The best Apple Watch health and fitness apps

As it gets ever colder in the run up to Christmas, forcing yourself to go to the gym or for a run is even less appealing than during warmer seasons. But maintaining a regular exercise routine through the winter months will help to minimise any festive weight gain, as well as keeping you ahead of the pack in January when the annual influx of born-again fitness fanatics will flood the capital's parks and gyms.

• Apple Watch fitness review: motivation at its best

Since the roll out of second software operating system watchOS 2 in September, the Apple Watch's fitness capabilities have stepped up a notch. Among these changes are the fact you can now share your daily workout achievements, Activity rings and medals earned in the spirit of healthy competition, and workouts logged through third-party apps now also count towards your daily Activity and Calories rings.

So if the thought of lacing up your trainers is filling you with dread, here are the best Apple Watch apps for keeping active, motivated and healthy during winter.

The 5 best apps

1. Lark
Free

Lark is a form of digital health coach, encouraging you to log food and exercise in a simple, conversational format - a bit like chatting with a personal trainer over instant messenger. The chirpy messages, which include detailed insights into your sleeping patterns, the fat content of your diet a commentary on your exercise levels, are on the right side of being motivational without being annoying, and the knowledge you'll have to admit you ate a sausage bap for breakfast instead of muesli is a decent deterrent.

The Watch version is a slightly stripped back version of the main iPhone app, allowing you to quickly log meals, extraneous exercise and get feedback on sleep without having to open your phone.

2. Waterminder
£1.49

One of the Watch's most controversial launch features was its ability to tap you on the wrist once an hour to remind you to stand up and walk around to avoid staying sedentary for too long. Now you can track your water intake from your watch face through Watertracker thanks to the new "complications" watchOS 2 feature.

Simply open the app on the Watch to add an 8oz, 15oz or 18oz drink, or customise with a volume of your choice, to your daily total, which is around five large glasses a day.

Like the stand prompt, Waterminder will send you friendly reminders when it's time to top up and keep a running tab of your water intake over the past fortnight for easy comparison. I used to think I drank a good amount of water each day, but I now know it's only around 50pc of what my body requires. If the regular notifications are too annoying, you can toggle them off, but I generally found it a useful nudge to a more hydrated way of life, which is important for skin and hair during the winter.

3. 3 Minute Mindfulness
Free with in-app purchases

Breathing exercises have been found to help reduce stress and anxiety, as well as helping users fall asleep more quickly thanks to increased oxygen within the body. 3 Minute Mindfulness has been designed to deliver brief meditation slots into busy days by asking the Watch wearer to focus on breathing in and out to complete rings, as you would in the Watch's Activity app.

This method allows you to fully concentrate on breathing in and out to the rhythm of one of three settings, simple, square and 4-7-8 breathing. While the simple method is free, you can either pay 79p for 4-7-8 or £2.99 for all three.

While the app works well on focusing your attention to breathing without letting your mind wander, you will need to tap the screen throughout to keep it awake, though you can solve this by choosing to adjust the amount of time your Watch stays awake for.

4. Pocket Yoga
£2.29 with in-app purchases

As anyone who's ever tried to copy a yoga routine from a YouTube video knows, it can be quite tricky to concentrate when you have to keep looking up from downward-facing poses to keep up with the instructor. With Pocket Yoga, once you've started a practice on your iPhone, you can follow the differing poses and their length from your risk.

The app features a range of practices designed for beginners, intermediates and experts for 30, 45 and 60 minutes, and on the Watch you can see a visual depiction of the pose, the length you're holding it for, your heart rate, how many calories you've burned and how far through the practice you are.

5. Runkeeper
Free, with in-app purchases

Runkeeper is among the most popular fitness apps available for a reason; its straightforward exercise-logging system makes it easy to keep tabs on your past runs and how quickly you've improved. Runkeeper on Apple Watch provides you with an array of exercises, including running, walking and cycling, and once selected displays your elapsed time, distance and heart rate. Its beauty lies in its simplicity - if you like the core elements of the Watch's Activity app but want wider insights about how your runs fit into a more comprehensive lifestyle plan, this is a rudimentary but useful app. What's more, all exercise logged through Runkeeper now counts towards completing your daily Activity ring.

All apps are available to download from the App Store.

Accessories

Nike Air Zoom trainers
£120

If you're into exercise, and particularly running, good trainers which support your feet are absolutely essential. I have shallow feet and ankles prone to rolling, making it difficult to find a pair of trainers with adequate support which can take running both outdoors over sizable distances and indoors. I had my feet measured and my gait analysed by the brilliant staff at Niketown on Regent Street, London, who selected this as the best pair for stabilising my arch and cushioning the blow as my feet hit the ground. The staff are incredibly welcoming and truly know their stuff, and while you're under no obligation to buy a pair, you definitely won't regret it if you do.

Powerbeats² Wireless
£169.95

It's rare to find Bluetooth headphones that stay in place during vigorous exercise without skipping while still delivering quality sound, but the Powerbeats² Wireless are the most comfortable, durable and the best-sounding in-ear headphones I've tested this year. They last around six hours on a single charge, and can be synced with the Watch for phone-free running - simply hook the curved part over your ear, slip the bud into your canal and you're good to go.

Being a Beats product, they pack more of a bassy punch than other lightweight headphones, which may not be to everyone's tastes, but they are excellent for outdoor running, even in the rain, gym work and yoga practice alike.