Many Free Fitness Apps Don’t Meet Recommended Guidelines.
If you are looking for a smartphone app to help improve your exercise regimen, it may be harder than you think. Researchers found that only one of thirty popular free fitness apps meets the majority of physical activity guidelines from the American College of Sports Medicine. The top-rated app in the study was the Sworkit Lite Personal Workout Trainer App. The rating was based on evaluating adherence to specific medical guidelines regarding safety, warm-ups, cool–downs, stretching, intensity, frequency, and progression. Lead author Dr. François Modave writes, “While apps have great potential to give more people access to workouts that could help them achieve a healthy weight and fitness level, we found that the vast majority of apps are not as safe as they could be and do not give users the type of well-rounded workouts known to be most effective.”
Journal of Medical Internet Research, July 2015