Mini Meme: the best health and fitness apps
Killer apps for killer abs
We’ve been pounding streets, pumping iron and avoiding doughnuts with some help from these six apps.
Looking for more techie tips and gadgets to help you get fitter and healthier? Check out the Stuff Fitness Special.
Carrot Fit
It’s hard to go far wrong with seven-minute workout apps. You’re ordered to exercise and get fitter. But there is a bit more to Carrot Fit than that: it adds ‘or else’ to the equation by way of a sadistic AI who’ll punish you if you fail. The humour eventually palls, but it’s fun performing ‘dragon mating dances’ and ‘kowtows to Cthulhu’.
Price: £2.49
Stuff says ★★★★✩
Fitocracy
If you’re more into workouts and building muscle than hoofing about in trainers, Fitocracy has you covered. Even without spending a penny on IAPs, you get plenty of workout routines and advice. Like Runkeeper, the app’s infused with a sense of community, with comments and achievements keeping you on the path to musclebound glory.
Price: £free
Stuff says ★★★★✩
Runkeeper
It’s claimed there are 45 million people now using GPS-based exercise tracker Runkeeper, and so its big advantage is very much that sense of community. As you hike, jog and sprint towards a more svelte you, chances are you can do so in the company of friends. Friends who will secretly hate you when you’re hitting every goal.
Price: £free
Stuff says ★★★★★
Runtastic
Much like Runkeeper, Runtastic’s all about tracking exercise by way of GPS, peering at graphs, and smugly sharing achievements online. But it has a friendly face – motivational tales you listen to while slogging your guts out. It feels less competitive and a touch more human than its rivals.
Price: £free
Stuff says ★★★★★
Zombies, Run!
With a little help from your vivid imagination, you can transform your attempts to de-lard into a campaign to save the remnants of humanity fleeing the zombie plague. This is The Jogging Dead, then, but the novelty gets you moving and entertains while you’re huffing and puffing. And the stats-obsessed still get times and distances.
Price: £free
Stuff says ★★★★✩
MyFitnessPal Calorie Counter
Doing lots of exercise won’t work wonders if you relentlessly shove baked goods into your cakehole. With Calorie Counter, you can set a weight goal, track what you’re eating, and glare at scary red bars on a nutrition graph having just gorged on fat. Do watch out for the occasionally iffy entry on the food database, though.
Price: £free
Stuff says ★★★★✩
Download Calorie Counter for iOS
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