For many people, New Year’s resolutions begin with an app download. Fitness trackers and habit builders have become the default way we mark January as a turning point, especially in the wellness space.
But resolutions, even when mediated by gentle push notifications, still arrive loaded with expectation.
As TikTok creator @notwildlin put it in a video with more than 210,000 views, while the New Year is framed as a “chance for renewal,” an “opportunity,” even a “portal,” there’s a moment where that mindset can turn inward. “At some point, you have to stop being the first person to abandon yourself,” he says.
“You can’t keep throwing it all off the table and building it from scratch,” he says in the video. “You are not a Phoenix, you’re a human being. And the foundation that you built for yourself is not so insignificant that you should be so willing and eager to undermine it and to start over. You’ve done enough! You’ve done a lot!”
That tension becomes especially visible around fitness and wellness resolutions, which are often framed less around how we feel and more around how our bodies look — ideals that have long been shaped by white-supremacist beauty standards.
Still, if you’re entering the New Year with hope and curiosity about feeling better, there’s an app designed to support that.
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There’s a reason Strava is so beloved by so many for so long. Part social media, part fitness tracker, Strava is a great way to track your workouts while staying connected with friends. Plus, with the premium subscription, you can compare your workouts week by week, month by month, and year by year.
Strava is probably best suited for individuals who have a resolution tied to cardio, such as racing a 5K, biking to work once a week, or hiking 500 miles. It’s great for keeping track of other workouts, including weightlifting or rock climbing, but the map tracking and mileage counter can’t be beat.
This habit tracker is one of the most recommended in the self-improvement subreddit.
You can use the app to track almost any goal, from drinking a specific number of glasses of water daily to taking 10,000 steps. And you can see all of your progress over time, which makes it very fun — and validating! — to look at in March after you’ve really committed.
There are numerous apps for tracking weightlifting progress, from Hevy to Fitbod to Boostcamp. Hevy provides a detailed breakdown of your progress over the year, including the number of times you lifted, the number of PRs you achieved, and the total number of reps you completed.
One user says it has “great watch integration,” while others find the free version sufficient. But you may eventually want to upgrade to the paid version, depending on the number of custom workouts you plan to use.
If you’re looking for a fitness app that tracks your workouts and gives you workouts to try, Apple Fitness is the way to go. This app works particularly well if you have devices within the Apple ecosystem. (If you don’t, you might want to try the Peloton app, which also has great workouts.)
This app, along with apps like Headspace, is ideal if your fitness goals are more closely tied to the health and well-being of your brain. If you want to get started with more meditation in the new year, try an app like Calm.
