Getting back in the groove of working out and living a healthy life can be difficult, especially at the beginning of the school year. Try these five free apps below to kick start your healthy lifestyle at college.
MyFitnessPal
This app is for the all-around fitness tracker. MyFitnessPal allows users to track their food, exercise, weight, and water intake. While this app may not be specifically full of exercises, it tracks the other necessary components that contribute to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The app can also serve as a weight-loss tracker. When you launch the app for the first time it will ask about your activity level, how much you currently weigh and if you’re looking to lose any more weight. While the app offers this feature, it’s not essential to the use of the app. I personally use it just to keep track of what I’m eating during a day.
Nike + Training Club
This app is very popular because of its large range of professional-level personal training workouts. The app boasts over 100 different workouts done by Nike’s professional trainers and even has some special appearances by celebrities like Kevin Hart and Serena Williams. In addition to their wide variety of workouts, from intense cardio to serene yoga, the app offers an activity log where you can track outside workouts or activities. This app is perfect for the person who wants to increase their workouts, but maybe not include every aspect of healthy living like MyFitnessPal does.
Couch to 5K
Couch to 5K is for people who say they can’t run, but want to try and learn how to run. The app takes you through different run-walk intervals that change over the course of the training program. The app measures the runner’s average mile time and the distance traveled during the intervals. It allows the runner to build up endurance before trying long distances and self-teaches the runner how to run for longer amounts of time. If you like this app, the second app in the series is 5K to 10K.
Map My Run
Another running app, Map My Run is a little more self-guided. The app showcases different user-submitted courses of the area around where you are using the app based on mileage and difficulty. If you want to make your own course, or see how long one of your running paths really is, then just turn the app on and it will track your GPS for the duration of the workout. At the end of the workout, you can analyze the run and see where you were fastest/slowest and the overall average mileage time. Map My Run can also work as a social media network, where you can friend other runners and keep tabs on the status of each other’s runs. This app is for all types of runners, both experienced and new.
Sworkit
Sworkit is probably one of the most personalized apps on the market. The app allows users to mix and match body weight workouts that fit your workout style and also, you’re not stuck doing exercises you hate. The app is easy to follow along and most of the exercises can be done in small spaces, making it perfect for any dorm room.