I used to hate working out, but I realized that I wasn’t looking in the right places for help. After dabbling with Apple Fitness+, I wanted to keep my fitness streak going by trying out a mix of workouts, so I experimented with a bunch of apps. Here are the best fitness apps for iPhone that have kept me hooked.
This is one of the best apps to use if you are looking to get into running. Nike Run Club is the perfect running companion and tracker that helps you work towards hitting consistent goals in your journey to get those steps in. With this app, metrics matter: you can track your miles, time, and speed, and set goals to hit any of these targets.
You can also try out guided runs, one of the best features of the app, which are trainer-guided runs with instructions and casual conversation. Guides can be downloaded offline, and you can pick your poison from different categories, such as Mindful Runs, Long Runs, Speed Runs, and more.
My favorite feature that Nike Run Club offers is its training plans. These structured sessions can be customized to hit your personal running goals. They’re useful if you are looking to train for something specific like a marathon, with a good blend of plans for beginners, intermediate, and advanced runners.
You can also participate in challenges (like the September Weekly Challenge) to compete in leaderboards among community members or even create your own.
Nike Run Club also offers a great way to track your progress through Apple Health. Another fun feature the app offers is the ability to add different shoes and measure how much distance you cover with every pair (a reminder that this is, after all, a big advertisement for Nike). The app offers nutritional tips, Nike product suggestions for specific fitness needs, and motivational videos: all for free.
2 Build Strength With Thenx
High-intensity fitness can be intimidating if you are a beginner looking to test the waters. I found that Thenx by YouTuber Chris Heria strips this feeling away. As someone interested in trying out calisthenics and tabata (high-intensity cardio with structured breaks), I found Thenx extremely beneficial for linear progression.
Thenx stands out from other fitness apps dedicated to high-intensity fitness by not watering down calisthenics or tabata too much. Even the beginner-level videos dive right into the foundations, with dedicated technique guides for each movement, beyond the regular guided sessions led by Heria. I loved the app’s look, which was sleek and interactive, with the potential for expanding music integration with Apple Music.
You can choose your program (ranging between two and 12 weeks), track your workout streak, and see which muscles you have been training. Thenx also has a community tab that lets you stay in the know about your fellow members’ progress and results.
One thing I appreciate about this app is that you feel pretty connected to Heria as a trainer through his YouTube videos (which are often linked to in-app content) where he offers more workouts, tips, and nutritional advice. I find this a comfortable change from other fitness apps that offer guides from multiple trainers who I find hard to fully engage with.
Thenx offers a premium option at $9.99/month or $89.99/year.
I always find follow-along YouTube videos for yoga difficult to follow, even if I try out dedicated plans because they cannot be customized according to how I am feeling before each session. This is when Yoga by Down Dog caught my eye and quickly became my preferred yoga app for working out indoors.
You can create a highly customized yoga session and choose how long you want the follow-along session to run, your fitness level, music genre, coach voice, and pace. You can also tweak how long you want your warm-up and cool-down to run for, target areas, transition speed, and type of practice.
With that last option, you can explore different forms of yoga with each session, including guided meditation, chair yoga, and strength flow, which is not something you can find in many fitness apps dedicated to yoga. With Yoga, you get to track your weekly progress in a calendar, download videos offline, and connect to Apple Health to record each workout.
Down Dog also has a website offering, if you crave a bigger screen than your iPhone. The app is free to use, and after a 23-day free trial, you can sign up for unlimited access to all of Down Dog’s apps (Yoga, HIIT, Meditation, Pilates, Barre, and Prenatal Yoga) as a bundle for $9.99/month or $59.99/month.
I did not realize how much I needed a fitness app that would show me the ropes of jumping rope until I tried out Crossrope. With this app, you get to pick how you want to jump rope for the day and choose from a library of instructor-led videos, follow along with beginner-friendly classes, try out a program collection, or even just free jump.
One feature that has helped me stay consistent is Benchmarks, which lets you measure your speed and track your progress each month. This sets you up to try and beat your own previous best records, and I find this a better metric to focus on than, say, weight or time. Crossrope also offers tutorials for beginners who are very new to jumping rope, as well as YouTube-style video classes.
I like to participate in monthly jumping challenges and interact with the community, which can be beneficial for beginners. You can connect AMP handles to the app, and sync with Apple Health. Crossrope also has a shop where you can browse and buy equipment including ropeless sets, AMP handles, jumping mats, and athletic wear.
A Crossrope membership costs $9.99/month or $79.99/year.
I can never say no to fitness apps that help me learn to dance, and one of the apps I enjoy using the most is Dancefitme. The app’s layout is as lively and energetic as the dance routines, which motivates me to click and explore its large collection of videos. You can customize your personal fitness goals and favorite genres of music to dance to.
Filters make it easy to browse what’s on offer and find your ideal dance class, sorting by duration and level of fitness. Dancefitme also offers daily challenges and a range of pre-set plans that you can try out. The range of music options and trainers is also refreshing, allowing you to switch up every dance session so that it does not feel like you are rinsing and repeating workouts.
You also get achievement badges for each milestone, helping you maintain a streak. The app tracks your calories burned, total dance time, and weight if you choose to track weight loss. You can access these features, along with a customized dance plan, with a membership ($19.99/month or $47.99/year) and get discounts if you are a new member.
6 Do It All With Aaptiv
Aaptiv is the fitness app that lets you do it all. A SmartCoach gives you audio instructions every step of the way, allowing you to try out a variety of workouts according to your goals. After setting your fitness goals, you get a customized plan that offers a blend of workouts, including walking, treadmill, and strength training.
One good thing about these workouts is that you can provide your ratings at the end, which adjusts and improves your future sessions. Apart from a tailor-made plan, you can also browse guides from different categories.
I also like that with each session, you get to choose a music style before each session, or stick to voice-only and play music from Apple Music or Spotify. You can also participate in challenges and interact with community members who update their progress. Aaptiv also lets you maintain a streak, giving you achievement badges along the way.
The app is free to use, and after a 7-day free trial, you can also sign up for unlimited on-demand classes at $9.99/month or $99.99/year.
Guided workouts are a great place to start (or restart) your fitness journey, and I find that sticking to a few apps to try a variety of workouts gets the job done. I have been consistently working out with these apps, and if you want direction and motivation without anyone bugging you, you only need to try these out. You might also want to invest in a fitness tracker to keep yourself accountable.
Before downloading these apps, I tried out Apple Fitness+ for a week to see what the fuss was about.
