5 Apps That Make Your Workouts More Fun

High-tech ways to work up a sweat at home or on-the-go.

- By Jill Schildhouse

Gone are the days when your workouts have to feel like a monotonous chore— walking on an endless treadmill, suffering through sit-ups, and counting jumping jacks are so 2015. Instead, you can use virtual reality to put yourself right into a video game workout or game your way through a series of planks. And we owe all this newfound fitness fun to technology.

“In many ways, technology is driving fitness,” says Mohammed Iqbal, founder and CEO of SweatWorks, a design development agency focused on delivering bespoke digital products to the fitness industry. “While the use of technology has been commonplace at fitness centers, the evolution that has been happening over the past 10 years is the personalization of fitness and moving it closer to your home. The addition of a wearable, such as an Apple Watch or Fitbit, exponentially expands the influence of all-day tracking into your fitness journey.”

Iqbal says that brands have started investing in their digital experience significantly over the past four years as the trend toward on-demand and at-home fitness has continued to grow. And the timing couldn’t be better, considering the pandemic’s far-reaching effect on the fitness industry—gym closures, restrictions on community team sports, and fewer people getting outside for physical activity means sticking to a fitness routine is harder than ever.

“Covid-19 has accelerated the evolution of wearables and digital fitness by at least three to five years,” says Iqbal. “What Covid-19 has enabled is faster adaptation of technology with consumers.”