Fitness and Health Apps That'll Have You Breaking a Sweat, Not the Bank

Guy and I have been getting a flood of emails calling us fat and lazy.  We're not fat!  Just to prove it to you, we've done some painstaking research on some smartphone apps that we would use if we were ever to work out.

Yasar: GymGoal is a free iPhone app that provides users with dumbbell workouts.  It'll let you target specific muscles, save your favorite exercises, and has several different calculators (to calculate things like body fat percentage, BMI, etc.).  This is a great app for anyone who is just getting into the habit of going to gym.  The app will provide you with tips on how to properly do the exercises to ensure you're performing the routines safely and effectively.

Guy: The iPump Fitness Builder is a bit pricier than most, coming in at $9.99, but well worth it if you're looking for an in-depth, motivational workout that will keep you engaged. It offers a solid series of workout routines split up by specific target areas and has a deep library of fitness videos and access to live personal trainers. The Workout Builder function even allows you to quite literally build your own workouts from a deep storehouse of exercises that you can easily drag and drop into the workout column screen. Once done, you will have a customized set of routines to choose from targeting those problem body areas. You can also track, log and share your workouts and progress. Again, definitely worth the price at the basic level. There are other additional options which will cost more, but I personally just use the basic download and it is more than enough.

Yasar: CardioTrainer + Racing is a pretty awesome app for Droid users.  It's a pretty simple concept that will keep you motivated to improve because you're going to be competing against yourself.  What the app does is it will track how far you go and for how long, and then it'll tell you to quicken your pace when you are going slower the next day.  It's a race against yourself!  Who said running was boring?  OK, it can get boring--but at least you'll have fun racing against yourself every time you do it and be able to see your progress over time.  The app costs $2.99.

Guy: This next one gets the tech geek in me all super giddy. The Walkmeter 4.0 combines GPS and stopwatch technology and helps you track location, time, and distance of both your walks and runs. It even keeps track of previously used routes utilizing Google Maps and suggests new courses to help you improve upon old walking and jogging times. From the source:

"Walkmeter is a complete solution for tracking your walks on your iPhone 3G, 3GS, or 4. It can also be used for cycling, running, skiing, and more."

The cost is just $4.99. Other cool features include a stop meter (Automatic Stop Detection) that calculates when you've stopped moving and Calendar sharing for synchronization with your iPhone Calendar.

Yasar: Put that donut down, Guy!  He always tries to eat donuts when we're trying to write.  Anyway, to catch up on more awesome apps and occasional fitness news check us out on Twitter @YasarSavings and @SavingsGCapes.