7 – The virtual exercise buddy

In an ideal world, we would all have a personal trainer. Joining exercise groups and exercising with a friend is great but often this is not practical. So how can you keep yourself motivated? There are a number of gadgets on the market to help you exercise and keep healthy, so I thought it was time to write a blog about some of them.

Aged 51, I decided to start running. I had tried several times before, with various friends, and failed. I heard really good reports about the Couch to 5k app – there are a number of them including a UK National Health Service one. I tried a few but preferred the voice on the NHS app. I really did not think that I could do it but each week she told me what to do, I followed the instructions and I did it. The app starts off mainly walking with a bit of running and slowly but surely the runs and time increased. Over a relatively few weeks, I was running continuously for 25 minutes. It was amazing. I must admit that I am very slow and never quite got to 5k but I do not think the distance or time are important. Getting the lungs, heart and muscles going feels great. Once I was running continuously for a decent time I switched to another running app. I use a simple arm strap to keep my phone attached to my arm and have my own running play list. I do not use headphones – I just have the phone on speaker so I can hear the music. But I know some people like running in silence. I have tried two running apps – Nike and Map my Run. The good thing about these apps is that if your friends are using the same app, you can encourage each other by seeing how far, fast and often your friends are running. I am not a distance runner and feel it is more important to get myself moving in the morning so I try to do 2-3k every few days. I seriously miss it when I do not do it – it gives me great thinking time and I have the best ideas when running. So if you have not tried it before – get an app and have a go. But one thing the apps do not do is cool you down and stretch. So make sure you stretch all the main muscles after your run. I am sure there is an app for this but I have not looked. Let me know if you find a good stretching app. There are some videos on YouTube.

There are hundreds of other exercise apps out there. If you use a running machine, there are apps that take you on a run through great scenery which helps occupy you. One app I have just got is the 7 minute workout but others that come recommended are the Strava running and cycling app, Fitocracy, Gympact, Workout Trainer and Pocketyoga. Have a go.

Exercise trackers are all the rage now and I thought that I should get one, but first I wanted to do some research. There are many makes but the main ones are Fitbits and Garmin. There are two versions; a slim, watch type band which looks quite stylish and a big chunky watch. I never wear a watch so I wanted something subtle like the bands. Having researched into them, my first advice would be to make sure the one you buy is not just a glorified pedometer which measures steps. It is worth the money to pay for something a bit more. I have bought the Fitbits ChargeHR and I totally love it. Having the heart rate monitor gives me really interesting information, including my resting heart rate and how efficient I am when exercising. I am rather chuffed that my resting heart rate is 60 beats per minute. The Fitbits app is amazing, showing me not just my daily steps, but also how efficiently I am sleeping, the calories I have used and how many I have consumed (the daily nutrition tracker is almost as good as My Fitness Pal but does not give a breakdown by food groups – see below). The running app on Fitbits is great as the ChargeHR has GPS. I was worried I might start obsessing about these statistics but actually it is good fun to see how your heart rate changes when you are doing different things, how well you are sleeping and your calories in/out. Having my daily food diary, running app, etc all in the same app makes life easier. My only wish is that it could track swimming, cycling and other exercise such as aerobic classes. I do not see why this would be so difficult to incorporate into a slim band but for this you need to go to one of the bigger ‘watch’ type trackers.

And lastly My Fitness Pal. This is an excellent app that is a really easy to use food diary. You can use it on your phone or on your computer. It is really simple to use and takes a few seconds to log food, drink and exercise. You set it up with your current weight and height. Each day you log what you have eaten and it will tell you if you are on target for all the main food groups and calories. You can also easily log exercise, such as Body Attack and Step classes, runs, etc. A huge number of foods are in the app, so you can just type in the name of a chocolate bar or bought meal and it should tell you the calories. All the main cafes and supermarket foods are there. It has taught me quite a few shocking things. I recently bought some Skinny Rice Cakes from Itsu – the small packet tells me it is only 110 calories per portion. When I added it in my fitness pal I was shocked to learn that the small bag contained two portions!! I might as well have had a bar of chocolate. I was also amazed at my meal in Wagamama – chili squid and chicken teriyaki came to almost my daily allowance. Logging your exercise shows you how much exercise increases the number of calories you can eat and encourages me to keep exercising. The only problem with My Fitness Pal is that it obviously relies on you entering the data and when I fall off my diet I stop adding my entries. You can link to friends that are using the app to encourage each other.

Let me know what gadgets you are using to help you stay healthy.