Is the Best Trainer the One in Your Phone?

There is no question that fitness apps offer a great alternative to heading to the gym and tangling with a personal trainer. At least that’s what the app makers want you to believe. But are these things really going to get you into excellent shape? A NY Times reporter took the challenge with a few apps and liked at least one quite a bit. But, of course, there’s a catch.

She lists some of the apps she tried, which range from a library full of exercises that allows you to make your own greatest hits to a nutrition guide and activity tracker. But the one that really impressed her was Fitstar, an app that costs 40 bucks a year and hands over instructional videos that essentially act like mini-trainers in your phone (or tablet). These videos supposedly keep things simple and you will also get a good workout. The author had some minor issues with technical problems that can probably be fixed but felt that for the price and the schedule (any time she could do it), it was her best option.

Though what truly makes the difference she mentions towards the end of the article — apps don’t really push you. They can tell you what to do and you can feel like you’re really sweating, but when a good trainer is encouraging you, asking you to dig deep, and giving you form corrections – you will go much harder.

Fitstar fit in the author’s life well enough for a month, but she questions if she will be using it a couple months down the road. Over 1/3 of people who use these apps stop using the after a few months.