With Autumn here already, the remnants of Christmas and New Year seem like a distant memory. Those resolutions set just two months earlier are long forgotten. We know motivation is key to maintaining our health & fitness habits however, as life gets busy our motivation seems to dwindle. If you’re experiencing this quarter-year slump, we have a few App suggestions to bring you back on track.
MyFitnessPal
MyFitnessPal is the King of fitness apps and has dominated the health industry for years. It is the premier nutrition tracking app, allowing you to log just about everything you eat from that burger at Maccas to your homemade protein balls. The app also allows you to set specific exercise and macronutrient goals and track your progress accordingly. There are heaps of helpful tips and community support groups to keep you motivated with your diet!
Cost: Free
LifeSum
This is one of our favouirte “no-dieting” lifestyle apps. The app teaches you to how create healthy habits and achieve sustainable results. Start by choosing your goal, for example to lose weight, build muscle or eat healthier. Enter your workouts, food choices and hydration habits and let the app generate tailored reminders and suggestions. The barcode scanner allows you to readily scan store bought items making it easier to log your food. There are plenty of healthy recipe ideas and interactive cues to keep you on track. This is a great app for any newbies looking for nutrition guidance and motivation.
Cost: Free + additional in-app purchases
Oh She Glows
If you’re on the hunt for healthy and delicious vegan and vegetarian recipes, then this is the app for you! Created by author Angela Liddon, Oh She Glows contains over 150+ plant-based meal suggestions with accompanying nutritional information and recipe tips. We guarantee there is a recipe here for everyone, even those adamant meat lovers. The app allows you to filter for specific dietary restrictions and constantly updates with new recipes depending on the season and availability of produce. It also has a useful offline feature that lets you download recipes. Eating your veggies has never looked or tasted better. Bring on the Meatless Mondays!
Cost: $1.99
Qantas Wellbeing
Qantas is now rewarding their customers for being active with their new Wellbeing app. The app lets you earn Qantas Points for completing daily activities such as walking the dog, riding your bike or going for a swim. It works by syncing to your other mobile devices (i.e. Apple Health, Fitbit, Garmin etc) and tracking your activity. The app allows you to set daily or weekly goals and participate in challenges with friends. The more activity you accumulate, the greater the Qantas Points you receive. Basically, this means you can get fit, travel more and drink more margaritas by the beach!! Now that is some serious motivation to get you moving.
Cost: Free to Qantas Frequent Flyer members
Nike+ Training Club
Created by professional trainers and backed by celebrities across the world, it is no doubt that Nike Training Club is the clear workout app winner. There are a variety of different workouts, including strength, endurance and mobility exercises. There is something to suit all fitness levels and meet your specific training goals. Workouts take a functional fitness approach, incorporating a mix of bodyweight movements, dumbbell exercises, pull-ups, box jumps etc. The combination of these cardio and strength movements are great for your cardiovascular fitness and for building lean muscle mass. Keep your body forever guessing with the countless workouts available.
Cost: Free
Strength Workout Tracker GymLog
Tracking your lifts is especially important for building strength. It allows you to progressively overload your muscles and become stronger. The Strong Workout app lets you log all the information from your workout, including weights, number of sets, reps and PR’s. There is also a section for comments and notes of how you felt during the workout. This is a great app for anyone looking to build muscle and establish a robust training program.
Cost: Free
Seconds Interval Timer HIIT
Be your own trainer and create workouts with this handy interval app. The struggle of a HIIT workout is real – trying to breathe whilst doing a burpee and keeping an eye on the clock at the same time. This countdown app lets you set interval times (i.e. 20s work, 10s rest) for a specific workout duration. The loud buzzer sound will alert you when it’s time to rest or move onto the next exercise. A definite must have app on your phone for a quick HIIT session!
Cost: Free
Mobility WOD
An integral part of training is recovery. Recovery includes any measure taken to rest, stretch and soothe your muscles pre and post-workout. MobilityWOD incorporates the use of foam rollers, resistance bands and various stretches to improve the range of motion in your body. There are exercises to increase mobility, flexibility and minimise tightness in your muscles. These movements are essential for post-recovery but also assist to enhance training performance.
Cost: Free
Sleep Cycle
Do not underestimate the power a good night’s sleep can have on your training and diet. We know that sleep is necessary for maintaining healthy cognitive function, improving cardiovascular endurance and recovery. Moreover, a lack of sleep can lead to unhealthy eating habits, weight gain and increased stress levels (cortisol hormone). The SleepCycle is a nifty tracking app that provides real-time information on your sleeping patterns. The app collects personalised data including how and when you slept, and the quality of the sleep. Having this data can be beneficial to identifying and creating healthy sleep habits which allows you to smash out your gym session the next day.
Cost: Free
