Tag: Exercise »

Whether your New Year's resolution is to lose weight, have more energy, or just take better care of yourself, the iOS App Store has lots of fitness and health apps to help. We've taken a closer look at the best from Apple's own New Year, New You list to help you pick the ones right for you.

P90X - By Beachbody, LLC
The P90X can be a punishing workout. Use this app to keep on track and keep the muscles burning with a schedule, track and sync progression with the P90X website, and purchase P90X workout bundles with video and audio guides.

Gorilla Workout : Athletic Fitness Training on a Budget - By Heckr LLC
Working out is great, but unless a substantial in-home gym is available, it usually requires a trip to the gym. However, this app will instruct users on tons of different workouts at 4 different levels that require no equipment at all. A great way to get fit on a budget.

Pocket Yoga - By Rainfrog, LLC
Yoga is a great way to workout out at home, but unless a trained yoga instructor is handy it can be hard to do it right. This app will guide users through various yoga workouts with voice instructions and illustrated instructions. Airplay can also be used to play on a larger screen.

There are even more fitness apps, after the break.

This week at 148Apps, we took your New Year's resolutions seriously and started our "Health and Fitness" month. Editor Rob LeFebvre writes, "We’ve already taken a look at some apps that help us all acheive our goals, and we plan to continue that trend for the entire month, with personal stories from our crack writing team, continued reviews, and focused features like our Favorite Four."

See our first group of Health & Fitness reviews at 148Apps.

Our apps-for-kids site, GiggleApps, offered a review of Odd Spotting. Reviewer Amy Solomon says, "Odd Spotting, developed by Micromicon Media Limit, is an “odd one out” game with 144 levels, the goal of each being to spot the object that is different from all the others in the group. As I began to explore how Odd Spotting works, I couldn’t help but to remember the lyrics from a classic Sesame Street song, “One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn’t belong.”

Learn more and read the full review on GiggleApps.

Finally, on 148Apps.biz, writer Jeff Hughes commented on Apple's recent (and quiet) changes to app categorization on the App Store, saying "Just like Google, when iTunes makes the slightest change to their App Store search algorithm, it has an impact on how many people see your app. The recent changes to the category ordering have also impacted sales for many app vendors for better or worse. Some developers have been helped because their app is now in a category that is displayed higher on the mobile screen...Other developers may be adversely impacted due to the decrease in exposure for their app because their category now appears further down the list."

Read more on 148Apps.biz.

And that, my friends, completes our rundown of happenings across the 148Apps network for the week of January 9-13. Keep track of all the latest news, reviews and contests by following us on Twitter or Liking us on Facebook. See you in a week!

We all need some motivation when it comes to exercising. While I love the gym, there are still those days where I'd really rather not bother. While Fleetly won't drag me to the gym, it will give me some much needed motivation.

Kind of like website Fitocracy, Fleetly makes a game out of exercising. Users enter how many repetitions they've performed or how far they've walked, run or swam and then Fleetly gives it a numerical value in terms of experience points to level up. Users can then compare with other users of the app or their friends via Facebook connectivity. There's even challenge groups to join to encourage friendly competition.

It doesn't stop there however. Fleetly also instructs users how to perform relevant exercises from squats to more complex manoevres. It all ensures that the user learns how best to perform an exercise without overexerting themselves. Plus it makes for a very neat package.

Even better, Fleetly costs precisely nothing which means those in need of that extra nudge might as well give it a shot.

It's out now.

The folks behind iMapMyFITNESS seem intent on offering the full package when it comes to fitness based apps. While they've got a little work to conquer the behemoth RunKeeper in terms of market share, they've got some neat tricks up their sleeves.

One of the latest features is the ability to track the amount of calories burnt off during exercise. It's a feature that many an exercising app promises but there's a difference. iMapMyFITNESS tracks the exact workout data rather than sticking to a generic average total that many other similar apps use instead. It means that no corners are cut and users always know exactly what they've achieved.

As well as the calorie checking facility, iMapMyFITNESS is also offering live tracking functionality. This means that friends or family can always keep track of where the user is, potentially a very useful security feature for the concerned jogger or runner. Everything is protected also so that the user can define who can and can't see such information.

While this might sound familiar to RunKeeper users, it's the interface that makes iMapMyFITNESS stand out more so. The website also offers a fairly different experience which may well appeal to those users looking for a change of exercise tracking app.

With new updates, this is an ideal time to give iMapMyFITNESS a shot.

Scotty & Lulu are a British children's musical duo and have been performing together since 1994. The app for iPhone and iPod Touch features some of their best-loved songs, which encourage kids to get up and move with high-energy beats, extra twang, and lyrics describing specific dance moves. Cartoon figures of Scotty & Lulu accompany the songs, providing instructions on the dance moves, such as Wriggle & Twist and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. Text for the lyrics scroll up the screen as the song progresses.

The app also has a game mode (one- or two-player modes available) for couch-surfers, in which Scotty & Lulu enter a jumping competition- the player touches the character to get him to jump. I found the response time to be slow and frustrating.

The songs are definitely catchy and inspire children to move. My two-year old had fun wriggling and twisting. However, the graphics in the app add little to the experience and I tend to think it may be a better bet just to load the Scotty & Lulu songs to your iPod or watch the myriad Scotty & Lulu videos on YouTube. For a quick hit of kiddie dance fun, however, this app fits the bill.