Now that we’re well into the New Year, perhaps you’ve made good on that resolution of getting into some serious shape. Or maybe, on the other hand, you’re still working out the best way to go about it?
Fear not if you’re still in the starting blocks, for the good news is that, in this world of mobile technology, you don’t have to pay for a gym membership that you’re not going to make the most of or invest in a personal trainer whose services you’re going to repeatedly cancel. You can turn to your mobile to create this healthier you, with a little help from some of the following apps. Here’s how.
No longer being a couch potato
As nice as it would be to say ‘No more sitting on the couch for me’, throw on your fitness gear and run a marathon straight off the bat to shape up, it’s impossible. You need to gently build up your fitness for distance running, which is where the Couch to 5k app comes in handy.
This app is designed to ease you gently into the habit of running and creates a 30-minute schedule, to be observed three times a week. The target: the capability to run five kilometres in eight weeks. Remain loyal to the schedule and you should smash this. It could be just the thing to get your healthy living off to a promising start.
Getting on your bike
If old-school jogging doesn’t appeal to you, or does but you want it to be only part of your schedule along with other forms of exercise, consider getting into shape with some cycling. Install the Cyclometer app and attach your phone to the handlebars of your bike for some smooth, outdoor, cardiovascular exercise. You don’t have to log in every time, either, since the data is stored on your iPhone itself rather than all within the app.
Cyclometer transforms your phone into something akin to a mini computer. Compatible with major social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter, this app allows you to set up alerts to track intensity, heart rate, distance and other variables, as well as configure your own training program. There’s plenty of post-cycle data to analyse after you’ve been out on your bike, too.
Cultivating mind and body
It seems that every day someone, somewhere is discovering a new benefit to add to the countless benefits of yoga.
To name just a few of the physical benefits, yoga is good for posture, strengthening the spine and the immune system, protecting joints and cartilage tissues, building muscle strength and improving flexibility. In terms of mental benefits, yoga builds inner strength and can help with the ‘exercise more, eat less’ adage, encouraging you to address any weight loss issues on a deeper level. This is because of the spiritual and emotional connections that yoga develops between the exercise itself and the person practising it.
In view of this, give the Daily Yoga app a blast, which provides you with more than 50 complete yoga sessions and 500 different yoga positions, and is free and available for the iPhone. There’s background music, three different levels of intensity and a choice of durations so you can tailor the yoga sessions to your personal preferences. There’s also a forum for discussion, adding an enjoyable social element to the app.
Don’t neglect the crucial healthy lifestyle elements
One of the main elements of leading a healthy lifestyle is to observe a good diet. Ignore those tempting fad diets, which, despite their weight loss benefits, don’t necessarily act in your best interests when it comes to fostering good health and general well-being. Instead, monitor the overall progress of your health and exercise regime with the help of a dieting app. The My Fitness Pal app is one of the most popular dieting apps out there and features a calorie counter (and a sizeable food database of more than 5 million calories), a diet log and a calculation of net calories. Use this information to make the relevant adjustments and achieve a healthier you.
The tips and suggestions above will all put you on the way to a healthier lifestyle. Who’d have thought a mobile phone could play such an important role in your health and fitness plan? Now it’s time to get out there and do it!
