Working from home is one of the great perks of a freelance lifestyle. It’s why many freelancers decide to pursue self-employment in the first place. No more tiring commutes or complicated office politics! Yet while a work-at-home life has many benefits, it also has its drawbacks, and one of these potentially includes getting lazy when it comes to health and fitness.
But thankfully, like for most things in life these days, there’s an app for that. In fact, there are hundreds of health and fitness apps ideal for work-at-home freelancers who are worried about their body, mental health, and stamina.
And so, we’ve collected together 10 of the best health and fitness apps we think are ideal for home-based freelance professionals. They cover exercise, diet, mind, and sleep.
10 of the Best Health and Fitness Apps for Freelancers
Pop these onto your phone and give them a whirl. With a little perseverance, they may just boost your productivity, increase your wellbeing, help you lose weight, and even meet some great new people.
Couch to 5K (C25K)
Couch to 5K (C25K) is a fitness app that helps beginners run from zero to 5km in a matter of just 9 weeks. It’s designed for people who are decidedly lacking in fitness who want to gradually build up their running endurance, in a realistic and perfectly doable way.
Exercising is essential for work-at-home freelancers, where it’s all too easy to find excuses to stay indoors, especially during the colder months. A good run clears the mental cobwebs and helps your concentration and creativity. C25k can help you get there.
Runkeeper
Once you start a regular running routine, then you’ll need a fitness tracker. Runkeeper is a great solution. It’s a GPS fitness-tracking app which allows you to automatically record runs, walks, hikes, swims, cycles, and a number of other fitness activities. Data includes routes, times, calorie counts, and personal records, plus more.
One of our team has used this app for more than 7 years and loves it. There’s also a community aspect to the platform where you can encourage friends, colleagues, and strangers as they build and maintain their fitness.
MyFitnessPal
Working at home as a freelancer can be a dream come true but it’s not without its drawbacks. One of these is the temptation to snack and perhaps eat a little too much. MyFitnessPal is designed for people who have trouble keeping the weight off.
The core concept of MyFitnessPal is the ability to track the food you eat quickly and easily. With a searchable food database containing more than 300 million items, you can near instantly measure how many calories you have eaten and measure this against your daily calorie maximum and weight-loss plan.
You can also log fitness activities and related calorie burns.
Insight Timer
Mental and emotional wellbeing are just as important as physical health. Regular meditation has proven benefits to mental balance and spiritual wellness. For freelancers, meditating daily can improve focus, reduce anxiety, boost cognitive function, and promote overall positivity.
Insight Timer is a popular meditation app used by millions of people worldwide. It allows users to record their meditation sessions and creates data and charts based on a user’s activity. There are guided meditations and also a simple silent timer.
Charity Miles
Sometimes it can be difficult to summon the enthusiasm to go for a walk, run, or cycle, especially if you have a lot of client work. While you care about your health, you might be tempted to leave it for another day. That’s where a more philanthropic angle might spur your drive.
Charity Miles allows you to earn money each time you go exercising, the amount being determined by how far you go. The money is then sent to a charity of your choice. The money is donated courtesy of big mega sponsors.
- Fitness
Buddy: Gym Workout Log
Success in business, including freelancing, usually comes about when you’re feeling good in yourself, both mentally and physically. Wellbeing is partly derived by how we feel in our bodies, including strength and appearance.
The Fitness Buddy app is centered around helping users become physically stronger and leaner. This is achieved via a large range of physical strength workouts together with healthy eating plans. The latter include Keto and Paleo diets. The exercises can be recorded in your local gym or at home.
(See also: Benefits of CrossFit)
Home Workout – No Equipment
What do you do when you have no fitness equipment at home? What happens if you really hate going to the gym? How can you feel stronger and leaner without investing in barbells and dumbbells?
Check out the Home Workout – No Equipment app. This is designed for people to improve their strength using just their own body weight and momentum. Whether you want to improve your chest, abs, legs, or arms, there are a series of animations and video tutorials to get you going. Plus, a whole lot more.
Yoga | Down Dog
Intense physical fitness is great but sometimes you want something a little more sedate and mentally relaxing. Not that yoga is easy! The Down Dog app gives you all the tips and strategies you need to become proficient in yoga, right from inside your own home (or in your local park).
You can practice yoga in-between client projects or just before a client call you may be feeling anxious about. It’s also ideal if you suffer from back pain. With over 30,000 different configurations, you’ll never be faced with the same yoga workout, thereby reducing boredom.
Pregnancy Tracker
Pregnancy is a reality many freelancers will face during their career. In fact, it’s one of the reasons why some women go into freelancing in the first place – so they can work from home and spend more time with their children. Unsurprisingly, there’s an app for pregnancy!
The BabyCenter Pregnancy Tracker allows expectant moms to track the development of their baby. It also provides users with personalized tips, progress guides, nutrition ideas, exercise advice, and numerous checklists and reminders. Perfect for freelancing moms-to-be.
Sleep Cycle
Do you often feel groggy and pretty awful when you wake up? Does it take numerous cups of coffee to get you feeling like you’re ready to face the day and your freelancing workload?
If so, you might benefit from the Sleep Cycle app, which tracks your sleep and gently and gradually wakes you up in the morning during a light sleep phase. The science behind it is fascinating and helps you wake up feeling naturally rested. The app also records your sleep time and quality.
If you’re a work-at-home freelancer worried about your health and wellbeing, then give these apps a try.
After a few weeks, you ight discover you’ve just found yourself a new hobby or passion. Follow the instructions given and pace yourself based on your current fitness and health levels. You should notice, in time, a difference to your overall wellbeing and also to your levels of concentration, productivity, and general confidence. These are all key to a successful freelance career.
