10 Fitness Apps to Get in Shape Right Now

Raise your hand if you’ve had to be super creative in working out through a pandemic. Disrupted routines, increased anxiety, difficulty sleeping, cancellation of marathons and local 5Ks, the shuttering of gyms, yoga studios and other exercise venues . . . it has all conspired to throw us off our game.

 

But perseverance is all part of that beastmode mindset, right? We’ll do whatever it takes. If anything, this has shown us new ways to work out. How many times have you thrown a yoga mat down outside and streamed a workout class on a laptop? How many virtual races have you run? Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and there’s also a fitness app for it.

Here are some of the best apps for an active, healthy lifestyle, sorted by category:

 

For Cardio

Nike Training Club: NTC offers more than 115 class-style workouts, results-oriented programs, and in-depth nutrition and wellness advice, from world-renowned trainers and experts. Whether you're a beginner or an expert, this app tailors a program just for you with four different levels.

Fitbit Coach: This powerful app uses data collected from your wearable (such as the Fitbit Versa), to recommend exercises specifically for you. During your workouts, which range from six to 60 minutes, a virtual instructor suggests modifications, gives tips and cheers you on.

For Weight Training

Fit Body App: The Fit Body workouts are based on strength training moves designed to help you burn fat and strengthen your body. There are three types of workouts: Tone, which features strength and cardio; Shred, which focuses on high-intensity body-weight only exercises; and Sculpt, which is designed for gaining strength at the gym.

Fitbod: This app’s training algorithm understands your strength-training ability, studies your past workouts and adapts to your available gym equipment. As you get stronger or master exercises, Fitbod adapts to push you a bit harder in your next workout.

For Sleep

SleepWatch: Poor sleep impacts your body’s ability to repair itself, interrupting life-restoring functions. This app turns every Apple Watch into a sophisticated sleep tracker designed to monitor the aspects of sleep that can affect your health, well-being, and performance.

Sleep Cycle: This app tracks your sleeping patterns and wakes you up during your lightest sleep phase without a conventional alarm clock. Waking up during light sleep feels like waking up naturally rested. Consider the Whoop app as well for awesome sleep tracking.

For Yoga/Stretching

Daily Yoga: Enjoy 100-plus yoga and meditation classes -- including a series of beginner-friendly tutorials to help you find a different and better self in only two weeks.

Glo: With more than 4,000 classes on demand, you can experience the benefits of your practice at home or on the go, on any device.

For Mindfulness

Headspace: Are you struggling to manage your feelings and thoughts? This app, which was created 10 years ago, will help provide you with lifelong skills of everyday mindfulness. The mission of Headspace is to improve the health and happiness of the world.

Calm: This app is the perfect mindfulness app for beginners, but also includes hundreds of programs for intermediate and advanced users. Mindfulness topics include calming anxiety, managing stress, breaking habits and so much more.

That’s just a start. Use Strava’s app for virtual races or just for training. Check out PCMag’s fitness app reviews and take the plunge into new methods of short or on-demand workouts, activity tracking, motivation and much more.