and call it up at the gym or at home to bang out your latest strength workout!
strength training
HIIT Interval Trainer
High Intensity Interval Training is "an exercise strategy alternating periods of short intense anaerobic exercise with less-intense recovery periods", lasting about 9-20 minutes, and which improve "athletic capacity and condition...and improved fat burning". Use this HIIT timer to set up your own intervals and the timer will repeat for the set amount of time and tell you when it's time to switch activities. It's also great if you are a runner who uses Jeff Galloway's Run-Walk-Run method!
Android version not available on iTunes, so I have included what looks to be a comparable app (and was highly rated by users).
Couch to 5k
If you have always wanted to run a 5k, whether to compete or just to participate in one of the many fun new themed runs (i.e. The Color Run & The Neon Run or any manner of "Mud Runs") and have never been a runner or are not at your ideal state of fitness, this app is for you! This app, created by Active.com, is an "easy, fun training plan for beginning runners" and trains you to run your first 5k "in just 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week for 9 weeks"
GymPact
Consider GymPact to be THE app for accountability. Nothing spells motivation like wagering and earning REAL money for working out. Each time you get your butt to the gym, the lazies who didn't improve your bank account while you improve your bottom. And don't fret! If your workout is outdoors, you can connect and use the RunKeeper app to track your runs, walks and bike rides. All workouts lasting at least 30 minutes count toward your pact!
accountability
Foursquare
The social aspect of this application will definitely hold you accountable, and like Fitocracy, Foursquare lets you get competitive and cheers you on! Did you just check in at Five Guys? Beware your fitness-minded friends who comment on your check in! Did you check in at the gym for the 5th day, week, month in a row? Foursquare will be right there cheering you on and helping you earn multiple "Gym Rat" badges! Nothing is the same as having friends help hold you accountable and working on Foursquare infamy!
social/accountability
Our Groceries
While Our Groceries is not technically a fitness app, it is a nice application to keep your (hopefully healthy) grocery list up-to-date from anywhere with what you need to buy. You can create separate lists for the different stores you go to or for different family members, and you can even share your lists with friends!
Pandora
Sign up for for free on any device and look up Yoga Radio, Electronic Cardio Radio, Alternative Endurance Training Radio, Rap Strength Training Radio, , Hard Rock Strength Training Radio and more!
| Fitocracy |   |
| Our Groceries | |
| Foursquare | |
| My Fitness Pal | |
| Endomondo | |
| Nike+ | |
| Hundred Pushups Challenge | |
| Pandora | |
| JetFit | |
| HIIT Interval | |
| Couch to 5k | |
| Lose it! | |
| RunKeeper | |
| GymPact | |
Premium Apps Worth Checking Out
Sometimes there is an app that is worth the extra cost. The Zombies, Run! apps add a new layer to your running routine by turning your workout into a game. It is “an ultra-immersive running game and audio adventure, co-created with award-winning novelist Naomi Alderman. We deliver the story straight to your headphones through orders and voice recordings – and when you get back home, you use the supplies you’ve collected while running to build and grow your base.” So you listen to the voice-overs while running to determine your speed, destinations, etc… and then go home and play the game! It’s currently on sale at $3.99 (down 50% for the New Year from $7.99 for a limited time).
Zombies, Run!
The 5k version of the app is down 75% right now at only $0.99 and “is an 8-week training program and audio adventure for beginners that’ll improve your fitness so you can run a 5km distance. We give you clear and detailed instructions about when to walk, jog, run and stretch, building up your confidence and stamina over 25 workouts – combined with a gripping story delivered straight to your headphones.”
Zombies, Run! 5k
Nike training is a great app! Step by step strength training. She does the workout with you and tells you when to switch.
[…] me, my husband already did. The hike was about 3-miles (maybe a little more, Z didn’t start Endomondo on his phone until we had been going about a half hour already) and took us an hour and twenty […]