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For many people, getting healthier is a perennial part of their New Year’s resolutions list. It’s aspiration that never seems to get met. This year may be different, though, with a little help from a fitness app. There are dozens of health-related apps, so it’s hard to assess what you need and what you should look for. To get you started, we asked some Richmond fitness enthusiasts for advice.
Pete Woody, the public relations and communications manager for Sports Backers, says to look for an app that will enhance your favorite activities. “I think the best fitness or exercise routine for someone has to be something they enjoy doing, because then it is more likely to become a habit,” he says. “In terms of an app, it should have activities and features that someone will enjoy doing and want to keep doing on a consistent basis.”
Woody says as far as assessing an app, he’s always found it helpful to seek out reviews from people you know and trust and ask them about their experiences.
“An app can help out in health and fitness goals by providing useful information and motivation and showing you how you’ve progressed in your goals, whether those goals are to get out for a walk at least once a day, training for a marathon or something in between.”
He cites the Strava app, which is popular with runners and cyclists. It allows users to log their activities, find new routes and check out the workouts of other people in their network, among other features. “It helps provide motivation, useful information, and lets you see how you’ve progressed over time,” he says.
Richmond runner and powerlifter Michael Pulley says he uses a fitness app for the main reasons most runners do — to measure distance when he trains and races, and to check his pace, especially when doing speed work.
His go-to app is a Garmin tracker and the Garmin Connect community. “It has everything I’m looking for to include mileage, pace, heart rate and additional features I am learning about to include sleep and stress levels,” he says.
Pulley, who says he once ran six marathons over a two-week period and under four hours in each race, has a heart condition, so he also uses the app to monitor his heart rate and keep it from getting too high. “You can feel it, of course,” Pulley says, “but to have the data to confirm it” lets him know he needs to get his heart rate down.
Gaela Stromberg, owner of CrossFit JoyRide in North Chesterfield, says that apps are important to monitor performance, such as distance and times in running, as well as apps to monitor heart rate variability. “You could use a paper journal, and that’s fine because it’s the same idea of tracking data, but harder to quickly pull up what you’ve done in the past,” she says. “In today’s world of phones and apps, I love all the numbers.”
She uses several apps, including Athlytic for tracking recovery, exertion and sleep. She says it’s similar to Whoop but cheaper and works with her Apple Watch. She also uses the fitness option on her Apple Watch, SugarWod for gym workouts and tracking results, plus RUN Interval for tracking running.
Apps help to motivate her. “I like some sort of reward system to make me feel good. Anytime I hit a PR [personal record or personal best], one of my apps will throw confetti and say, ‘You’re awesome!’ I like that!” Stromberg says, smiling.
