So you’ve finally decided to quit fooling around and hit the gym, lose those extra pounds, increase your strength and endurance and get that body you’ve always dreamed of. It’s no easy feat, but be certain that with enough willpower and discipline you’ll be able to achieve your goal in time. There are some ways in which you can make this process a bit easier along the way, and using fitness apps is definitely one of them. Believe it or not, it’s very important to document your workouts and keep track of your overall progress in order to be able to change them up properly as you become stronger. You’re probably going to be doing a large number of workouts with a varying number of sets and reps, and keeping all of that information in your head is mission impossible, to put it lightly.

Fortunately, fitness apps are equipped nicely to deal with that particular problem, and allow you to easily input any information about your workout so they can neatly organize it for you and make it easy for you to keep track of every individual exercise. Many of them come bundled with a few additional cool features; some offer nutritional information and some even have entire workout routines inside of them that you can use to spice up your routine. There are many great workout apps out there that you can try, and today we’res going to be talking about some of the best ones (in our opinion, of course).

FitBit

This app was originally developed to be used with Fitbit’s wrist activity tracker, but then it became a fully-functional standalone app that you only need your smartphone to use. What FitBit does is it uses the information from the accelerometer in your smartphone to measure the number of steps you take and automatically convert this into calorie loss. Fitbit can also track and calculate your walking and running routes by utilizing the GPS device in your smartphone. And of course, the app can also help you out with your nutrition by using the built-in food log to track your caloric and nutritional intake, which is essential if you want to build out a healthy, efficient diet.

Skimble Workout Trainer

If you’re just starting off, Skimble Workout Trainer is a great app for you because it includes literally thousands of detailed workout tutorials with both audio and video, so you know exactly how to perform an exercise correctly, efficiently and safely, without putting yourself at risk of injury. A very cool feature that Skimble offers is the ability to create custom workout routines, and you can even upload these routines to the Cloud so other people can view them and download them to their devices. Skimble’s basic version is completely free, although there is a Premium version that offers a few extra features and removes advertisements.

Runkeeper

If you enjoy cardio at all, you’re going to love this one. Like Fitbit, Runkeeper can utilize the information from your GPS to track your running/cycling progress, while also recording other valuable info about your workout such as your total exercise time, your total calories burned, your pace and so on. What’s really cool about this app is that it shows you your actual predetermined route during the workout itself, which is indispensable for hikers and long-distance runners. Finally, Runkeeper also syncs with social media websites such as Facebook or Twitter, so you can share your progress with your friends and family, if you desire (although it might be smart to use a VPN as you’re doing this to protect your personal information, as fitness apps tend to be a bit insecure). If not, you can simply turn this feature off and keep it private, of course.

Rithmio Edge

This one is a real piece of work, especially if you’re into weight-training. We know how much of a pain it can be to remember the various set/rep combinations when engaging in multiple challenging workouts, and how frustrating it can be to lose count. After all, you should be able to concentrate on actually performing the exercise to the best of your ability, and not have to concern yourself with numbers. Rithmio Edge can be a big help here. This app can sync with your Android Wear smartwatch and use its accelerometer to count your reps for you as you’re hitting the weights, allowing you to completely focus on the workout. Additionally, Rithmio Edge can use this same information to attempt to correct your form, if it senses that you’re doing anything wrong. And of course, it can accurately track all your sets/reps, your rest times and so on, so you can build out a nice summary of your entire workout and use it to track your overall progress.

Fitocracy

This app is based on an achievement system in which users create a profile, log their progress in order to gain achievements and ultimately level up their accounts. It’s loaded with plenty detailed exercise routines that you can use to spice up your workouts, and then show off your progress to your peers. This method of motivation has been proven to work quite well in the past, primarily because you’re integrated into a community of people that work hard on their bodies every single day, and it’s natural to want to live up to such standards. So if you feel like you lack motivation for exercising, you might want to check this app out – it may be just the nudge you need to push you through.