These are a few of my favorite things, part duex

I will be the first to admit that I sometimes hate technology.  It does stupid things and can just get overwhelming.  And, you know, robots are going to take over the world. 

But, I also think that sometimes technology can totally be your friend.  Especially in the gym.  In addition to using my phone to play tunes to keep me pumped up (and keep me from having to engage in awkward conversations with actual humans), I have a bunch of apps on my phone that help me when I'm working out.  Here are the ones that I rely on all the time:  

• Nike Training Club (Free): This app is great.  It offers more than 100 workouts, each of the 15-45 minutes long.  Workouts fall under four categories: Get Lean, Get Toned, Get Strong, or Get Focused.  And you can choose between beginner, intermediate, and advanced workouts in each category. The workouts give you a great, intense, full body workout (except for the Get Focused category, which let's you pick a specific area to train, with workouts like Cardio Killer, Leaner Legs, and Sculpted Arms). The app counts down the reps, offers videos and descriptions of each exercise in case you're unfamiliar, and offers words of encouragement throughout the workout. You can also save your favorite workouts, track your progress, and earn rewards as you complete workouts (in the form of bonus workouts, badges, and healthy recipes).  The one bad thing about this app is that it is a beast, so it takes a while when you initially download it (and if you need to update it).  But it's totally worth it, and a great way to get a good sweat while keeping your workout interesting.
• Nike+ Running (Free): I love this app for when I want to run without worrying about time or pace or distance, but still want to keep track of all of those things.  When I wear my Garmin watch, I'm constantly looking at it to see how far and how fast I'm going, but when I use Nike+, I put it in my Spibelt and forget about it until it talks to me (which is usually every mile, unless you set it to report sooner).  Also, I think Nike+ is more accurate than my Garmin.  Whenever I use my Garmin and run with someone else who's also using a GPS watch, their watch always says we're at the end of the run a few tenths of a mile before mine does (this is totally not scientifically proven or tested, just an observation on my part).  The only annoying thing that I've found with this app is when my phone is in my Spibelt with the face of it rubbing against against my back, the app sometimes thinks I'm touching the phone and tells me my distance, pace, and time every 3 seconds.  It gets super annoying, super fast (and interrupts my music!).  So, I just make sure that my phone/Spibelt are turned so that the face of the phone isn't in contact with any of my body parts and it's all good.
• WOD Genius (Free): I like my strength training workouts to be fairly short and fairly intense. I've considered doing CrossFit many times, but the price and the fact that it's not really all that convenient for me has kept me from signing up.  But I still love the idea.  So, I use this app when I want to do a CrossFit-esque workout in the comfort of my own gym.  The app lets you select which equipment you have access to (and save it as a gym) and then generates a WOD that you can do with that equipment.  If you don't like the first one it comes up with, you can keep scrolling to the next until you find a workout that tickles your pickle.  Not sure how to do a specific exercise?  No problem - the app has written instructions and video demonstrations. You can also save your favorite workouts to come back to again and again.  If you're feeling really ambitious, you can create your own WOD.  The app also lets you time your workouts, input your results, and track them so you can see what kind of improvement you're making.  The app is very much on the no-frills side of things (and sometimes makes my phone freak out a little when I'm just playing around with it), but it is one of my go-to's when I need some inspiration in the gym. 
• IntervalTimer (Free): This one is definitely no frills.  But it's perfect for HIIT or really any workout where you need to do an exercise for a prescribed amount of time. Just set what you want your intervals to be, set the tone that you want to hear at the start/end of an interval, set how many times you want the interval to repeat, and hit start.  You can save different interval schemes, and there are also some pre-programmed routines that might inspire you to create a workout around them.  It does all the work for you and definitely beats having to look at a clock or the timer on your phone to figure out when to move on to the next exercise.  The only thing better would be a gym teacher with an actual stop watch shouting at you every 30 seconds.
• Map My Run (Free): I love using this when I'm somewhere that I'm not familiar with.  It helps me to very easily find my way back to where I started, while also tracking stats like distance, pace, elevation, etc.  This is third on my list of "ways to track my run" (behind my Garmin and Nike+), but it's still a good resource to have for when I'm on vacation, traveling for business, etc. and want to head outside without getting completely lost.

So, what have we learned today?  Having your credit card linked to your App Store account is dangerous and I now loathe paying for apps.  Ditto with Amazon one-click shopping.  And, technology can be really helpful when you're trying to live a healthy lifestyle.  You don't need to kill yourself inventing workouts and tracking your progress - chances are, there's already an app for that. Use it and make your life that much easier.

Tell me, what other, fitness apps should I have in my life?  I've been looking for a really good yoga app (because sometimes you just want someone to tell you what to do but are tired of the videos that you've done 800 times already), but haven't really found one with lots of customizable options yet.  Any suggestions?