Here is our pick of the most useful, inspired apps to help you get fit in your home or while travelling, coaching you through manageable workouts that you can do anywhere, using very little other than your own steam.
The Johnson & Johnson Official 7-Minute Workout
Unique Selling Point (USP): Zero equipment needed; super-short workouts
With over 1 000 short, sharp workouts that you can do anywhere, anytime, this is perhaps the daddy of all DIY exercise apps. Developed by the scientists at the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute, this app delivers evidence-based workouts that vary person to person depending on body weight. All you'll need is a wall, a chair, some floor space and a dose of motivation. Achievement milestones celebrate your successes and post-workout assessments help you analyse your progress. Now also available on Apple Watch.
FitStar
USP: Video guides to fitness and yoga that you can view on mobile or PC
Choose between FitStar Yoga and FitStar Personal Trainer if you want to work out on your own without feeling alone. The slick video guides to workouts and routines will help you achieve your fitness and weight loss goals while having fun and being consistently challenged. Tara Stiles, world-renowned yoga guru, and Tony Gonzalez, NFL All-Star and personal trainer, are the powerhouses that will coach you through your next session. But don't worry - the difficulty level of the workout is based on data from your body and your previous performance, so you won't be expected to accomplish something you're not capable of; and, similarly, you won't get away with completing a workout that might not quite be challenging enough for you to make progress. This app has been around a while and has continued to attract very positive reviews.
But, if you don't have a smartphone, you can view the videos on your PC.
SworkIt
USP: Personalised workouts including strength, stretching, cardio and yoga
Similar to FitStar, with the added bonus of more choice - you can choose one of 20 readymade workouts or create your own, depending on whether you're into yoga, want to get more cardio in, looking to build strength, or if you simply want to stretch out tired or stiff muscles after a day sitting at the office. Verbal cues and reminders help guide you through each workout, and you can choose how long you'd like each session to be, as well as which body part you'd like to focus on. SworkIt Kids is a fun new addition to the stable.
Sweat with Kayla
USP: For women only; downloading the app means joining a strong community
The world-renowned founder of the Bikini Body Guide (BBG), Australian personal trainer Kayla Itsines has helped women across the globe turn their flab to fab in 12 weeks. The programme guides you through 28-minute workouts that target different muscle groups each day, along with an element of cardio. Perhaps the most appealing feature of this app (other than the incredible results it's had) is the fact that you can do the workouts at home with minimal equipment. You'll also get recipes, meal plans and shopping lists so that you don't undo all your hard work by eating badly, rewards when you reach your goals, and can compare your progress with others' in the BBG community. As of September, the app has been integrated with Apple watch, so you can view your heart rate, calories burned, steps and distance throughout the workout in real time.
Download the app for iOS and Android.
Note that while these apps may be free to download, the data to do so is not. You can buy data bundles quickly, easily and affordably when you log into My Vodacom »
