Anyone who knows me knows that I like to keep fit. I go to classes at my local gym as often as I can, this week I’ve been to spinning, tabata, fast abs, bodyweight…whatever I can get to. Working away from home though, can make it hard at times to keep any sort of routine, and there are days when you’ve literally travelled hundreds of miles and in one day, leaving zero time for the gym. I recently spent 4 days away in one week, which is unusual, but also meant that I had a big gap in getting to any fitness classes. Soooo, I decided to load up my iPad with some free fitness apps that I could use to workout in my hotel room. The first thing I learned is that most of these types of app demand payment, but my one rule was that they had to be free! After a bit of searching I found four that I was happy to try out.
Here are my reviews:
Workouts
This app seems to exist in many forms; you can get an ab version, a cardio version etc etc but this general app seemed to be an all-rounder and have a bit of everything in there. Despite the unimaginative title I think this app is functional overall. When you load it up there are six different types of workout you can select: Ab, Arm, Butt, Cardio, Leg (these are split into workouts of 5, 8 or 10 mins) or a Full workout (this is 10, 20, or 30 mins). Pretty self-explanatory. I went straight in to the Full workout of 30 mins. You can personalise parts of this and set your weight and gender so that it will then tell you how many calories you have burned during every workout. You can also set notifications for when you want to do your next one. This is a pretty standard app with exercises completed for 30 secs or a minute before changing to another one. There are videos onscreen all the way through, and chimes to indicate when to switch what you are doing. I did like how it told you which areas you are working for each exercise, although I’m not really sure why they have included forward and back buttons….am I meant to fast forward my workout?! Overall this is a basic but effective app.
Pros: videos onscreen, info about which areas you are working.
Cons: Bit basic and uninspiring, weights used for some exercises, bit heavy on the ads.
7MIN Workout (by Johnson & Johnson)
The second app I tested was much more impressive! This was completely free to download and offers 72 different exercises as well as some great options to personalise. As with some of the others it can link with Facebook and Twitter should you wish to broadcast your workout to the world but I opted to keep mine to myself! To begin you can set your fitness level from five options between Beginner and Advanced. I went for Beginner+ since my fitness levels haven’t been great lately. Your workouts are then tailored to respond to this level and I was informed that my workout would feature a mix of easy and moderate exercises. You can also set your motivation level, but it wasn’t clear if this links to your workout in any way or not. Again this was interval type training and if you’re anything like me and need to be told what to do then this could work for you. There is an onscreen video throughout as well as some helpful suggestions to make sure you are doing it correctly but you can switch these features off if you don’t want/need them. There are clear beeps between exercises and you can play your own music to help keep you going. Overall this is a great app. It is easy to use, has clear instructions and provides a variety of exercises. For me, I didn’t find 7 minutes enough, but I did a few together to build up my time.
Pros: Onscreen video and countdown, can be personalised, really user-friendly.
Cons: The tutorial videos wouldn’t load for me (not a biggie though due to the onscreen video provided).
7 Minute Workout: Fitness for Women
Firstly, I have to admit, before I even opened this app I already had some beef with it being specifically aimed at women and therefore pink all over, but nonetheless, it was free so I decided to compromise my morals and give it a go. This app is easy to use and like some of the others you can use it alongside listening to your own workout tunes to keep you going. You can also set reminders, and all of your workouts are automatically recorded in the calendar which is definitely handy for keeping track of your progress. There are loads of exercises in the library on this app and there are video tutorials to show you how to do them. I personally found the videos on this app really annoying! There’s nothing wrong with how they do the exercises, but I didn’t like the fake conversations, and whooping that they felt the need to put in….just show me what to do, and neither of us will whoop! The workouts themselves are pretty easy to follow and based on interval training for seven minutes. There’s a countdown for each section and pictures to remind you how to do each exercise. One minor niggle is that it doesn’t look like your music ‘dulls’ when they call instructions or sounds the chimes to indicate the end of a round which means that I sometimes missed what they were saying or missed the change in exercise and no-one wants to do too many mountain climbers! All in all, this app was fine, but that’s it, I won’t be rushing to recommend it and I probably won’t use again, there are better ones out there.
Pros: Easy to use, video tutorials useful, onscreen countdown, calendar to track progress
Cons: Video tutorials annoying! Difficult to hear instructions over music, no onscreen video as you work, long break between exercises so you never really work that intensely, bit too pink and fluffy for my liking!
Sworkit Lite
This ‘lite’ version was completely free but you can purchase ‘Sworkit Pro’ which unlocks some additional features. I did not do this so have only reviewed anything that is available on the free version. Again, this was another user friendly app which gives it instant brownie points for me. This app has four main categories – Tone, Cardio, Yoga, and Stretch. You can personalise this one to some degree and add your weight in so that at the end of each exercise it will highlight how many calories you have burned. There is an onscreen countdown and video demonstrating each exercise as you work, and compared to some of the other apps I found the exercises here to be a little more intense, but in a good way – you get less of a break in between so you’re working more consistently. There is a link to some ‘sworkit motivational music’ but you need an internet connection for this. What I did like about this app was four main categories and the big thing was that you can select the length of your workout from 5 minutes to a full hour. It was a much better experience to set a longer timeframe and workout continuously rather than having to start a new mini workout as with the others. I also really liked that you get the option to add a warm-up and cool-down too. All in all, I loved this app and have already used it since. You can tailor it and choose whatever type of exercise you might be in the mood for – I recommend a blast of cardio then the Pilates after a bad day!
Pros: user friendly, four categories useful to target what you want to achieve, can personalise, onscreen video and countdown
Cons: need wifi link for a Sworkit playlist that links you to Spottify (you can listen to your own music though), in-app purchases to receive full functionality (but you do get a lot from the free version here).
General thoughts….
I enjoyed this experiment! I wouldn’t use apps to exercise in my room everyday, but it’s a great way to make sure you get a workout done when you’re travelling or working away from home. Your room would need to be a decent size for you to leap about / stretch / fall over so I would just check you’ve got plenty of space around you before you start! I think my overall favourite is Sworkit, but if anyone can recommend any other good free fitness apps add to the comments for others to check out. Enjoy!
girlontheroaduk 