Top Fitness iPhone Apps

While technology isn't a necessity for a heart-pumping workout, some of the latest applications, or apps, for the iPhone and iPod Touch certainly make exercising more fun and help us keep track of our progress.

Every day there seems to be a new app tailored for just about any sport you can imagine. So, we decided to round up some of the best apps to finesse your golf swing or improve your ab routine -- and to help you stay motivated during your favorite spring sweat-fest workouts.

Here are our picks for the top fit apps on the market today:

Run Mate ($3.99)
Designed for both newbies who want to learn how to run their first 5K as well as more intermediate runners who can design their own speedwork drills and quicker-pace runs, this app creates a training schedule and different intervals for warm-ups and hill training.

Bonus: Pick your fave running playlist and it only interrupts the music when it's time to speed up, change course or start cooling down. Nice!

iPumpPilates ($1.99)
Tap your way through more than 60 images and three progressive levels (beginner to advanced) to create the ultimate workout with talented Pilates instructor Kristin McGee. If you're targeting your abs, add hardcore exercises like the Russian Twist and the Corkscrew, but make sure to warm up on your own ... and press pause if you need a break!

Bonus: It inspires you to manage your middle with straightforward exercises, and makes it easy to log and track progress.

iFitness ($1.99)
Rev your metabolism with this detailed, easy-to-navigate interface to help you be more productive during all your weight lifting workout at home and at the gym. Icons across the bottom of iFitness are organized into categories including exercise listings, My Workouts, Routines, Logs and Extras. The 100-plus exercise listings are organized by body parts and include clear-if-inferior photographs and step-by-step descriptions.

Bonus: This database has all the classic exercises (such as the squat, a bench press, etc.) using a variety of equipment, and it's easy to add new moves.

iOakley Surf Report (free)
Oakley and Surfline released this application that provides worldwide surf and tide reports, weather conditions, safety notices and reports. General weather forecasts are available, along with projected surf conditions for the following three days. Map directions to the best surfer beaches around the country are available via map links.

Bonus: A separate screen offers news and information on surfing events, videos optimized for the iPhone from Surfline, as well as biographies of Oakley pro team surfers.

GolfLink Game Tracker & GPS Support ($14.99)
In this popular and well-designed app, you can locate thousands of golf courses around the country, track your own golf game closely, keep score for up to four players at a time, and calculate the efficiency of every single stroke! For real techies, there's an automatic handicapping capability and the GPS link provides aerial hole views and score screens.

Bonus: It comes with a downloadable user manual that gives handy tips and rates your favorite courses.

Lose It! (free)
I can finally calculate if my Spinning class tonight is going to melt all the calories I gorged on at my media lunch this afternoon. It's a glorified calorie counter, but a darn good one, and it includes a huge database of brand-name and generic foods, including thousands of items from popular restaurants, so it's simple for struggling dieters to log everything they eat.

Bonus: A chart that shows daily calories eaten, calories burned and a tally of calories you have left to blast off!

Looking for more? If you're an avid runner, these apps may be worth a try.

Fitness expert Nicole Dorsey Straff is a Los Angeles-based exercise physiologist and author, and frequently writes about diet, health and wellness.