Getting started with exercise and fitness isn’t an easy task. Most people are often overwhelmed with the choice of activities they can take on, the time constraints in their schedules, and the requirements that any sort of sports has. It doesn’t have to be this difficult nor this complicated, and I speak from first-hand experience. About 18 months ago, I decided to change my lifestyle and these are the apps that have helped me the most get back on the right foot.

MyFitnessPal

The first thing to consider when you want to take care of your health is your food intake. You may not know it but you are probably consuming a lot more calories than you thought and getting that number under control is the first step you have to take care of. MyFitnessPal is a fitness and health hub where you can manually log your exercises, water and food consumption. It also integrates with various other services, like Runtastic, Fitbit, and more, to gather all of your health data.

Food logging in MyFitnessPal can be either tedious or super simple, it all depends on whether the items you consume are already present in its impressively huge database or you have to manually create a meal and enter its specific caloric specs. But once you introduce it to your most consumed items, you will have the benefit of charts and impressively detailed reports on your progress. The more you use MyFitness pal, the more you will want to hit your caloric goal every day.

Download: MyFitnessPal

Fitbit

You don’t necessarily have to use Fitbit, but you can consider other connected step counters like the Jawbone, Runtastic Orbit, Polar Loop, and others. The point is to keep an eye on your basic activity level, or how much you move during the day. You may be wondering if a device/app combo like this can help you get more fit and I’ll tell you that it can, provided you keep an eye on it.

Once you set a step goal, you have to try to reach it as often as you can. Be realistic, you can’t go from not moving at all to doing 20,000 steps every day, but you can probably do 5,000 with little effort. Start there and observe how easier it becomes over time to reach your goal. It’ll make you consciously want to take the stairs instead of the elevator for those 2 floors, park your car a little further away, and pace a bit more around the house or office when you have a free minute – all because you don’t want it to tell you that you didn’t hit your goal at the end of the day. If you use it for several months, the reward will come in checking your monthly charts and seeing how much you have evolved over time.

Download: Fitbit

C25K Trainer

Running isn’t easy, I’ll tell you as much. If you haven’t done it for a while, you can get breathless in under a minute. But if you want to take on running without being overwhelmed by the time and effort required, you’ll want to try a C25K program (Couch to 5K). It only asks you to do 3 weekly sessions of about 30-40 minutes each, which isn’t that demanding if you set your mind to it. It also starts by alternating running and walking intervals to ease you into the run. It’s never too much nor too easy if you’re really starting from scratch, and you’ll find yourself running 30 minutes non-stop in the span of 9 weeks.

C25K trainer is the easiest app you can use for the program. It has an incredibly simple interface with Start, Pause, and Done buttons, visual and audio cues to let you know how today’s session is evolving, and a mid-session reminder to turn around.

Download: C25K Trainer

Workout Trainer

If you want to do some exercises but don’t know where, how, or what, then Workout Trainer will be your savior. The app has hundreds of exercise routines, all brilliantly detailed and classified. Tell it how much time you have (anything from 5 to 60 minutes), which body area you want to target, whether you have no equipment, a home gym, or you are at a fully-equipped gym, and how difficult you want the exercise to be (casual to intense).

Workout Trainer will then suggest routines that fit with your filters, provide you with visual diagrams, text description, and even audio cues to explain each movement. Following along is then a matter of putting yourself up to the challenge. You can also create your own routines, specify the duration of each exercise, the length of pauses, and how many repetitions have to be done. Workout Trainer is a great way to target and tone those body parts that you usually don’t move often, without having to join a gym or dedicate hours of time to do so.

Download: Workout Trainer

Runtastic Sit-Ups / Squats

Getting those perfect abs and glutes can be an elusive dream, but not if you commit to something like these Runtastic apps. Both use your phone’s accelerometer to count your reps and tell you how many abs or squats you have done. An exercise regimen is provided, and it starts really easy with a few reps interspersed with pauses. By following it for 3 times per week, you can gradually raise your resistance and power, and do more and more reps each day.

Runtastic has nice monthly charts, badges for reaching specific goals, and a competitive element that shows you your ranking compared to all users worldwide. You may not break the 1000th position. But you will take solace in getting higher and higher numbers as you progress.

Download: Runtastic Sit-Ups / Runtastic Squats

What other fitness apps do you use to get back in shape or stay healthy? Share them with us below.