Trends

6 apps to track fitness goals and boost motivation

Need help staying on track with your diet? Looking for new exercises to build strength and change your body? Have you tried writing it down?

While classic pen and paper never fails, at Well Community we like to search for innovative ways to support our wellness goals. It seems like these days we can do almost anything from our Smartphones. So, why not use them to help manage and record our health and fitness goals?

According to Maki B. Uechi-Brooker, a certified personal trainer and fitness instructor at Galter LifeCenter, keeping track of goals and documenting your experiences  helps you stay motivated by allowing you to see both big and small successes.

“Motivation stems from an increase in confidence,” Uechi-Brooker said. “Seeing benchmarks met ultimately enhances self esteem.”

Uechi-Brooker recommends creating small weekly goals, along with a bigger picture 3-month goal. Holding yourself accountable and noticing progress over the whole period is energizing and can help remind you of the original reasons you began a diet or exercise plan.

The list below features several free or low-cost Smartphone applications to help manage your health and fitness.

Nike + GPS
Device: iOs (Apple products)
Cost: $1.99
Summary: You can map your indoor or outdoor running routes and track your progress simply by bringing your iPhone with you (without needing a sensor in your shoe). Don’t be surprised to hear some motivational messages and cheers throughout your run. You also can post your runs on Facebook to get encouraging comments from your friends.

Lose It!
Device: iOS
Cost: Free
Summary: Use this app to create a personalized plan for your weight loss goals. Then log your food intake and exercise to compare your calories in vs. calories out. The food log also provides detailed nutritional information. At any point, you can enter your current weight to see if you have made progress. The Well Community staff members who have used this app were surprised to learn how many calories they were consuming daily. 

EndoMondo
Device: Android, Blackberry, iOS
Cost: Free
Summary: Like the Nike + GPS app, this has many social networking elements. You can track data about your runs and bike rides and share it with your friends. From the EndoMondo website, you can design your own challenges or participate in site-wide challenges.

SportyPal
Device: Android, Blackberry, iOS
Cost: Free
Summary: This app measures the length and time of your runs and calculates how many calories you have burned. Later you can sync your data with your web-based profile and view charts from your past workouts.

FitDeck
Device: Android, Blackberry, iOS
Cost: $9.99
Summary: Download FitDeck to build a library of digital cards to guide you through a unique and fun physical fitness program. It shuffles like music on an iPod to keep things fun and challenge your body. The featured exercises do not require any equipment; you can complete them all using just your own body weight at any location.

Pocket Trainer
Device: BlackBerry
Cost: $12.99
Summary: This app is what it sounds like —a personal trainer in your pocket! You set your own individual goals and follow a specific training program.

• Login
• Comment