Skipping the gym for an extended period can affect more than just your metabolism. A lack of regimented exercise can have serious knock-on effects for your mental health, too.
But if you can't get to a gym, don't sweat it. We've picked out a list of different fitness apps that suit different gym-goers with the aim to keep you both motivated and clued up while you work out at home.
Now go and crush it!
For the all-rounders - Sworkit
Blink and you’ll often miss the all-rounder. Moving between machines with enough grace and speed to put OK Go to shame, one minute they’re on the leg press, the next minute they’re on the cross trainer and eyeing up their next area. If this sounds like you, Sworkit is a safe bet. Whatever your fitness goal, it’s a one-stop-shop for that fitness bod who wants to do it all, boasting first-rate advice for strength training, cardio, and flexibility exercise among other great features.
iTunes and Android: Free for Basic, €2.99 per month for Premium
For the short on time – Jefit
If you think a workout is something to be sandwiched between a hectic career and bustling social life, a cathartic release amid the rigmarole of life, Jefit could be right up your street. Featuring ‘20-minute arms’, ‘3-day splits’ and ‘quick abs workout’, its workouts are ideal for those programmed to be in and out of gyms in a flash, allowing you to take on time-specific challenges that also work specific areas of the body. The fact you don’t need to spend an hour towelling off using locker room sandpaper is just an added bonus.
iTunes and Android: Free for Basic, €9.99 per month for Elite
For the class clowns – Aaptiv
Man cannot exist on Joe Wicks' YouTube sessions alone. Beam some more fitness classes live into your living room with Aaptiv, an app which has everything from yoga to outdoor running to stretching to strength training on the menu. With over 30 new routines added each week and a heady roster of friendly trainers to guide you through every workout, it’s the ideal way to get your gym class fix.
iTunes and Android: €14.99 per month
For the flexible ones - Fitify
Feeling stiffer than the upper lip of James Bond since your last gym trip? Limber up with Fitify. Ideal for those who spend as much time warming up in the gym on the mats than they do on the machines, Fitify has specific classes to get the most out of working with a number of specific accessories including a swiss ball, resistance band, foam roller, medicine ball and a kettlebell to name but a few.
iTunes and Android: €5 per month
For the swole patrol - StrongLifts 5x5
You might have cunningly ordered an exercise bench online, or have a few weights hiding under the bed, but what you don’t have is the right motivation to get the most out of them. StrongLifts' 5x5 app helps you not only log your reps and sets but get stronger and build muscle with effective weightlifting programmes tailored for you. You’ll be lifting the kitchen table above your head in no time.
iTunes and Android: Free (in-app programme purchases vary)
For the PT's Pet – MyFitnessPal
Put the cookies down — if you're going to maximise your fitness potential you need to eat well and refrain from snacking too much. So if you’ve been missing those emails from your PT (recipes, food diaries, nutritional goals) in all their passive-aggressive glory, stay on top of your intake with MyFitnessPal, a true OG of the fitness app market which allows you to track calories and get great recipes. Best of all, the app allows you to sync it with fitness apps from Garmin to Apple HealthKit and more besides.
iTunes or Android: Free for Basic, €8.99 for premium
Treadmill hero: Peloton Digital
While Peloton does hawk, their own super fancy treadmills, the beauty of the Peloton Digital app is that even a battered old tread gathering dust in the attic will do. Ranging from short jogs to a whole power hour, classes (live and on-demand) are hosted by top instructors. And if you're someone who tends to put on your headphones in a bid to drown out crappy gym dance music gyms are famous for, you'll be glad to many of these instructors curate their own workout playlists before each session.
iTunes and Google Play: €22 per month (without equipment)
For the HIIT squad – Sweatflix
If not for the sheer boldness of the pun alone, this app deserves to be beamed into your living room this minute simply because it contains enough fitness entertainment to keep you jumping around for hours. Especially if you’re into your HIIT classes: granting you access to 16,000 ‘Bodyrock’ classes designed with a short burst, high-intensity resistance training in mind, you’ll be binging the box(fit) sets in no time.
iTunes and Android: Free one-month trial, then €8.99 per month
This article originally appeared on Redbull.
