I am frequently asked for my opinion or suggestion on Fitness Apps and tools. I am familiar with (what I thought was) quite a few of them and even use a couple of them myself. This week, when asked about an App I had never heard of before I got curious and started looking into this new one as well as a few others I had never encountered before.
After a quick search I discovered a whopping 2198 results in my iTunes store for Apps related to fitness. Wow! I knew there was a big market, but I was blown away at how many, and how expensive some of the Apps are.
There are some Apps that monitor and track your fitness and diet goals, measure heart rate or link you up to a community of people to share stories and cheer you on. Some will map out routes and trails, or track your speed and distance. Some of the Apps will allow you to log your workouts, calories, and achievements and may even provide some coaching that take you through a full plan to help you reach your goals.
In addition to the number of Apps available, there are also tools that you can use to help you automate some of your tracking that can be worn as watches, wristbands, clothing pins or even attach to your shoes.
While I already had an opinion about a lot of the Apps, curiosity got the better of me. I downloaded a few of the ones I wasn’t already familiar with and started educating myself. I spent a good few hours each night this week (read: a lot of late nights) playing around. While a few of them surprised me with their capabilities, I am still impressed that my heart rate can be measured through my iPhone, I came to the same conclusion I had before.
The Apps are just tools: you still need to do the work. As mentioned, I spent a few hours each night inputting data, understanding what the App would provide for me, looking at different scenarios based on my goals and not once did I move a muscle – unless you consider my thumbs working away on my phone.
Out of all the time I spent figuring out each App, if I had taken just a quarter of that time each night, instead of playing away on my phone and gone to the gym, or out for a run, bounced around in my living room, or lifted some weights downstairs, I would be that much closer to my goals. I would be be working on my fitness, not planning it.
Where I see the benefit of these Apps is when you already have a plan and are simply looking to track your results, or looking for a reminder to stay on course and keep motivated.
As fun and cool as some of them are, they aren’t going to get you fit alone: you still have to do the work!
