If your iPod Touch or iPhone is an essential part of your workout, you’ve probably scrolled through the endless array of fitness apps available, wondering which ones are worth the time and money.

The right fitness app can give you the boost you need to get through your workouts, but the wrong one can leave you frustrated. I’ve done a little research and put together a list of my favorite exercise and fitness apps covering everything from strength training and yoga to weight loss and running.

1. iPump & Fitness Builder

Photo © Paige WaehnerPrice: $19.99

Though expensive, iPump is well worth the price. Stand-out features include:

• A variety of workouts drawing from thousands of unique exercises and equipment such as barbell, exercise ball, dumbbells, kettlebells, BOSU, foam roller and more.
• The ability to search workouts by location (hotel, home, gym, etc.), goal (arms, abs, cardio, etc.) or keyword.
• An exercise database with incredible variety. My favorites - squat thrust to push up with a med ball and 180 swings with a kettlebell.
• Videos of each exercise.
• The ability to edit workouts or create your own.

I love that iPump offers such incredible variety in their workouts and exercises. Also available, iPump Trainer workouts for $2.99 each.More Info

2. iFitness

Photo © Paige WaehnerPrice: $1.99

iFitness offers more than 100 strength and cardio exercises and the ability to create your own workouts. Stand-out features:

• Easy to navigate. You can choose exercises by muscle group, individual muscle or from a full list of exercises.
• With each exercise you can see pictures and descriptions, log the exercise, mark it as a favorite and access a timer for rest periods.
• The database has all the classic exercises (such as bench press, squats, etc.) using a variety of equipment.
• It’s easy to create workouts and add new exercises.

There are a few drawbacks. There aren’t video demonstrations and the preset routines are average, at best, but this app is a solid choice for exercisers who want to create and track basic workouts.More Info

3. FitDeck

Photo © Paige WaehnerPrice: $4.99

FitDeck Bodyweight is based on the FitDeck card game, a deck of cards displaying different exercises. This app offers only bodyweight exercises, so it isn’t for everyone. However, it’s great for quick, easy workouts when you’re short on time. Stand-out features:

• A timer is included for the timed exercises.
• Pictures and descriptions of each move.
• No equipment needed.
• Plenty of variety with classic moves (such as pushups) and unusual exercises (such as bear crawls).
• Wild cards (such as ‘Repeat Last Card’) make things interesting.
• You can edit the deck and choose different elements to include in workouts.

This app is a bit pricey for what you get, but can add an element of fun and intensity to your routine.More Info

4. Yoga Relax

Photo © Paige WaehnerPrice: $1.99

While I don’t like everything about this app, there are some stand-out features I enjoy:

• Soothing music and instructions make it easy to flow through the workout without having to look at your iPod.
• Poses are simple and great for relaxation.
• You can choose the length of your practice, from 1 to 36 minutes.
• You can turn off the music and instructions at any time.

One drawback is that the length and number of poses don’t change, regardless of the duration of your workout. That means your workout ends abruptly, often in the middle of a pose. You can bypass this by hitting the ‘Next’ button to manually go to the next pose.

Though it isn’t perfect, Yoga Relax offers a simple and, for the most part, seamless yoga workout.

More Info

5. Lose It!

Photo © Paige WaehnerPrice: Free

As free weight loss apps go, you can’t go wrong with Lose It. It’s easy to use and offers tons of great feedback for anyone wanting to lose weight. Stand-out features:

• You get an estimate of the calories required to lose weight based on your goal (from 0 to 2 lbs a week).
• The ability to enter foods using a database that includes major brands and common restaurants.
• An exercise database to calculate calories burned.
• A chart that shows your daily calorie budget — calories eaten, calories burned and a tally of how many more calories you have left.
• You can track nutrients (fat, carbs, fiber, etc.) and add new foods to the database.
• View your progress by the day or week.

Lose It is a great resource and, best of all, it’s free.More Info

6. RunKeeper

Photo © Paige WaehnerPrice: Free

If you can get RunKeeper to work right (and there are a few problems), it’s a great app for tracking how far and how fast you run or walk. Stand-out features:

• Ability to track speed, pace and elevation.
• Record your route and view it on a map.
• View a history of previous workouts.
• See your workouts online and share them with friends.

Now to the problems. RunKeeper is accurate if you keep it on for the length of your workout. If you leave the app, you come back to some seriously crazy numbers (such as it showed my pace as 30 mph), which negates anything already recorded, so avoid pausing it for best results. Also, your GPS signal strength can affect your numbers and using your GPS for a long time can drain the battery.

More Info

7. M-Train

Paige WaehnerPrice: $1.99

This fitness app offers 4 workouts based on what they call their P.A.S.E. system - power, agility, strength and endurance. When you buy the app (it’s $1.99) you get a strength workout and a power workout, but you’ll pay an extra $1.99 each for the agility and endurance workouts. Stand out features:

• The workouts are unusual, challenging and fun
• All the moves are body weight, so you need no equipment
• The moves are tough: mule kicks, plyo pushups, mountain climbers, burpees, long jumps and machine gun squats
• Workouts include videos, timers and instructions
• You can follow the pre-set workouts or create your own
• You can create a playlist to go with your workout

Bottom line: Thumbs up for M-Train’s challenging and unique workouts.

http://exercise.about.com/od/videosmusicsoftware/tp/fitnessapps.htm