The 8 Best Yoga Training Apps

If you've never worked out at home, I highly recommend it. We've come a long way since the Richard Simmons kind of at-home exercise videos. These days, when you get your heart rate up at home, you no longer have to endure the annoyingly upbeat instructor or outdated techno music. Instead, you can download the latest, best fitness apps, which allow you to do anything in your living room, from zumba to yoga training.

Anyone who has a life knows that it's tough to get yourself to a yoga class when you're super busy. Even if you want to go, it's sometimes impossible to fit in a full hour of Vinyasa when you've got a bunch of other stuff on your plate. That's when those yoga apps come in handy — you can even just knock out a tough 20-minute flow when you're short on time, and still reap many of yoga's benefits.

Stretching and bending at home doesn't only allow you to get more things done with your day. It also provides you the opportunity to do yoga in peace and quiet, without anyone in your space. You have the freedom to experiment with new postures without anyone seeing you fall on your face (yes, that will happen). It's a great way to improve your level of fitness, and I recommend an at-home practice to all of my yoga students. This list will kick you off to a roaring start.

Here are eight of the best yoga training apps to get you fit and flexible.

1. YogaGlo

This is my go-to app when I'm on the road, too busy to make it to the studio before work, or I just feel like doing yoga all by myself. You have access to some of the best yoga teachers roaming the earth today, like Tiffany Cruikshank, Kathryn Budig, and Dice Iida-Klein. (If you don't know who they are, I recommend starting with their classes.)

What gives YogaGlo the most bragging rights is the variety of classes they offer. You have access to Vinyasa flow, restorative, Hatha, Yin, and even meditation sessions. Classes come in different durations, so you can pick depending on your time crunch. Finally, you can download and save classes offline, so you don't even need wifi to get your yoga on. It is worth the money.

YogaGlo, App Store, Google Play, yogaglo.com, $17.99 monthly with a free 15-day trial

2. Yoga Studio

For just a few bucks, you can cart around more than 24 hours of yoga classes on your iPhone or iPad. This is a great app for beginner yogis who could use some detailed explanation about the basic postures you would normally fly through in a crowded weekend morning class. Each of the 65 videos come with audio commentary by the teacher to guide you through the practice.

Start by choosing your level (beginner, intermediate, or advanced), and then pick the length and focus of the class. You even have the option to create your own class if you feel so inspired. Additionally, there's a chart you can use to keep up with your progress, and a library of poses you can flip through if you need a visual. Yoga Studio hooks up to Apple TV, making it pretty easy to go pro with your home practice.

Yoga Studio, App Store, $3.99

3. Yoga For Urban Living

Bollywood star Hemalayaa Behl is the mastermind behind this app. She's an actor and creator of the 2007 yoga DVD series of the same name, on which this app is based. With Yoga for Urban Living, you no longer have any excuses not to do yoga at home on the regular. Hemalayaa makes it all too easy by providing you with breathing techniques, yoga routines, and practices that help you chill out from whatever craziness you're currently stuck in.

Yoga for Urban Living, App Store, $4.99

4. Pocket Yoga

This is a no-nonsense app that gives you more than 200 illustrations of yoga poses. From this bank, there are 27 different sequences you can use at home, each of them with the necessary instructions. Choose according to your level of fitness. A bonus feature is that you can hook up your own tunes from your phone, ensuring you never have to suffer through any weird New Age music.

Pocket Yoga, App Store, Google Play, $2.99 with in-app purchases

5. Daily Burn Yoga

Daily Burn is a well-rounded fitness app that provides a two-month yoga program with Briohny Smyth, an internationally renowned instructor. It's perfect to whip you into shape and give you the foundational understanding of yoga you probably aren't getting from sparse visits to the studio.

Each class is anchored in something different, whether it's flexibility of the hips, upper body strength, or a meditative focus. This app also gives you the chance to cross-train, while providing tips needed to maintain a healthy, balanced diet while you're getting fit.

Daily Burn, App Store, Google Play, $12.95 monthly with a free 30-day trial

6. Yoga.com

One of the most popular yoga apps out there (over seven million people have signed up), Yoga.com brags about its 45 different programs, as well as a large library of searchable postures. You can watch video demonstrations if you're not sure how to execute the poses, and if you've exhausted the bank of classes, you can mix and match to create your own sequence.

There's a place on the app where you can enter everything you've done, which is great for keeping track of your progress. If you really want to take your practice to the next level, watch the 3D muscle images. You'll know exactly what parts of your body are being used at what times.

Yoga.com, App Store, $3.99; Google Play, Free with in-app purchases

7. Down Dog

Yes, it is possible to practice at home for free and not get totally bored by it. Select your level, which music best suits you, and the duration, and Down Dog will present you with a different Vinyasa flow sequence every time. It's a fantastic option for beginners who want to use the privacy of their own home to get familiar with the practice.

Down Dog, App Store, Free

8. FitStar Yoga

For zero dollars you get one full-length yoga video a week. Pay $8 a month or an annual sum of $40 to get unlimited access to the HD videos — not much money in the grand scheme of things. Each posture is timed perfectly to move you effortlessly through a class, and you have the option to create your own practice if you so choose.

FitStar Yoga, App Store, Free with in-app purchases

Images: Fotolia; App Store (7); Google Play