Apps for excercise

specialkfreak

what FREE apps do you all like best for tracking walking/running. I need one that tracks properly. Me and my neighbor both have pacer. We have exact info entered in and hers always says she has walked way more miles and lost way more calories. We walk 2 miles together every single am. Weird. Just looking for a new app.... That works . Thanks

specialkfreak

Help! I need a good app

beemerphile1

MapMyFitness, RunKeeper, Strava

They are all inaccurate because they are using the GPS in your phone. For distance accuracy you need a dedicated GPS like a Garmin.

Calorie accuracy just won't happen. I can do the same course on multiple days at similar speed and get different calorie burns.

Lauralou23mfp

30 day fitness

SueInAz

You might try a Fitbit. If you accurately measure your average stride length is it should end up being pretty accurate.

Depending on the data signal where you walk a phone app is going to be more or less accurate because it depends on that data signal to get a good GPS signal. My Garmin 220 GPS and heart rate monitor is much more accurate. It syncs with the Fitbit app and with MFP, too.

specialkfreak

Thanks everyone.

CarmineDeMarco

I use, and love, Runkeeper, and I've tested out pretty much all of them.

specialkfreak

Thanks. I will look at that one also.

DoogCampbell

Runkeeper - whats great is it can connect to MFP so when you do your run/walk it logs it in exercise for you.

specialkfreak

Perfect! I have been using MFP and really like it.

jimmmer

Micoach by Adidas

Best running app, great programs. Tell it what you want to achieve (i.e. better conditioning/conditioning for sports, run a 10k, run a half, run faster, etc), do the test run so it sets up the pace zones for you, tell it how many times a week you can train and it'll lay out a schedule to take you where you need to go.

It even syncs to MFP.

sammygold2015

I have a heart rate monitor (amazon 29.99) that works amazing. You set it up for stats, and tell it when you want it to start counting the calories, according to your heart rate. So my phone tells me I should have burned 750 cals on my hike, but my heart rate monitor says 1050 cals burned. Big difference.

RajwaJ

I use Runkeeper for logging my runs and walks. I also have a fitbit Charge HR. While logging my activities both match each other on calories burnt but not distance.

violet456

sammygold2015 wrote: »

I have a heart rate monitor (amazon 29.99) that works amazing. You set it up for stats, and tell it when you want it to start counting the calories, according to your heart rate. So my phone tells me I should have burned 750 cals on my hike, but my heart rate monitor says 1050 cals burned. Big difference.

Which heartrate monitor did you get from Amazon?

bethnheidi

I use Runkeeper and I love it ☺

specialkfreak

Thank you everyone. I am looking at a few options. Appreciate the input

sosmerc

Don't forget Endomondo. I pair my Android smartphone to my garmin heart-rate monitor (strap) and it works well tracking all my stats as well as computes calories burned. I love it!

specialkfreak

Thanks

dawniemate

bethnheidi wrote: »

I use Runkeeper and I love it ☺

Me too! !!!

LAT1963

I also use Runkeeper. You can link Runkeeper to MFP and to the websites for most brands of heart rate monitors. You can also link Runkeeper directly to your heart-rate monitor on your phone, which allows you to gather heart-rate data in coordination to your GPS map. I don't know if Runkeeper factors the heart rate data into the calorie burn information. Runkeeper is free and has a consumer-friendly user agreement (Nike's running ap claims rights to almost everything short of your social security number and won't delete your data if you quit). Runkeeper elite is a pay version offering more features just as MFP has a pay version with more features.

Runkeeper does seem to factor elevation change into its calculation for calories burned, which a step-counter can't easily do.

GPS heart rate devices start around $250, and most are not waterproof (triathlon versions are around $500). I considered the cost vs. the accuracy that I need and decided the phone and a non-GPS Polar heart-rate monitor (which can be used swimming) was good enough for my purposes (I got the A300 which also is an activity tracker, with H7 heart-rate chest strap, but an FT-7/H7 combo would work for most swimmers. H7 has bluetooth to talk to your phone as well as your fitness watch).

If you have a phone and want a simple step counter that does not track sleep, there are free aps you can download to use your phone as a pedometer. Just FYI.

PS: if you are not a swimmer and don't mind taking your phone out of your pocket to see your heart rate while training, you could buy a heart rate chest strap on its own that will talk to your phone. Even if the strap is pool-friendly you can't take your phone in the water, so if you swim you do also need a waterproof wrist-device to capture your data. The advantage of Polar brand for me was swimming; the disadvantage is to get heart rate data you need to use a chestband. For non-swimmers who want heart-rate, FitBit HR, which is not waterproof and measures heart rate at the wrist, might be a good choice. I have not personally linked a FitBit HR to Runkeeper so I don't know how well that works.

amtru2015

This isn't to track running but its basically like a having a personal trainer---Nike Fitness Club---It has worked so well for me so I try to share as often as I can

specialkfreak

Sweet! Thanks I'll check it out.

specialkfreak

Thanks for the info everyone.

saphin

Try mapmywalk, this also links to MFP automatically but uses gps so is relatively accurate