MiCoach, Edomondo, Nexercise… Discover the 5 best smartphone applications for staying in shape. It couldn’t be easier!
Technology is often associated with a sedentary life-style in front of a screen of one kind or another, lying on a sofa, sitting in an office chair or on the floor playing on the latest console. However, we can also find mobile applications that encourage us to get moving, put on our trainers and a sweatshirt and do some exercise. There are several kinds of apps: from those that measure your Body Mass Index to those that tell you how many calories you’ve consumed or encourage you to do different types of exercises depending on your level when you start them. How? Here are a small sample of the apps that are now commercially available. Ready, Set… Go!
Calculating your Body Mass Index
The first step for of a lot of people who want to lose weight is to set themselves a challenge: seeing where we are and where we want to go. There are several applications for both Android and iOS that can help with that first step. We start be entering our weight and height, and the apps tell us what our ideal weight should be, and whether we are overweight, average or need to gain a few pounds.
Healthy food plan: Shape Up Club
Once we know where we’re going, we have to decide how to get there, and when dieting it’s just as important to change our eating habits as it is to exercise. Shape Up Club, available for iOS and Android, not only helps us to control our diet, but thanks to a database of thousands of foods, it proposes a plan tailored to each user in order to lose up to a kilo a week. It uses graphs to measure progress. Like other applications, after signing up we can share our diet progress with other hungry users and seek support in times when our will flags.
Nexercise: your personal gym monitor
This application, which is available for iOS and Android devices, is ideal for those who always say they want to start to lose those extra ‘love handles’, but eventually succumb to laziness and the gravitational pull of the sofa and the remote control. Under the premise that exercise does not have to be boring, that we don’t need any drastic changes in habits for us to be healthy, and that a healthy lifestyle is 99% in our heads, Nexercise offers very different exercises that are fun to do and can get you in shape before you throw in the towel. You can compete with others, but you have to play clean.
Endomondo: for long-distance runners, cyclists and the like
When accessing Endomondo’s page, the first thing you read is that «it turns your mobile into a tool for tracking your exercises. It’s fun, it’s social and it’s motivating.» This app is perfect for those who already practice or want to start a sport such as cycling, jogging, hiking… It’s easy to register and become part of the app «community». Then, every time you run or hike along a route, the app not only records your activity and the progress you make, but it publishes it for other «endomondos» to see. That way you can compare your efforts with theirs and encourage yourself to push your limits. This is good for those who already have or want to adopt a more «athletic» routine, but without obsessing about what the rest are doing. Available for iOS and Android.
MiCoach
Under the motto «Champions are not born, they train», this application by Adidas and available for iPhone can become your personal and nontransferable trainer. It has a GPS Navigator and features a voice system that sets the pace for each training area in real time. Each user can choose a training plan that is appropriate to his or her sport and level, and create a programme for gaining speed and endurance. Users can also share their progress with other registered athletes. Available on iOS and Android.
