Best fitness apps for a healthy 2013

At Christmas, the geese aren’t the only ones who have to worry about getting fat. Millions of people use the New Year as a way to set some fitness-oriented resolutions in place, vowing to do more exercise and eat less sugar-coated, oil-saturated treats. Though it can be difficult to honour your resolutions, here are five of the best fitness apps available for your smartphone to give you that little poke you need. Who knows, this time next year you might be a happier, healthier person as a result.

JEFIT

This may be an app created for fans of body building, but the hundreds of exercises that it contains will be useful for anyone looking to lose a few pounds.

You can arrange your own fitness routines or use some of the predetermined workouts to burn fat and build muscle. The app is free to download for both iPhone and Android, although if you want to get rid of the ads you should opt for the pro version.

Try out the first of our best fitness apps, Download JEFIT from Google Play.

Nike Training Club

This free running app is beautifully designed, intuitive to use and backed up by top sporting brand Nike.

Available on iPhone and Android, the NTC features 85 workouts that are endorsed by some of the top names in the personal training business. There are exercises and tips from the people who train celebrities to look as good as they do, so you should be in safe hands.

As well as functioning as a running app, it breaks down workouts into those that help you to target different areas of your body. If you want to build strength, you can, or if you want to make your body leaner, that’s also an option.

**Download Nike Training Club for Android or iOS.
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RunKeeper

This app has won plaudits from many people and where it excels is in motivating the user to actually get out there and run. It’s one of the best fitness apps you can download.

You’ll be able to use it each time you go out to exercise and it will build up a profile over time to show how you are progressing.

The main goal is to set specific targets and then meet them and doing so gives you that boost of confidence you need to keep up with your fitness regime.

**Download RunKeeper from Google Play or the App Store to add to your best fitness apps collection. **

Endomondo

Whatever your preferred fitness activity, Endomondo is the app to let you track your training and keep you interested in improving your fitness levels.

It is used by 13 million people on the iPhone and Android platforms and it offers cross-compatibility with other fitness gadgets. This includes heart-rate monitors, so you can pull in information from elsewhere to create a more detailed picture of your progress.

Download Endomondo from the official site and add it to your best fitness apps collection.

Workout Trainer

This is a free app that shows you plenty of different exercise routines you can use to get fit and learn how to improve your strength.

Perhaps most impressive is the fact that it can actually dictate the workout instructions to you so that you have no need to read your phone in the middle of flailing your limbs all over the place.

If you upgrade to the paid version, which has a monthly subscription, you get a human (voice) reading the instructions. Otherwise, you’ll have to deal with a digitised voice, which isn’t the most comforting sound in the world.

Download Workout Trainer from Google Play and add it to your best fitness apps collection.

So there’s a round-up of our favourite smartphone apps to get you into shape this 2013. Granted they won’t do the exercise on your behalf, these best fitness apps go the distance to offer you the tools required. With an array of  GPS trackers and picture demonstrations of essential exercises, these apps will help to get the best out of your body. Wishing you a healthy 2013.