[ad_1]
If you want to stay home all the time, you can easily become a television junkie. But maybe these apps can help. […]
Staying at home as much as possible for more than a month puts pressure on our bodies. Junk food is delivered quickly, it’s easy to eat as much as you want, you can’t go to the gym, jogging feels irresponsible in some way, stress is enormous …
There are many applications that can help at times like these. Not surprisingly, Health & Fitness is one of the most popular categories on the App Store. If you take a look at the entries, you will find that almost all applications are free, or so it seems. Actually, the vast majority of fitness apps are only downloadable for free, but a subscription to buy the app finally makes sense. Many do not work without such a subscription.
This is money that you may or may not spend right now. This is why we have compiled this list of five fitness apps that can help you stay fit at home. One of them is completely free, and while the others offer in-app purchases, they still have a lot to offer without spending a dime.
Seven
Back in 2013, a study published by the American College of Sports Medicine investigated a special circuit training routine to get maximum benefits throughout the body in a minimum of time, using only bodyweight exercises. The results were published in the New York Times, and before I knew it, the seven-minute workout was born.
There are numerous seven minute workout apps available today. Our favorite among them is probably Seven. While the app will aggressively force you to become a “7 Club” member, simply by pressing the X button in the upper right corner to ignore the box, you can use the simple, clear, and engaging app to do basic seven-minute exercises to perform according to your wishes. With the subscription, you have the opportunity to create individual workouts and unlock many other exercises, but you can also plan things like workout reminders or connect to the “Apple’s Health” app for free.
Seven (free in-app purchases)
Nike Training Club
The Nike Run Club app is popular with runners, but current stay-at-home regulations aren’t exactly the best time to work on your running pace. Nike has another good training app for this, Nike Training Club, which offers many workout routines that you can easily do at home. Some of them require modest aids like weights, but many do not.
There’s also a nice Apple Watch companion app to guide you through your training. Since March 29, Nike has been offering premium membership (generally $ 15.99 per month) for free “until further notice”, but we would recommend this app even if it didn’t. Membership gives you access to 4-6 week programs, some nutritional and wellness guides, and on-demand courses. The free membership also offers many good home training opportunities with great videos.
The great thing about Nike’s free access is premium access: you don’t have to request a “free” subscription, which you then forget to cancel and will be billed later. Nike has just unlocked free content for everyone.
Nike Training Club (free in-app purchases)
FitOn
FitOn’s slogan is “Fitness is always free”, but there is a fairly expensive FitOn Pro subscription that is worth more than 70 euros a year to buy (currently on sale). Ignore it. It offers you some diet plans, recipes, and great music, but you don’t need all of that.
Enter your date of birth, your height, your weight, the desired training frequency and your goal, and FitOn will organize a complete program of fitness courses for you. Each workout is a guided video course with a trainer, and you can link your Apple Watch to see your heart rate.
There are numerous on-demand workouts in various categories, as well as regular live courses that you can tune into. The free version is a rare example of an app that seems to treat its free category as the primary product, and not just a demo of the subscription service.
FitOn (free in-app purchases)
Yoga for beginners
Here we have a rare exercise app that is free! Really, really free. No in-app purchases, no premium membership, no merchandise to buy … for free.
You have a list of different yoga routines to choose from, such as “Yoga for Beginners”, “Butt Toner”, “Inner Peace” or “Central Blast”. Each begins with a list of the poses you need to know: if you have no idea how to pose, tap on it for written instructions along with an easy-to-understand YouTube video that shows you the process.
When the workout starts, you’ll enjoy soothing music and a pleasant voice to guide you through the poses, with basic graphics and a timer that lets you know how long you have to hold the pose.
There are some announcements, to pay the bills in some way, but they never interrupt a training session with a person. If traditional training is not your thing and you just want to take time every day to stretch, bend and breathe, Yoga for Beginners is for you.
Yoga for beginners (free)
MyFitnessPal
Exercising at home is one thing, but if you don’t eat properly, you don’t stay healthy, and the best way to do this is to keep a food journal. Under Armor took over MyFitnessPal in 2015 and did a great job of making it the best nutrition journal app in the industry.
A huge user-created grocery database helps you record home cooked meals and fast food items, and the reliable barcode scanner effortlessly adds almost all packaged foods. You can set goals (for example, “Lose 1 Pound Per Week”) to set calorie goals and see how much fat, carbohydrates, and protein should be consumed each day.
A premium membership is required to get the breakdown by meal, set different goals for different days, or use one of the many diet plans. It also removes the ads. But as a simple and reliable way to make sure you don’t eat too much junk food and eat a healthy mix of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, the free version is all you need.
MyFitnessPal (free in-app purchases)
* Jason Cross has been writing about technology professionally for approximately 20 years. Your goal is to discover how complicated technology works and explain it for all to understand.
