Health and Fitness Apps
It’s never too early – or too late – to set healthy goals. If 2017 is the year you resolve to lose weight, walk more steps in a day and stick to a morning workout routine, fitness apps can help. Maintaining fitness requires daily habits and lifestyle changes, and a few little nudges in the right direction from your mobile phone might make all the difference. Some apps work as tracking tools for logging workouts, counting calories and collecting stats about runs, walks and bike rides. And, some fitness apps are coaching apps that put you in touch with a personal trainer or nutritionist who will check in with you once a week. Here are some to consider:
MyFitnessPal. This free app lets you count the calories you consume, as well as tally up the calories you expend, and then see if they balance. It’s compatible with a number of fitness trackers, meaning it automatically estimates how many calories you burn by pulling in your activity data from your tracker. MyFitnessPal is designed to help you become more aware of your eating habits and determine how much exercise it takes to burn off the food you eat.
The Johnson & Johnson Official 7-Minute Workout. Unlike many other seven-minute workout apps, The Johnson & Johnson app adjusts its level of difficulty based on your current fitness level. Workouts require nothing more than a chair. Even shoes are optional! The app also offers workouts that are longer than seven minutes for days when you have a little more time.
Spotify. This music streaming service and app offers a feature for premium subscribers, which allows them to find their running tempo, and get songs with a beat to match it. Once the app finds your tempo, it leaves the beats-per-minute setting alone, enabling your music to become a metronome of sorts.
RockMyRun has a similar feature, except the music it plays speeds up and slows down in real time as your cadence changes.
Strava. Strava is a running and bicycling app, which enables you to compete against others who also have signed up to use it. The app collects everyone’s routes and times, breaks them into segments, and then determines who has the best time along different stretches of roads and trails.
Pact. There’s no cheating this app! Pact uses your GPS location to verify whether you’ve actually made it to the gym and have stayed to work out. If you fall short of your goals, you automatically contribute into a money pot for others signed up.
Charity Miles. Perhaps you’re more motivated by helping others than winning a pot of cash for yourself. Charity Miles is an app that tracks workouts – such as runs, walks, and bicycle rides – and donates money for every mile you complete. Corporate sponsors foot the bill and make donations on your behalf. Before you work out, you can choose from a list of charities to determine which will benefit from your miles.
Cyclemeter. Cyclemeter by Abvio is an iOS-only app designed to collect a wealth of data. It reportedly is very accurate and appeals to fitness enthusiasts who participate in more than one sport. In addition to tracking cycling, Cyclemeter tracks walks, runs and other activities. It does not include a calorie-counting component.
Digifit iCardio. The Digifit iCardio app for iPhone and Android can be paired with any supported heart rate monitor to track runs, bicycle rides and other workouts. Digifit iCardio records heart rate, as well as distance, time and pace. However, the components required to track heart rate aren’t cheap. Plan to spend between $50 and $100 to get full use of this app.
Endomondo. Endomondo is said to be a simple but accurate app for tracking runs, bike rides and other outdoor activities. It offers training plans and coaching features for Premium subscribers.
FIT Radio. FIT Radio is a music-streaming app that specializes in DJ-created mixes. You can browse mixes by genre, DJ or type of workout, such as Spin, Zumba and yoga. FIT Radio is free to use, however a premium membership offers more genres and stations, access to more mixes, unlimited skips, track list information, the ability to save favorites and DJ profiles, and is without ads. A premium membership costs $3.99 per month, $27.99 for the year, or $79.99 for a lifetime.
Fitbit. Without a tracker, the Fitbit app can count your steps (provided your carry your phone all day long), help you track the calories you consume, log your weight and record other health information, such as blood pressure and glucose levels. If you do own a Fitbit tracker, the app automatically logs additional information about your activity.
FitStar. FitStar creates custom workouts, based on your fitness level. You start by doing a few workouts with the app, providing it with feedback regarding which exercises were too difficult, too easy, or just right. The app uses that information to create a challenging routine.
Jefit Workout. The Jefit Workout app is designed to offer simple tools for crafting weight-lifting workouts and keeping track of the details as you complete your routines. You can log sets and reps, as well as how much you lifted. A calendar helps you plan your workout days and rest days.
Lose It! The free website and app is designed to count calories and log exercise. Lose It! reportedly has a supportive following of people to help you stick to your goals. It is compatible with a number of other fitness devices and apps, including Nike+ FuelBand, Fitbit devices, Runkeeper, MapMyFitness and Jawbone UP.
For more information visit http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2485287,00.asp.
Smartwatch market taking off
The smartwatch is no fad! According to a recent TechSci Research report, the global smartwatch market is projected to grow at a CAGR of more than 25 percent from 2016-2021, largely due to a growing smartphone user base, rising per capita spending on consumer electronics, and increased awareness about health and fitness devices. The increased use of third party applications, a growing focus on smartwatch manufacturers, and increased adoption of smart technology-based devices by young people reportedly is driving the demand for smartwatches worldwide.
For more information visit http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/smartwatch-market-to-grow-at-cagr-of-over-25-through-2021-techsci-research-report-600021911.html.