A premium subscription provides voice coaching and location sharing and removes ads. Use a mirror, a spotter, or a phone camera to make sure your back isn’t arched and your hips aren’t dropped. Most of the apps featured here are free, though a few offer subscriptions that deliver more advanced features, such as guided workouts, location sharing and training plans. The main plus with the Peloton app is its trainers – from Becs Gentry to Chase Tucker.
As we’ve noted, different running apps focus on different things. When you launch the app, you can pick the charity of your choice — there are more than 50 supporting causes that range from Autism Speaks and Feeding America to the American Lung Association and the Nature Conservancy. Keeping your back straight, lean back and draw your legs up off the ground (this is basically the boat pose with bent knees). For those hitting the treadmill, the Peloton app and Apple Fitness Plus both have a range of workouts to keep you entertained. Download Strava Running and Cycling: Android , iOS.
Download Zombies, Run!: Android , IOS. The Nike Run Club app itself has added Apple Watch complications to provide at-a-glance stats and motivation, so this is an ideal option if you’re a new Apple Watch 6 owner. 6. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking for an app with tried and trusted training plans to help you smash your PB at your next half marathon, or a running app that turns your daily run-commute into a game, we’ve found something for everyone.
Map My Run by Under Armour. Whether you’re training for your first 5K or your fourth marathon, the best running apps on the market will help you track your training and help you reach your goals. The dumbbell side bend is a great alternative oblique exercise if you have access to heavier weights — most people will use heavier weights than they normally use with ab exercises. Nike Run Club.
Charity Miles looks to take all that exercise you’ve been logging and turning it into cash for the charities of your choice, whether you get friends, family and employers to sponsor you, or you direct money from Charity Miles’ corporate sponsorship pool. Repeat the motion on the other side. With Zwift, you can take your runs to virtual courses, while staying on your treadmill. 10.
I normally use a workout bench, but if you don’t have that, you can also use a chair or a stair. Alternative 2: Swiss ball roll out Equipment needed: Equipment: Swiss ball. Best running app for Walking Dead fans.
Keep the movement controlled; don’t let the momentum of the weight help you. Start in side plank position, but bring your free arm up and place your hand next to your head (touching your ear). You can either rest here for a few seconds and then get back into plank position, or you can continue in this position (called a knee plank ). When she’s not pounding the pavements, you’ll find Jane striding round the Surrey Hills, taking far too many photos of her puppy. Alternative 2: Hanging Leg Raise Equipment: Pull-up bar or captain’s chair. Useful extras include support for a variety of fitness trackers and heart rate sensors, Wear OS support and nutrition tracking.
According to a 2019 study published in PLoS One , strengthening your core may improve athletic performance. If you need even more of a challenge, hold a dumbbell between your feet. Download NHS Couch to 5K: Android , iOS.
Along with the different courses, you’ll run alongside other people, using their times for encouragement or competition. The key to performing a plank correctly is to keep your back relatively straight and your head in a neutral position. The sessions are divided up by time and music, so if you’ve only got 10 minutes to spare, that’s enough to get a sweat on. Raise your arms so they’re also perpendicular to your torso — this will be your starting position. Most people do ab workouts to achieve a flat stomach with defined ab muscles.
If you’ve ever done any ab work at all, these exercises are probably familiar to you. Download Peloton: Android , iOS. To perform this exercise, sit on the floor with your knees bent.
Best running app for training plans. There are four exercises: Do each exercise for 30 seconds and rest for 20 seconds. Then focus on engaging your abs and hold it! If you need people around you to keep you motivated, Strava is the app to download right now. Alternative 1: Dead bug.
Make sure to keep your ab muscles engaged as you do this: You should be twisting your upper body, not your hips. Yet the world of running apps can seem overwhelming, and finding the right one for you can be costly. To simplify the process, we’ve filled our phones up with some of the most popular running apps on the market to help you click download on the best one for you. Stride. Exercise 1: Plank.
Exercise 3: Bicycle Crunches. Charity Miles. Best running app overall.
Best running app for beginners. The sessions were extremely motivating and were easy to follow even using an iPhone propped up against the screen of the treadmill. An app that became extremely popular during the Coronavirus pandemic, the NHS Couch to 5K app is a brilliant way to take your first steps into the world of running. Alongside the free version of the app, Strava has a paid-for membership, named Summit.
And this 10-minute ab workout is an easy, quick way to start. That’s fine! If you find yourself getting weak, slowly lower your knees to the ground. Another one for treadmill runners, the Apple Fitness Plus subscription has a number of treadmill workouts to keep you busy.
The hanging leg raise (or its variation, the captain’s chair leg raise ) is an excellent exercise, but it didn’t make the initial cut because you need a pull-up bar or a captain’s chair. Bring your legs up, keeping them straight, until they’re pointing directly at the ceiling. Developed by Public Health England, the app takes you from zero to running for 30 minutes in as little as nine weeks. Strava Summit costs $5.00 per month or $59.99 per year. Alternative 1: Elevated Plank.
In the app, you have the option to choose between GPS, step counting, or treadmill running, as well as whether or not you want to be chased by zombies during your run. The biggest mistake people make when doing bicycle crunches is going too fast — it’s an ab workout, not cardio. Another cool feature now that the app is developed by Under Armour is that newer Under Armour running shoes will connect to Map my Run via Bluetooth, allowing your shoes to sync your running data to the app the second you step back through the front door. Strava supports a variety of running trackers in addition to Wear OS devices and Apple Watch. (Just make sure you opt out of the location tracking features if you happen to be around restricted areas.) 3. It’s a timed workout: The goal is to do as many reps as you can in the allotted time. However, reverse crunches are not regular crunches, and they’re a great exercise for working out all of your ab muscles.
There’s a 7-day free trial when you download the app, after that it’s $3.99 per month. The best home gym equipment Listen to tunes on your run with the best running headphones Prefer hitting the trails? The best trail running shoes to buy right now.
The dead bug is an exercise that works out all of your ab muscles, and also helps with balance (and coordination — it’s harder than it looks). Enjoy other activities besides running? You’ll find separate apps for cycling, walking and general fitness from Under Armour in both Google Play and Apple’s App Store. But there are reasons other than showing off a six-pack to get yourself into an ab workout routine.
Bring on knee toward your chest as you straighten the other leg, and twist your body so that your opposite elbow touches your knee. Zombies, Run! gives you the chance to jazz up your 5K round the park with a Zombie apocalypse. Strava supports a variety of running trackers in addition to Wear OS devices and Apple Watch. (Just make sure you opt out of the location tracking features if you happen to be around restricted areas.) You can decide if these extra features are worth the recurring cost or whether you can make do with the free tier. (Some free apps are ad-supported, so you’ll have to decide if that’s too much of a nuisance.) The Charity Miles app then syncs with either the Apple Health data stored on your iPhone or the built-in pedometer on your Android device. (It also syncs up with Strava, the best running app on this list.) Then, every time you log a mile as you run, you’re earning money for your charity. Strava has the added benefit of tracking cycling, swimming, and cross-training workouts too, so you can keep all your training in one place.
That said, if you’re not a competitive runner, don’t let this put you off. For tracking run data, the best running apps are Strava, Map my Run, and Runkeeper. This is an easy exercise to use with homemade weights — basically any bag filled with books should work. And the mobile app even adds a little gamification to your runs as part of the bargain.
If you have a Swiss ball (also known as an exercise ball), you can make your planks even harder with the Swiss ball roll out . Pick up your weight and twist to one side — as far as you can go without touching the ground — and then twist to the other side. Download Map My Run: Android , iOS. The best running app depends on what you want the app to do. The dumbbell shortage is mostly over, but you can also use homemade weights for this — a 1-gallon jug of water weighs 8.33 pounds.
Focus on keeping your muscles engaged so you don’t lose your form. There are also handy features like Strava Beacon, which are designed to keep you safe, by allowing your friends or family members to track your live location on a run. Keep your forearms on the floor, but place your feet on something higher. That said, doing the same thing over and over can get a little tedious, so we’re listing two alternatives for each move — a more challenging alternative and an alternative that requires some basic equipment (the original exercises are very quarantine-friendly and require no equipment).
The community part of the app allows you to follow your friends, running frenemies, and work colleagues and even set up group challenges, like fastest 5K or longest monthly mileage. As a bonus, they don’t require much time, space, or equipment. If you’re doing this exercise in the circuit, you can also alternate sides in each round instead of switching after each rep. Best running app for runners who run and cycle in the gym. Some people consider this to be the regular plank, but I prefer the forearm plank: Lower your body until you’re resting on your forearms with your elbows below your shoulders and your hands pointing forward.
Download Charity Miles: iOS. Peloton. An avid runner, Jane has tested and reviewed fitness products for the past four years, so knows what to look for when finding a good running watch or a pair of shorts with pockets big enough for your smartphone.
The best running apps for Android and iOS. Best running app for motivation. To perform this exercise, lie flat on your back and draw your legs up (with your knees bent at a 90 degree angle) until they’re perpendicular to your torso.
How to choose the best running apps. What are the best running apps for your smartphone? Map My Run, now developed by Under Armour, uses the GPS and other sensors in your phone to track and map your running course, time, speed, and total distance traveled. To perform this exercise, get into a regular plank with your forearms resting on the ball. After that, it’ll cost $12.99 Landline Phones per month.
Bend your knees and draw your legs up toward your chest. If you’re a runner who prefers to clock your miles indoors, finding an app that makes treadmill running more fun can be a challenge. To do a reverse crunch , lie flat on your back with your arms at your side and your palms pressed against the ground. Alternative 1: Side Plank with Twist Adding a twist to the side plank makes it much more challenging. If you’re a completely new runner, the Couch to 5K running app is a brilliant way to get started, building you up slowly from a run-walk, to a continuous 5K.
Keep your legs off the floor the entire time. Exercise 4: Reverse Crunches. You can choose your own personal trainer, who give you audio prompts and encouragement along the way. Feel like you’re in a computer game as you attempt to gather supplies, rescue survivors, and save the world from the Zombies.
9. If you do opt for an app that maps where you run, check out that app’s privacy policy to see where that data is stored and who has access to it. Here’s how to train for a marathon for home workouts Find the best running watches. Runkeeper. In addition to the built-in music player, the app also allows you to listen to audio cheers sent by friends, as well as encouragement from Nike’s pro athletes.
You probably won’t make it the full 30 seconds the first time. Once you’re done with your run, you can share your details complete with photos, stats and stickers, and compare your progress with other runners. Download Zwift: Android , iOS.
They’re not particularly effective, according to an ACE study, and they may even cause lower back pain . The best 10-minute ab workout to get that 6 pack. The windshield wiper is another twisty move that targets your obliques, and there are plenty of ways to make it extremely difficult (try the hanging windshield wiper ). Core strength and stability are important to overall fitness. Repeat this motion on the other side, keeping your legs and shoulders off the ground the entire time. So download, lace-up, and let’s go.
Regular crunches — those sit-ups you did in high school gym class — are generally considered to be…not fantastic. NHS Couch to 5K. Apple Fitness Plus costs $9.99 for a month or $79.99 for a year. The app records your pace, distance, total exercise time, calories burned and other useful metrics, while delivering a variety of training plans, complete with reminders and gamified challenges.
The app measures a variety of metrics such as your pace, distance run and mile splits; it also includes a variety of coaching plans that adapt to your fitness goals and progress. Best running app for treadmill runners. Best running apps for 2021. While this probably isn’t the best app on the market for serious training, if you want to mix things up and have a little fun, it’ll do the job. Slowly roll the ball forward and then bring it back in, keeping your back straight and your abs engaged.
Download Stride: Android , iOS. for home workouts. There are not the same live workouts as there are on the Peloton app, but Apple has announced that group classes will be rolled out onto the platform later this fall. At the same time, lower the opposite arm straight back until it’s also hovering just above the floor. 11.
The Russian twist also targets your obliques, gets that twisting motion in, and is especially fun when you add weight. Stack your feet (one foot on top of the other) and keep your body straight (and your spine and head neutral) as you raise yourself up to rest on your elbow. The reverse crunch is already a pretty difficult exercise, but you can make it even more challenging by taking your arms off the ground and placing them beside your head.
Keep your back straight and your abs engaged as you slowly bend to the side. 8. But the run aspect of Zwift is free to use. (Zwift also works with cycling, but after a 7-day trial, rides require a $15 monthly membership.) If you’ve got the right equipment, Zwfit offers a unique way to get more out of your at-home runs. According to a 2001 study by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) , the bicycle crunch is the most effective ab exercise for stimulating the rectus abdominus (the six-pack muscle) and the second-most effective ab exercise for stimulating the obliques. Peloton offers a month’s free trial for their app, which is a fantastic amount of time to really test its different features (there are cycling and strength training workouts on there too).
This workout takes just 10 minutes and can be modified to fit your fitness level. Best running app for runners with an Apple Watch. While it might be limited in some ways (it’s only really suitable for new runners, or runners returning from time off), it’s a brilliant way to get into a regular running routine. Now lower your legs slowly to one side — go as low as you can go without touching the floor, and then lower them to the other side.
7. You’ll then gradually build up to running more of the session than walking. Ab workouts — if you’re doing them correctly — are pretty difficult, so it’s best to keep the moves simple. Zombies, Run! It’s tough to choose between this and Peloton, we found the Peloton app slightly more user-friendly but loved the lively Hip Hop sessions on Apple Fitness Plus and the fact you get a three-month subscription free when you buy an Apple Watch.
Exercise 2: Side Plank. Download Runkeeper: Android , iOS. 1. The best ab exercises target more than just your abs and are great supplements to your regular fitness schedule.
If you find yourself doing a lot of exercising at home these days, Zwfit can help you change up your surroundings while you shelter in place. Strava Summit gives you access to more features, such as more in-depth race and performance analysis and the Strava maps feature, which allows you to easily find route suggestions from your current location. Users can go freeform or download and follow popular running routes. The app starts with a mixture of run-walking intervals, giving you audio prompts of when to start running.
If this all sounds a little farfetched, do not fear – there’s still the option to link the app to your favourite music player and set a duration of how long you want to run for. Strava has all the running tracking features you’d expect – from running speed and distance travelled, to more in-depth performance analytics and weekly miles. Going out for a run can do more than just improve your health — it can also raise money for a good cause.
There are themed runs for runners who want to have fun, we particularly loved the Disney run, and you can tailor the runs by time or your goal. The app displays both your real-time stats and your end-of-run totals. We’ll keep an eye peeled to see if the Android version returns. Don’t worry, this workout isn’t just planking. Go through the circuit three times.
From this position, slowly lower and extend one leg until it’s straight and hovering just above the floor. To perform a basic plank , get into the push-up position — hands and feet shoulder width apart, back and legs straight. If you want to make the regular plank more difficult, try elevating your feet. When performed correctly, planks are an excellent core exercise that also happen to work most of the major muscles in your body. Spring is here, which means it’s time to work on your summer beach bod.
The good news? The Peloton app can be used on all treadmills, not just Peloton’s own Tread, and it’s got loads of great on-demand and live classes for runners to choose from. You can measure your progress and workout history, as well as sync with numerous other apps and services and receive detailed reports of your tracked activity.
Now, lift your hips off the ground as you point your toes toward the ceiling (you can keep your legs bent or you can straighten them) and come back down. That said, planks are often performed incorrectly and incorrectly-performed planks are not only easier (and ineffective), they can also cause injury to the lower back. Alternative 2: Dumbbell side bend Equipment needed: Dumbbells. All strain should be on your muscles, not your spine.
You’ll need a compatible treadmill and footpod to make Zwfit work — the company lists compatible devices on its website. That’s it — the move is simple, but form is everything. You can keep your legs straight or bend at the knees — straight legs make the exercise more challenging.
If you’re just a bored runner that’s looking for a running app that will make your runs more exciting, apps like Stride and Zombies! Run, are great at keeping you entertained. Alternative 1: Windshield wiper. Best running app for map building.
Like a class at the gym, there’s no one-size-fits-all running app, and each has its own pros and cons to suit different runs. Best new running app. This isn’t the best app for serious runners – there are no training plans or competitive running metrics, but if you want to make running with your local running club more fun, it’s a cool way to do that. You can play with neighbours or friends for champion status, and you’ll get rewarded for determination over speed. Best running app for treadmill runners with an Apple watch.
Jane McGuire is Tom’s Guide’s Fitness editor, which means she looks after everything fitness related – from running gear to yoga mats. Most of the best running apps will connect to your running watch or fitness tracker for accurate data, they can also provide advice, motivation and just make heading out for that daily run a little bit more fun. Relatively new to the running app market, Stride allows you to track your runs and walks via your phone’s GPS and play against other users nearby to control the biggest territory. Now, twist your upper body down until your elbow touches the hand of the forearm you’re leaning on.
Return to your starting position and do the same move with the opposite arm and leg. Runkeeper also works with a variety of smartwatches and fitness devices such as the Apple Watch and Wear OS devices. Unsurprisingly, Apple Fitness Plus is only available on Apple devices. But the side plank is a great exercise, and it’s different enough from the regular plank — the side plank works out your obliques, which are the ab muscles on your sides.
Place your hands next to your head (behind your ears — not behind your head or neck, because you’ll be tempted to pull your head up), bring your shoulders off the ground, and bend your knees and draw your legs up off the ground. But the exercise itself is simple — hang from a pull-up bar using an overhand grip and draw your legs up as far as you can. Your arms and legs should never touch the ground during this exercise. Nike may have ditched the FuelBand, but the company still makes a mean run tracker with the Nike Run Club, which now comes baked in with the Nike+ edition of the Apple Watch. To do a side plank , start by lying on the floor on your side.
Download Nike Run Club: Android , iOS. Zwift. So choosing the best running app for your needs depends heavily on what you want to use the app for — Tracking your stats? Mapping your runnings? Playing music that complements your workout? — and picking the one that ticks all those boxes.
Designed for beginners and veteran runners alike, the app is an all-around run tracker, music player and social networking tool for runners. Strava. To perform this exercise, start in a standing position with the dumbbell or weight at your side. It’s also completely free. To perform this exercise, lie flat on your back with your arms stretched out perpendicular to your torso.
5. How to subscribe to Apple Fitness Plus. There’s also a yearly subscription that starts from $22.99 per month. A perennial favorite among runners, Runkeeper uses your phone’s GPS to track your running, cycling, hiking and other distance activities.
Alternative 2: Russian twist Equipment: 10-pound dumbbell. To perform this exercise , lie on the floor with your back flat against the ground. 4. Apple Fitness Plus.
2. Charity Miles has been available for both Android and iOS, though the Android version seems to no longer be offered via Google Play.