Here’s the thing. If you want to exercise, be fit or lose weight, you don’t need anything more than your body, your phone, and a pair of earbuds. No expensive gym membership, no fancy equipment, no specialized gym wear, nothing of that sort. There are lots of awesome audio based workout apps for iPhone. Start a 20-30 minute workout on your iPhone, put on your AirPods and just follow the expert audio instructions while listening to customized music.
1. Aaptiv
Aaptiv is the best and the most feature-rich audio workouts app available on the iPhone. It embodies everything I talked about above. You can choose from over 2500 workouts (in a broad range of categories). It can be something as simple as a guided run (there’s a lot more to running than just putting one foot in front of another) or a complex high-intensity interval training.
In all workouts, an expert trainer will always be in your ear, providing helpful advice. They’ll tell you what exactly to do and how to do it. This way, you can make sure your posture is just right. While you’re working out, Aaptiv will also play customized music in the background. One that is just right for the kind of workout you’re doing.
Aaptiv will give you one month’s subscription for free. After that, it’s $14.99/month. But if you sign up before the end of January, you’ll get an entire year’s subscription for just $99.
Download: Aaptiv
2. MoveWith
MoveWith is an audio workouts app which focuses on much more than just physical fitness. You’ll find a lot of yoga and mindfulness classes in the app as well. The classes are guided by expert coaches, mixed with customized background music. Classes range from 7 minutes all the way up to 60 minutes.
With this app, you can create a customized goal plan. MoveWith revolved around a personalized experience. You get one week free. After that, it’s $12.99/month or $95.99/year ($7.99/month).
Download: MoveWith
3. FitRadio
FitRadio app is all about high-energy music and cardio workouts. If you do a lot of running, cycling, elliptical or High-Intensity Interval Training, you should at least give FitRadio a shot. When you’re doing cardio, so much depends on your internal motivation to keep going. You need to workout out for 30 minutes to an hour, at a consistent (and hopefully increasing) rate. The one thing that can help you out here the most (more than a personal trainer) is some blood pumping music.
Sure, you can create a playlist of your favorite pop songs but trust me, that’s not enough. Even pop songs will have dull moments and you’ll start to lose your momentum. If you’re using FitRadio, you can tell the app what kind of workout you’re doing and what kind of high-intensity music you want the app to play for you. For example, when you’re doing a running workout, you can tell FitRadio what pace you’re targetting and the app will customize the music to help you get there.
Download: FitRadio
4. FitPlan
With FitPlan, you get fitness advice from some of the world’s best athletes. You get to train with Jen Selter, Michelle Lewin, Mike O’ Hearn, Jen Heward and more than 20 other professional athletes. FitPlans approach is also slightly different from apps like Aaptiv. While you can just pick workouts a la carte, where FitPlan really shines is its customized plans which last for multiple weeks. FitPlans range from 3-12 weeks and they’re customized for your goals.
You can choose from an array of goals (losing weight, building music, training for a marathon and more) and the app will customize a plan that will help you reach your goal (depending on your current fitness level). You’ll get daily feedback on what you need to improve and on top of live audio training, you’ll be able to watch a video as well.
All of FitPlan’s single day workouts are free so you can easily see if this app is for you. You get a 1-week trial for the FitPlan service. After that, it’s $13.99/month and just $71.99 if you sign up for an entire year.
Download: FitPlan
5. Daily Spot
No matter where you are – the gym, at home, traveling – Daily Spot has your back. The app offers gym workouts, running workouts, no equipment workouts, and even wellness courses all in one app. The app adds new workouts daily so you’ll never have to repeat the same workout again. And all of this happens through guided audio.
You start with a 5-second onboarding process where you tell the app your workout interests, and the app will generate your workout feed for you. Then you just hit play and get started.
You can get 1-week free trial and after that, it’s $8.99/month.
Download: Daily Spot
6. CycleCast
Got an indoor cycle that’s collecting dust? CycleCast can help you out with that. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on a Soul Cycle class, just download this app and follow the guided cycling tours in the comfort of your home. The audio comes with expert guidance and with high-energy music. You can select between a 20 to 60-minute workout. The classes are created by certified spinning instructors. You can use this app for both indoor and outdoor cycling.
You get a 1-week free trial. After that, it’s $9.99/month or $89.99/year.
Download: CycleCast
7. Running Trainer
If you want to start running, one of the best ways to do it is to do the C25K training program. It’s an interval running program where you gradually increase your running time (and with it, your strength). Once you can run 5K, you can then graduate to 10K and ultimately, a marathon.
Running, in theory, is simple. But running right is way complicated. You need to be aware of your posture, you need to keep your steps in a straight line. And you also need to stride just right. This advice is especially crucial to beginners because this is where the chances of injury are the highest. Running Trainer is one of the apps that will completely guide you through the process. You’ll get expert instructions and live updates as you’re walking, jogging and running. Plus, the app is free to use.
Download: Running Trainer
How Do You Train?
What do you use to stay fit? Do you follow a special diet plan? What is your workout routine like? Share with us in the comments below.
