Diet-to-Go Mobile App Review: Interval Timers, which one is Tops?

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Want to know one of the fastest ways to get fit? Incorporate intervals into your training routine. Intervals training involves interspersing short, high-intensity exercise periods alternated with periods of rest. Interval training has been proven to increase metabolism, reduce stress and improve stamina.

You can incorporate interval training in any kind of workout you may do from aerobics to yoga. But being able to track your intervals to ensure you are reaping the benefits can be tricky. To truly realize the benefits of interval training you need a reliable way to track time spent and intensity level performed. Fortunately, there's an app for that. There are a variety of options out there but to ensure we covered a good cross section of products we downloaded the free versions of the top three apps and used them in three different at-home workouts: running, biking and yoga.

Interval Timer

Cost: Free or $0.99

Category: Healthcare and Fitness

Why We liked it:

This was our favorite. A quick once-over of the settings was all you needed to figure out how to customize your number of sets, time, each interval/rest time, timer sounds and our favorite; that you could decide if you wanted the Low or High Interval first for your workout. Another great feature for circuit training is setting the "pause during the rest" option that will stop your music for a determined amount of time. There are also options to connect to Facebook or Twitter and share your workout times with your friends.

Why we liked it most:

The app interface and layout was simple and color coordinated green, yellow and red respectively with high, low or rest times. Simple. Easy. Effective.

DTG Tip: If you set your rest time to zero, the app will go from high to low to high intervals for a more intense workout.

Round Workout Timer

Cost: Free or $0.99

Category: Healthcare and Fitness

Why We liked It:

Very similar to the Interval Timer, the Round Workout Timer was easy to set and customize the sounds for your workout. It also uses a user-friendly layout and color scheme to show high, low and rest timers. You could set play music while the app ran and set the volume of the alerts.

Why we didn't:

Immediately, the look of this app felt a bit chunkier than the others reviewed. And just wasn't as customizable as the Interval Timer. No social media options or choosing if your workout started high or low. Also, it lacked the "pause during rest" option. And after using it with the Interval Timer, there was no going back.

Running Timer

Cost: Free or $0.99

Category: Healthcare and Fitness

Why We liked It:

We didn't.

Why we didn't:

When this app launches, the interface was perfectly simple. A run timer and a walk timer and a big upgrade button. One quickly finds that with the free version you only have one minute for each timer. And that's it. So yes. Upgrade.

Once the upgrade installs, the time clock gives you 20 minutes of each. After setting your workout, two timers flash on your screen: one is a green running timer and the other is a red walking timer. When the green is counting down, you are in "high mode" and when the red clock is on you are in "low mode". Both timers also have smaller clocks that count up so you can log your time. When working out, four clocks are impossibly hard to concentrate on and can give you a slight headache. Also, though both clocks give you a total time, you do not have a complete workout time, unless you add your running and walking clock yourself. And after a good interval workout math is the last thing you want to do.

All-in-all, the download isn't worth the time it takes to erase the application from your device/computer.

Author: Lillie Lancaster

Apps & Mobile Tools

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