Kit & Gear

What are the Best Free Fitness Apps?

A fitness app can be an effective and motivational training tool to help you reach your fitness goals and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Here’s our pick of the best – and free – fitness apps to help keep your training on track without opening your wallet.

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TO GET STARTED – COUCH TO 5K

Free on iOS/Android

Developed by the NHS, Couch to 5K is designed to get you from zero to hero, by running 5K in the space of 9 weeks. The app is super effective because it circumvents the often-made beginner’s mistake of becoming disheartened by going too hard and fast in the early stages of a new fitness regime. Instead, it gently pushes users to gradually build their fitness with a structured run/walk programme. With an audio coach guiding you through the intervals, regular milestones and a supportive community forum, Couch to 5K is a tried and tested way to start your fitness journey – and it’s worked for thousands of people.

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TO SHIFT POUNDS– MY FITNESS PAL

Free on iOS/Android

With a massive nutrition database, My Fitness Pal makes counting calories incredibly easy. Taking your personal stats and weight loss goals, the app calculates your recommended daily intake while you record your actual daily diet and exercise. The app has almost every food and brand imaginable in its library - which is ever-growing with community members adding to it continuously. Even better, it also integrates with over 50 different fitness trackers, allowing you a full picture of your fitness regime.

But the reason this app works so well? It both educates and makes us mindful of the nutritional value of what we’re eating – proven time and time again to deliver weight loss results. What’s more, there’s no letting you forget to weigh in or fail to report breakfast – make no mistake, the app will prompt and remind you.

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TO GET RIPPED – FITNESS BUILDER

Free on iOS/Android

Your very own portable PT, this app gives you free access to a huge library of over 400 workouts in 16 multi-week plans. Taking your training goals, your fitness level and even the availability of equipment into account, Fitness Builder matches you with the right training plan to suit your needs. Guiding you through a weekly schedule, the app coaches you through each workout using easy-to-follow commands and video, while allowing you to schedule and track your progress. With an interface that’s incredibly easy to use, it’s pretty impossible to go wrong!

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FOR MAX MOTIVATION – FITOCRACY

Free on iOS/Android

The free version of this app gives you access to multiple workouts for any goal or experience level, alongside daily expert articles. But what really makes this feature-rich app astonishingly effective is the way it deploys its massive social network and a “gaming” system of achievement to keep you motivated and your fitness on track. You’ll create a profile and instantly join a social network of like-minded people where you can make friends, join groups, post photos and status updates, comment on items in your feed, as well as give “props” to other Fitocrats. At the same time, the app integrates an almost addictive gaming element into your training by setting levels, which you can quickly proceed through, awarding achievement badges and setting you your next goals and quests that ever come with the ability to earn bonus points. The social network and gaming element combining to fully immerse you in your fitness goals and send your motivation sky high!

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TO GET COMPETITIVE - STRAVA

Free on iOS/Android

If you love to ride or run outdoors, Strava has to be the ultimate performance boosting app. With accurate and reliable GPS, Strava allows you to track your pace, distance, calories burned and other essential performance data. What’s more, Strava has a huge international community where you can share your progress with friends, join or create clubs and set group challenges. But what really makes Strava stand out is the way it introduces a competitive element into your training via publicly ranked “segments”, where you’ll compete against other Strava users who train along the same routes as you. So, whether it’s that killer hill, or a flat, fast stretch - if you’re good enough to make the grade, you’ll appear on the leader-board for your segment. The perfect motivation if you’ve got a competitive streak.

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TO DO GOOD THINGS: CHARITY MILES

Free on iOS/Android

Tapping into the incredible ‘people-power’ behind charity races and other events, Charity Miles aims to give your training a new purpose by helping you to help others as you train. The app tracks your activity and via its corporate sponsors donates to your chosen charity for every mile you walk, cycle or run. The catch? There isn’t really one other than you’ll see an ad from your sponsor when you start your workout. The app also allows you to join teams and track your training progress and fundraising, so if helping others is what motivates you, then this app can give a real boost to your training while helping you make a difference.

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