Traveling often disrupts healthy habits, especially when it comes to exercise. Hotel gyms can be limited, time zones interfere with energy levels, and long flights rarely leave you in peak condition. Yet, maintaining a fitness routine while on the move is less complicated with the right digital support. Fitness apps can fill the gap between convenience and accountability, offering structured workouts, progress tracking, and guided training that adapts to your location. Here are nine options that can help you stay consistent with your fitness goals while exploring new destinations.
1. Down Dog: Personalized Yoga Anywhere
For those who find solace and strength in yoga, Down Dog is a highly customizable app that ensures no two sessions are identical. It tailors each practice, allowing travelers to adjust the level, length, and specific focus area. This personalization makes it ideal for a quick stretch before a flight or a grounding session after a long day of travel. Its ability to facilitate practice anywhere, without the need for a local studio, is a significant advantage for those constantly moving between destinations. The app offers a vast library of classes, from beginner to advanced, and allows users to choose music and instructor voice, with options to download classes for offline use.
2. Strava: Track Your Adventures, Connect with Others
Best known among runners and cyclists, Strava excels as a travel companion by allowing users to map and discover new routes in unfamiliar cities. Its GPS tracking features for running and cycling, combined with performance analytics and leaderboards, turn a workout into an exploration tool. The social aspect lets you log workouts, compare with friends, and discover safe, scenic paths wherever you are, helping you navigate a city while staying active and motivated. Many apps, including Strava, offer a live-tracking function, often in premium versions, which can enhance safety when exercising alone in new places.
3. MyFitnessPal: Your On-the-Go Nutrition and Activity Tracker
Staying on top of nutrition is just as crucial as exercise, especially when indulging in new cuisines. MyFitnessPal is a comprehensive calorie counter and diet tracker, ideal for travelers who want to monitor their food intake and exercise. It boasts a database of over 5 million foods, including international dishes, making it easy to log meals wherever you are. The app also tracks exercise and integrates with devices like Fitbit, providing a holistic view of your health. Its barcode scanner simplifies food entry, and daily nutritional summaries help travelers balance indulgence with discipline, keeping a clear view of their overall fitness routine.
4. Nike Training Club (NTC): Free Workouts by Elite Trainers
Nike Training Club offers a vast library of workouts covering strength, endurance, yoga, and mobility, many of which are completely free. Suitable for all fitness levels, it provides flexible training plans that adapt to your progress and schedule. The app is perfect for hotel rooms, parks, or gyms, with sessions ranging from 15 to 45 minutes. NTC’s engaging and energetic instructors and high-quality video production make workouts enjoyable, and it can connect to an Apple Watch to provide health metrics. It’s a versatile tool with structured plans and on-demand classes, with many workouts designed to be done with little to no equipment.
5. Peloton App: Studio-Style Workouts Without the Equipment
While famous for its bikes and treads, the Peloton App offers thousands of classes that don’t require specific equipment, making it excellent for travelers. It includes bodyweight-only workouts and routines using small pieces of equipment like dumbbells and resistance bands. The app provides access to a wide range of fitness classes, including barre, which only requires a chair, and offers hotel room-friendly workouts that are low-impact and focus on precise movements. Users can also download classes for offline use, ensuring workouts are accessible even without Wi-Fi.
6. Freeletics: AI-Powered Bodyweight Training
For travelers who prefer bodyweight workouts and customized plans, Freeletics is an excellent choice. It’s renowned for its AI-powered personal coach, which creates customized workout and diet plans based on your goals, fitness level, and available time. The focus on equipment-free training makes it ideal for hotel rooms or outdoor spaces. The app offers over 1,000 workout variations with video guidance for proper technique and includes community support for motivation. Freeletics workouts are generally time-efficient, often completable in 5-30 minutes.
7. Seven: 7 Minute Workout Challenge
When time is of the essence, the “Seven: 7 Minute Workout Challenge” app delivers high-intensity aerobic and resistance training that can be done anywhere with no equipment. This app offers quick, effective sessions designed to be completed in just seven minutes, with full video, audio, image, and text instructions for every exercise. It’s a great option for fitting a quick sweat session into a busy travel schedule, and it can be repeated for a longer workout.
8. TrainAway: Find Local Gyms Globally
Sometimes, only a full gym workout will do. TrainAway simplifies finding and accessing gyms while traveling, saving time and money by allowing users to purchase day passes directly in the app. It removes the hassle of researching and negotiating gym access in unfamiliar cities, offering guaranteed entry to over 1,300 gyms in 40 countries worldwide. This is particularly useful for those who want to stick to their strength training routines or prefer machine-based cardio, providing flexibility without long-term commitments or hidden fees.
9. Sweat: Female-Focused Fitness with Diverse Programs
The Sweat app, co-founded by popular personal trainer Kayla Itsines, is designed with women in mind and offers a wide array of workout programs that can be done at home, in a hotel room, or at the gym. It provides over 60 programs and more than 13,000 workouts across various styles, including HIIT, strength training, Pilates, and yoga. The app emphasizes an empowering community and provides meal plan options for a holistic approach to fitness. Its flexibility in location and diverse offerings make it a strong contender for travelers looking to maintain their routine.
