There are quite a few health and fitness apps for your BlackBerry in the BlackBerry App World. This isn't a comprehensive list, but is a place to start if you're looking to make fitness tracking more mobile. Most of these apps are found under the Personal Health and Wellness section in the App World, but depending on what kinds of activities you like to do you may also want to check the Maps and Navigation section for GPS apps, and Sports and Recreation for specific sports related apps.Ascendo Fitness ($29.99 / 7 day free trial)This is a standalone app for your BlackBerry. Make sure to set your weight, height, gender, and age in the User Settings. This will ensure the caloric values of the exercises you do are accurate for you. You have to search for all food items because there aren't any pre-filled lists to choose from. I did have some trouble finding some of my common foods on here so the food database might not be as large as fatsecret's or the Daily Plate's, but you can add foods. You can also add exercises and it has a journal feature. It doesn't sync with any websites, but you can export your journal entries, food logs and exercise logs via email. You can set goals but you have to decide on the numbers yourself. There isn't any guidance and it doesn't fill these fields in (like how many calories you should eat in a day to lose the weight you want to lose) with recommended numbers based your personal height/weight.
All Sport GPS by Trimble Navigation ($39.99 / 7 day free trial)The UI is pretty stripped down and you can't add a name or description to the routes you create, but you can do that all on their website. It's easy to use and has gotten some strong reviews and I think the Trimble Outdoors site works well so even if the BlackBerry app isn't perfect, the website might make up for it. Trimble Navigation also has a Geocaching mobile app and an outdoor planning & navigation app called Trimble Outdoors available for the BlackBerry.
Calorie Counter by fatsecret (free)It requires you to have a user account on fatsecret and keeps track of your daily food log as well as exercise and your weight. It seems to have a decent foods database -- I didn't have any trouble finding some of the common foods I eat. It syncs with the website so you can use both, and fatsecret also has an iGoogle app and a Facebook app. Use with caution though: be careful with the sync and verify that it's working before you add large quantities of data. I opted to delete from the device and it not only deleted from the device, but also didn't sync with my fatsecret user account, and there was no way to return to those options to change them for testing.
Calorie Tracker by LIVESTRONG ($2.99)This is another tool that tracks your daily food log and exercise. The Daily Plate at LIVESTRONG claims it has a database of over 525,000 foods and restaurant items. If you're already a LIVESTRONG or Daily Plate member, this would be a good tool to add to your mobile device.
FitDeck MobileFitDeck Mobile ($14.99 / 3 day free trial)This app is unlike any of the others listed here. It's like a card deck of exercises (they also sell them as card decks too) that you flip through for a workout you can do anywhere. Unlike the illustrated exercises in Total Fitness (see below), these exercises require no equipment (except for an occasional chair) so you can do them at home, in the office, on vacation. The UI is clean and easy. They are color coded to correspond to different body parts: blue for upper body, red for core, orange for lower body, red for full body exercises. The cards also include 30 second water breaks, and repeats and skips. The illustrations are helpful, and descriptions are detailed and easy to read. The reps and/or allotted times for exercises cover beginner, intermediate, and advanced users.
Good Food Near You (free) You can use this app to look up nutrition information for foods located in restaurants near you. You can let it locate you automatically or set a location manually. It's really easy to use and the UI is nice. However, it only seems to have really popular restaurants/eateries. I live in a city with a lot of local, independent restaurants and none of those were listed, but the app is free and will be useful when you have to stop into a Jamba Juice or a McDonald's and make food choices.
Map My Tracks (free)The BlackBerry app is free, but you have to have an account on their website. The free account only allows you 1 hour of tracking per month (say one medium length run a month) and the paid account is £5.99/month (about $10US). It has a nice UI, but the font is a little small, and it doesn't allow you to use the keyboard when tagging tracks (runs/hikes/walks/etc) -- you have to use the trackball instead. This app is located under the Sports and Recreation section on App World.
Total Fitness ($4.99 / 4 day free trial)This is another standalone app that doesn't sync to a website that allows you to track your food and exercise log on a daily basis. It has predefined exercises that include 40 illustrated exercises with descriptions. Most of these exercises, unlike FitDeck, require some equipment like dumbbells, barbell, ball or bench, or other gym equipment. You can add foods and exercises. You can also track your body measurements like weight, blood pressure, etc. It has a few different types of calculators like BMI, BMR, body fat, target heart rate, but doesn't pre-populate the fields with the personal data you've stored in the app like height, weight, gender. It doesn't sync with any websites, but you can email yourself reports. Note: the web link above seems to be out of date. BlackBerry App World prices the app at $4.99 and the webpage lists it at $29.99.
Recommendations
If you already use the Daily Plate (or LIVESTRONG), fatsecret, Trimble Outdoors, or Map My Tracks, then you probably want to use the tools that sync to those sites. If you're looking for a site to join, of the sites listed here I would recommend LIVESTRONG and Trimble Outdoors.
If you want a standalone app on your BlackBerry, go with Total Fitness. It's less expensive than Ascendo, and offers pretty much the same product, and the illustrated exercises are useful for beginners and anyone working on their form.
For fitness on the go and anywhere choose FitDeck. It's easy to use and reasonably priced. And take Good Food Near You while you're at it. It's free and will help you make food choices at popular eateries and restaurants.
article source: http://www.examiner.com/x-12025-Fitness-Tech-Examiner~y2009m6d26-Fitness-apps-for-your-BlackBerry
