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Exercising (whether it be running or lifting weights) is one of the most effective ways of improving your physical and mental well being. No matter your age or fitness level, there are many enjoyable ways to stay in shape and reap the benefits. And if you own a Windows Phone device, there are quite a number of fitness apps that can help you on your quest. In this feature, we are going to showcase “The best” two apps in the fitness category to get you started.
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Currently in the Windows Phone Store, the top free fitness app is Health & Fitness, while the top paid fitness app is Runtastic Pro. Both apps are fantastic and have a high rating in the Windows Phone Store, hence why they have been selected as the best free and paid fitness apps for Windows Phone.
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Health & Fitness (free)
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The Health & Fitness app allows you to access a rich set of tools and content for all your health needs. You can find over a thousand exercise and workout videos, a nutritional and medical reference, and trackers for diet and exercise to help you meet your health goals. Here are the key features of this app:
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- GPS Tracker – Record your time, distance, pace and calories burned while you run, bike and do other outdoor activities.
- Step Tracker – Continuously track, analyze and receive insights on your daily steps taken on select Nokia devices.
- Diet Tracker – Add from over 300 thousand foods to track your daily calorie intake.
- Cardio Tracker – Track your cardio training and analyze progress over time.
- Browse Workouts, Yoga Poses and Pilates – Watch videos of correct form and benefits of 300+ workouts and 900+ exercises and yoga poses.
- Health & Fitness Articles – Get access to premium curated health & fitness related articles from some of the world’s most reputed content providers.
- Symptom Checker – Enter symptoms to get information on possible health conditions with the Interactive Symptom Checker.
- Roam your data – Keep your health & fitness data and preferences synced across your devices.
- Note – Some features may not be available in all markets.
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This free app was developed by Microsoft and has received quite a number of updates, with the last update rolling out June 8th.
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Runtastic Pro ($4.99)
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Runtastic Pro is your ideal fitness tracking app for all outdoor (running, walking, hiking, biking, etc.) and indoor (treadmill, cardio, yoga, weight lifting & more) health & fitness activities! Track your sports and fitness activities, boost motivation, burn more calories, achieve greater results and exceed your goals with Runtastic. Here are the key features of this app:
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- Track activities & view your routes utilizing GPS: Records duration, distance, calories burned, speed, elevation change and more stats.
- Manual entry of workouts: Add treadmill, strength training & other indoor workouts.
- Runtastic Routes: Flag one of thousands of routes on Runtastic.com and sync it automatically with your smartphone.
- Share routes via NFC from phone to phone.
- LIVE Tracking: Show family & friends your position in real time when out for a run or ride.
- LIVE Cheering: Get cheered on by friends for additional motivation during your LIVE activities & up the fun factor.
- Music integration & Voice Coach (DE, EN, FR, ES, IT, JP) for top motivation and encouragement.
- Heart Rate Integration: Track your HR with the Runtastic Heart Rate Monitor (supports Bluetooth Smart).
- Heart Rate Zones: Work out in your ideal heart rate zone (e.g. fat burning zone).
- Interval training: Get faster with effective, customizable interval training.
- Additional info: Record mood, temperature, surface details & personal notes post-activity.
- Training history: View activity details within your Runtastic running app or on Runtastic.com.
- Split table: Distance information (elevation change, time, pace per kilometer).
- Live Tile: Monthly statistics & transparent Live Tile on your start screen.
- Display your routes (Nokia Maps).
- Hydration feature: Find out how much liquid you lost during an activity.
- Bird View: Check out maps from bird’s eye perspective.
- Upload activities to Runtastic.com: Get detailed analysis and statistics, as well as a complete overview of your performance and progress.
- Social network sharing: Post your activities on Facebook, Twitter or on Runtastic.com.
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Runtastic Pro is a fantastic app that features quite a number of fitness tools. If you are a runner or plan to hit the track to shed some pounds, this app is a fantastic companion to your weight-loss mission. There are plenty of neat features in Runtastic Pro, including a Live Tile that shows you your monthly stats so you can see your progress. Runtastic also has a free version of their app, but obviously with less features. You can give it a try before making your purchase of Runtastic Pro.
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