MakeUseOf » exercise

5 Best Weight Training Apps To Get Results Quickly [Android]

Ryan Dube — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:01:40 +0000

Wouldn’t it be totally sweet to be completely buffed like Christian Bale in Reign of Fire, or Jason Statham in The Transporter? I’m talking about that slick, jacked-up look – wide shoulders, carved pecks and the sort of 6-pack abs that make every girl on the beach turn their head when you walk by.

It’s a lot easier when you’re in your teens and twenties to keep that body up, but it’s nearly impossible once you have a house, a wife, children and a demanding job. What’s a geek to do? The same goes for women – the demands of a motherhood, a new career or a marriage can consume all of the time in the day and leave little time to maintain those curves of youth. Is it too late?

Get Back Into Weight Training & Get Your Youth Back

We’ve offered some exercise apps and tips before. Bakari shared RunKeeper for iPhone with us, and Dean covered a few sites that can keep us motivated. If you have an Android, I’m going to offer you a list of 5 Android apps that can give you the tools and the support you need to make regular weight training a part of your daily life. It’s never too late.

1. Start Your Day With Push-Ups Pro

To get started in the morning, the first thing I do to warm up for the day is push ups to get the blood flowing. Part of my efforts are going to include logging everything – so to log push-ups, you’ll want to download Push-Ups Pro.

This is one of the simplest, yet most creative exercise apps I’ve seen in a long time. Basically you lay your Android flat on the floor underneath you, and as you do pushups, you nudge the yellow circle with your nose. Each time you tap the app, it counts your push-ups for you.

Not only does the app count and log your push-up efforts, it also develops a training regimen based on your past push-up results.

Encourage Yourself With Fit Radio

The next phase of exercise for me is motivating and encouraging myself to just make it to the gym. Music motivates me. I love having time to just enjoy about 30 minutes or so of music, so having something like that to look forward to will get me there. That’s why I was pretty psyched to discover the Fit Radio app.

Fit Radio is a mobile radio station configured specifically to boost your workout routine with adrenaline-fueled music. You’ll find bass-heavy hip-hop, dance music or high-energy rock music. Whatever gets your blood flowing and your heart pounding, you’ll find it here.

Each radio station is a playlist of songs – listen straight through, or pick individual songs.

Optimize Your Reps With 1 Rep Max Calculator

There’s no sense working your tail off if you’re not going to reap the full rewards for those efforts. The way to do that is make sure that you’re pushing yourself to your full potential and your ultimate limits. 1 Rep Max Calculator will help you do that.

First, choose your optimum weight – say 25 pounds doing single arm curls. You can do 12 reps before full muscle failure. Once you enter this, the app will tell you the estimated weight for full muscle failure with one rep. This is your maximum 1-rep weight – and that’s the weight to beat.

Use the percentages tab to see how the app calculated your “effort breakdown” for a single rep – meaning, 65% of your power to lift 23 pounds a single rep.

Log Your Lifting Efforts With Fit77

So now you’re at the gym and you’re lifting nearly every day. You know your weight limits, you know your goals, so now it’s time to log your efforts so you can track your progress. The best Android app for that is called the Fit77 Lifting Log.

Using the logging app is very easy. Just select from the list of included weight-lifting exercises and enter in the weight that you used and your total reps.

Those green buttons let you tap the buttons quickly while working out without the need to type. The app also includes a full body measurement feature where you can track whatever measurements you want – weight, waste size, arm or leg size – everything.

You can track your results out over time. There’s nothing quite as motivating as watching your waste size or weight drop off in a sweet graph that looks like a ski-slope.

Get Yourself To The Gym Every Day With KeepTrack

One of the hardest things about starting a weight-training regimen is going to the gym every day. Hold yourself accountable with KeepTrack.

KeepTrack lets you track absolutely anything, but it is perfect for logging how well you stick to your daily exercise rituals. You could track cardio, weight training, or anything else.

The app will provide you with both a spreadsheet of your information as well as a graphical view of your progress. Here’s the gradual climb of cardio effort – going from 20 minutes a day to 30 minutes a day over the course of a month.

You can even add boolean items to track, like whether or not you did weight-training each day. You can see how well you’re doing by checking out the pie chart – you want to see far more “Yes” than “No”!

Fight with your stubborn laziness and make that “No” pie slice shrink down to nearly nothing.

As you can see, each app listed here offers just a little bit of help in your daily efforts to improve your health. Weight-training is a critical part of any exercise program, so make sure that you have as many tools at your disposal to succeed.

Do any of these weight training apps help with your own fitness goals? Do you use any others that you really like? Share your insight and tips in the comments section below.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Track Your Weight The Smart Way With Libra [Android]

Erez Zukerman — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:31:59 +0000

Today I’d like to tell you about an Android application I have been using every day since March 16, 2011. That’s over 300 days of use, day in, day out. It’s a free application called Libra, and it’s used for entering your weight every morning and then getting a picture of where you are going. Libra is so good, that it is one of the applications hand-picked for our Best Android Apps page.

If you care about your weight and health even remotely, read on. As you will see, Libra will not solve all of your problems, but it makes it easier to get a clear picture of where you stand.

About Tracking Your Weight

Above is a screenshot of my own personal weight graph, extending back from May 27th, 2008. That’s over 3.5 years worth of data, more than 1,300 data points in all. That is not a screenshot from Libra: Android didn’t even exist when I started this graph. It is my own home-brew weight tracking solution. I coded the first version with AutoHotkey, and the next one with Ruby, and I use it to this day, in tandem with Libra. But the idea is certainly not my own, and it’s the same idea Libra uses.

Let’s take a closer look at how the graph works:

As you can see, there is a trend line, and dots which go over or under the line. The dots are individual data points, while the line is a moving average. Having a trend line is extremely important, as it is the only real way to see where your weight is going. The trend line is calculated according to a formula from The Hacker’s Diet, a book by John Walker, founder of Autodesk. The Hacker’s Diet is a classic reference for geeks trying to lose weight, and that’s the graphing system Libra implements.

Looking at the graph above, it is easy to see that I’ve been gaining weight over time. The lowest point on this graph is September 2009, and since then it has been going up in fits and starts. Despite all this (actually, because of it), I remain confident that graphing your weight is essential to losing it. I will tell you why later on, but first let’s look at Libra itself.

About Libra

Let’s look at the same period within Libra:

As you can see, the principle is exactly the same, only Libra adds a bunch of vital information. It knows my height, so it can tell me I am considered overweight now according to the body mass index. Overweight, by the way, is 25.0 and above – so I am just barely above normal. It also shows me I am actually gaining weight at a rapid pace, which is why it is “unknown” when I will get to my final weight goal (62.0 kg, which is about 136 lbs). I know this post would have been more dramatic if I could show you an impressive weight loss, so here is a screenshot of a real one from my past:

This is a period of several months during which I am steadily losing weight and tracking it with Libra. Note that the stats down the bottom don’t change, because they reflect the current situation and project the future.

Entering Your Weight

Every morning when I wake up, I enter my weight using the screen above. The date is automatically selected, and the tape scrolls smoothly when you flick it left or right. It’s a beautiful way to enter your weight, and it sure beats fiddling around with the keyboard. Libra lets you create a shortcut that launches you right into the “Insert value” screen, for maximum speed.

Statistics

Apart from the graph, Libra lets you see numeric stats showing your trends over various periods of time, as well as “records” of highest and lowest weight/trend values. Libra also offers a homescreen widget showing three quick stats:

Why Tracking Your Weight Is Important

Now we go back to the big question – why even do this in the first place? Well, because it is usually easy to gain weight, and it is easy to ignore the problem until it is way too late. Tracking your weight on a daily basis and graphing it is crucial, because that way you know where you stand. And as they say, knowing is half the battle.

I know some people who are overweight, and are actually afraid to know how much they weigh. But if they can’t face even that simple number, how will they be able to face the slow process of weight loss? I think that without tracking my weight, I would be much heavier right now, and would feel more hopeless about it.

Of course, once you do begin losing weight, tracking your losses is an essential part of staying motivated.

Why Tracking Your Weight Is Not Enough

Above is a period of several months when I was tracking my weight daily, but also gaining a lot of weight. So, sadly, tracking your weight may not be enough. You need to make some lifestyle changes to lose weight, as well as some public commitments. We’ve featured social fitness websites before, as well as 8 Websites That Help Couch Potatoes Take Up Running For Fitness & Fun, and I feel these are an important part of the equation. The idea is to care, and not give up.

Tracking your weight is the first step – once you take it, it may be easier to take the next one, but you will need to do something more. I’ve recently started exercising again – maybe next year I will be able to share a different-looking graph. At any case, I will probably still use Libra to plot it.

Let us know what apps and methods you use to track and lose weight. What do you think of Libra?

Get In Shape The Social Way With Fitocracy [Get Your Beta Invite Here!]

Erez Zukerman — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 22:31:49 +0000

It’s not every day that I’m introduced to a new web service by the awesome xkcd web-comic. So when they featured Fitocracy a while back, my curiosity was indeed piqued. Fitocracy is a website that turns exercise into a social game by having you track your workouts and then giving you various achievements for your track record. It’s free, but it’s invite-only at this point.

Luckily for you guys, I’ve scored us some invite codes, which are hidden away further on down the post. So let’s check out this Fitocracy thing, starting with their own product tour!

Since Fitocracy is social, you get the oh-so familiar “news stream”, as seen on Twitter, Facebook, and just about any other social platform. Only here, the news stream is all about fitness, and includes plenty of strangers discussing fitness.

Yes, the news stream is full of people you don’t know, but Fitocracy wants you to follow some of them, just to get the hang of things. Okay, I think I’ll follow wats8976 above.

Next, Fitocracy points out my personal scoreboard:

And now I get to post my very first status update, telling the world what I’m up to. As could be expected, the concept of circles or groups is built into Fitocracy, so you can select who will get your update right when you post it:

Next, the tour switches you over to your Profile tag, and shows your own activity (of which there is none, at the moment):

And there’s also a stats view, full of zeroes at the moment:

When you start your way in Fitocracy, you’ll first be a member of the New Fitocracy Member group. You apparently need to get all the way to level 7 before you get to leave that group:

Since Fitocracy is built to let strangers meet each other, you get to “tag” yourself with physical activities you like:

Yes, I like walking for fitness. Next, the tour takes you to the Track page, where you can start logging your physical activity.

Similar to RunKeeper, Fitocracy also has some suggestions showing you what you can do, in case you don’t have any ideas:

The bar to the left contains tabs both individual exercises and complete routines. The “Routines” tab is empty at first, but the Exercises one is chock-full of exercises, and has a great live-search feature:

Each exercise comes with a complete description text description showing how to do it:

Now, let’s log my short bike ride to work.

Once you log your workout, you get a very satisfying “coach clipboard” showing how many points you’ve earned:

I assure you, this really is very satisfying.

Now, about those routines. Routines are a bunch of exercises which you usually do together. Think of them like recipes in a food-log application: Rather than log each individual ingredient in your favorite meal every time you have it, you just enter the recipe once and then log the whole meal.

Quests

To keep things interesting, you can start on a “quest”. A quest is a cute name for a fitness challenge. Here are some of the ones which are available when you’re just starting out:

You don’t exactly “enroll” on a quest. You just keep logging your activities, and as you do great feats, you will be awarded with quest completions:

But Does It Work?

In the xkcd comic’s alt text, Randall (xkcd’s creator) says:

I felt so clever when I found a way to game the Fitocracy system by incorporating a set of easy but high-scoring activities into my regular schedule. Took me a bit to realize I’d been tricked into setting up a daily exercise routine.

That’s a lovely way to put it. I couldn’t say if Fitocracy “works” because it’s obviously a very personal thing. Not everyone will stick to an exercise routine, no matter how social you make things. Also, Fitocracy isn’t the only game in town. There are lots of other sites that try to get you into shape. But I can definitely see how Fitocracy can become a habit.

Oh, and about those invites I promised? Here they are! Enjoy! But remember to come back and tell us what you think of the site.

Adidas miCoach Helps You Get In Shape [Android 2.1+]

Erez Zukerman — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 22:31:21 +0000

As nerds, we all tend to be quite trim and fit. Spending days and nights in front of a computer usually results in great physique with well-defined muscles and an above-average aerobic stamina. Okay, maybe not so much. In case sitting in front of the computer does not magically result in the body you’ve always dreamed of, Adidas miCoach is one app that might help you change that. You will have to leave the desk, though.

The app uses audio cues to provide live coaching feedback as you train, so the first thing you’re asked to do is select your language. The list is quite comprehensive, but for now we’ll stick to English.

Next, it has you create a PIN code so that no-one can pry into your private training data:

Next, you’ll need to create a miCoach account. You can also elect to use the app as a guest though, if you’re just evaluating it.

The app feels quite polished, but the registration process does feel rather clunky:

It basically feels like a simple webpage displayed in-app, tiny text fields and all. This part is quite lengthy – the screenshot above shows only part of the form. It goes on to ask about your country (why not geo-locate it?), your gender, height and weight. This is definitely the weakest part of the miCoach experience – I hope Adidas streamlines the registration process in the future to use native Android controls. Until that happens, you’re better off registering at the miCoach website using your computer.

Even there, I was unable to enter an accurate value for my weight – it would only let me enter whole numbers. When you’re working with pounds that might be fine, but if you’re using the metric system, there’s quite a difference between 65kg and 65.7kg (almost two pounds of difference, in fact). As frustrating as this is, don’t give up here – the app is worth it.

Once you finish the arduous registration process, miCoach will sync data off the server and let you select a coaching voice:

Finally, we’ve made it to the main menu. It looks like this:

The first thing I’d like to check and tweak are the settings, of course. So here they are:

The mention of Zones is interesting. I use a Polar heart rate monitor (FT60), so I’m familiar with workout zones. But miCoach does not force you to use an HRM. You can also set your zones according to pace (9 minutes per mile) and speed (10 mph).

Also, despite selecting the metric system during the cumbersome registration process, miCoach showed me my pace/speed zones in miles. I tried setting the app to use miles in the During Workout menu:

That did the trick. My zones were then displayed using the metric system. Also, note the slider adjusting Music/Coaching volume. You can tweak it to your liking so that you can easily hear coaching instructions over the music you’re training to.

Okay, I’d say we’ve played with the configuration enough. This app isn’t about settings, it’s about getting out there and working up a good sweat. So let’s look at the Workouts menu now:

The first workout most people would probably try is the Assessment Workout:

This is what it looks like when you continue:

miCoach now tries to get a GPS lock. What’s interesting here is that miCoach has you assess your effort level subjectively, on a scale from 1 to 10. Once the GPS locks, you can begin the workout:

Okay, busted. I’m not actually moving, I’m sitting right here in front of my computer, writing this. The coaching voice (female, US in my case) sounds natural and eloquent – this is a recorded person, not a text-to-speech synthesizer. But since you’re not using a heart rate monitor, the instructions merely say “increase your effort to six out of ten”. To me, that’s very subjective – but I guess if you don’t want to invest in a dedicated HRM, you’ll need to trust your judgment. They do give you tips that should help you assess your level, such as “conversation will be difficult at this effort”.

There’s another workout view, which you can get by swiping to the right. It looks like this:

This is an at-a-glance view of what your effort level should be, and where you are in the training session. You also get a quick color-coded overview of what’s ahead. You can see this session is going to increase all the way to a short burst at maximum effort level (red), followed by a cool-down period (blue).

The voice cues are one minute apart by default, which is a good interval – it’s not too irritating, but you’re definitely kept oriented as to where you are in the training session without having to constantly look at your device (a pet peeve of mine when using the Polar monitor, where I would constantly have to look at my wrist while running).

Once you’re done working out, you can rate your session.

And sync it to the server:

That’s about it for the Workout view, and as well as for my review. The last thing I want to show you is a quick glimpse of the Workout History:

This shows a nice view of all of your past workouts, and you can drill down into each workout (so you can see again how I didn’t move anywhere during my arduous “workout”):

Note the subtle marketing angle here, with the Shoes field. I haven’t even touched on the website in this review – it’s a very comprehensive companion to the app, and shows your complete lifetime stats, lets you set plans, track your workout and get a lot more out of the miCoach experience. All in all, Adidas did a great job with this app, and it doesn’t feel like an empty marketing vessel.

If you want to see what it’s like training with your Android device without spending anything for an app or an HRM strap, miCoach is a very good option.

The Top 8 Websites To Find Maps Of Bike Paths Near You

Saikat Basu — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:31:18 +0000

I wondered whether the bicycling heydays were over amidst the roar of cubic capacity engines. But the comments on the 10 Bicycling Websites That Will Pedal You Into The World Of Cycling gave ample proof that the ride is still very much on. That post was just a peek into how the web is helping out the passionate cyclist. One of the many ways bicycling web apps are guiding the pedal pushers is through maps of bike paths.

As the world gets crowded and polluted by its bigger cousins, the alleycat or the trail biker, or even the racer knows that getting on the right bike path is half the fun. Bike path maps help a cyclist to chart out the route even before the wheels hit the tarmac. You can go back into few of the resources we have covered earlier to see some of the better bike map path apps out there. Searched out here are a few new ones.

Bikely

At first glance this website on bike paths doesn’t seem impressive, but that’s just scratching the surface. The site houses 155,000+ bike path maps (on Google Maps) shared by bikers from around the world. Although, the majority of the routes are centered on North America and Europe. If you want to see what bike paths are around your location, try out the advanced search to pinpoint one. You can even filter the bike route by distance. If you discover a route, it’s easy to log-in and share it with the community (see directory mention).

Map My Ride

MapMyRide.com has a bunch of free tools along with the paid ones. The Routes tool is completely free and you can use it to plan out your bike or mountain bike rides. The map is a stylized Google Map with features like a distance filter which lets you search within a radius of 200km. One of the best cues you can use for an advanced search is by using “˜tags’ which lets you search bike paths by difficulty, area, terrain, surface, surroundings, and contour. Elevation data is also nicely rendered on the bike path maps.

Ride the City

Threading your way through the concrete pathways of an urban city takes planning. That’s where this Geocoding bike map website for some major cities around the world comes in. Also, uniquely the site displays roads that are meant for biking by keeping to the use of bike lanes, bike paths, greenways, and other bike-friendly streets. You can also switch on the map layers for more data like bike shops and bike parking. Don’t miss the weather update on the top-right.

VeloRoutes

Veloroutes.com is a comparatively simpler bike path website that allows you to create, share, and find bicycle data added with elevation profiles for any given location. You can use a keyword to do your location search. You can also quite easily export a route to your GPS device or to formats like to GPX, KML, TCX, and CSV. Also useful is the cuesheet for any route that gives you turn-by-turn directions towards a location.

BikeMap

The bike trail website lists 368,084 Bike routes worldwide with a total length of 19,891,520 miles. Check out the Most Popular Places with Bike Routes and the countries covered mentions below the Google Map. You can export routes to your GPS device. Also provided are details like vertical climb, inclination, surface, and the kind of cycling the route is suited for.

Cycle-Route

The site is very much Europe-centric but covers the US too. New biking trails get continuously added by passionate bicyclists and you can add your own too. You can use the dropdown to select the country and the region to discover cycle routes or go alphabetically through the list of bike paths. With a login, you can give your weight information and also get the calories you might burn along the route. The information on the state of the bike path and landmarks that will fall along the way should be a great help.

MTBR

The mountain biking community has a long list of reviews of trails around the world. The US dominates the list but expect to find some great trails in the lesser known parts of the world tool. A well voiced forum has also come up around mountain biking trails. Trail reviews use Google Maps, photos, and first person accounts to give you an insight before you start pedaling. Thanks to the terrain, trails aren’t well represented on the map, but one can assume that a intrepid trail biker can get the route from the directions given.

Google Maps

When every other bike path site uses Google Maps, it’s expected that there should be something similar on Google Maps itself. Still in beta, the bike routes data is more than useful if you happen to be in the United States. Type in the directions and click the last icon for bicycles. You can switch the bicycling layer on and off and even change the direction.

Finding new bike paths and navigating through them is now just a matter of going to any of these websites, plotting out the route, and maybe downloading the data to your GPS device. Apart from these eight, cycling websites like Bicycling Magazine, Pedaling.com, and Bike Radar have their own route finder tools too. It’s also a good idea to be a part of the many forums found on these websites for hint drops on new trails and bike paths.

What’s your hint for bike enthusiasts when it comes to discovering new bike paths?

Image Credit: Shutterstock

8 Websites That Help Couch Potatoes Take Up Running For Fitness & Fun

Saikat Basu — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 18:31:45 +0000

We were all born to walk and run. Unfortunately we don’t, except when we have to run after the bus. Running (or even jogging) is the simplest aerobic physical exercise one can think of. Why don’t we take it up with gusto? Probably because it’s effort; also it’s slightly un-cooler than pumping iron in the gym. Running has a lot of things going for it. It is the cheapest exercise you can think of. The life changing benefits of running include everything from better cardiovascular fitness to fat loss. It also helps you to become an early riser and a better sleeper.

You might say that an article on running is better suited for a health site. That’s what I would have thought if not for the response to the post on the 10 Bicycling Websites That Will Pedal You Into The World Of Cycling. We who sit in front of a computer are a sluggish bunch. So put on your jogging shoes and head for these eight websites for runners and joggers – and then the open air.

Cool Running

Cool Running is one of the oldest websites on running and jogging. The site is geared towards all types of runners ““ from newbies to competitive runners. The site covers latest races, running news, and other interactive tools. The Training section is pretty well stocked and though the Couch-to-5K Running plan requires a payment, the free schedule that’s given should be enough to put you on the track with a plan. Then there’s a bunch of other training plans too.

Some of the tools are for paid members, but there’s enough on the site that you can do even with a free MyActive registered account.

Runner’s World

This well designed site brings news, articles, and advice for runners. Read running equipment reviews and catch up on training techniques for races and marathons. The Tools section has a range of calculators and search tools for equipment and stores. Check out the interactive tool that helps you to prevent injury by pinpointing the source of pain.

The site has a neat Training Log that’s helpful to keep track of your running. Another useful tool is the Smart Coach which can be used to design your personal training plan for a race. For motivation, don’t forget to download the screensaver (for PC and Mac).

Run The Planet

A similar website for runners and joggers; it also comes with four other language versions. Check the Running Dictionaries and Translations section if you are planning to run in a non-English speaking country. There’s also a movie review section on movies based on running. Running routes and maps via Run.com covers both U.S as well as a lot of international city specific routes. You can also create your own. Meet Phil The Frog and read some humor asides to get refreshed. A few pop-ups here and there are the only irks.

Complete Running

Quite simply, a blog on running by bloggers who run (or the other way around). If you are a beginner, you might want to check out the Learn to Run section or head to the posts filed under Inspiration.

About.com

The dependable internet guide resource has an entire channel devoted to running. You can read all the topics there, but I would like to point you to the page on Running Music Playlist: Top 40 Songs. Get motivated to run with the cadence of your favorite songs and let these help you to discover more songs.

American Running Association

The association’s goal is to promote running and walking for a healthier lifestyle. The non-profit organization aims to do this through information and youth fitness programs. One of the useful resources on the site is the Clinic Advisory Board with 27 different specialists, who answer American Running Members’ training, nutrition, health, and sports medicine questions.

Walk Jog Run

WalkJogRun’s Running Route Planner helps you to trace out running routes in your neighborhood on a Google Map or create your own and save it. Also included is a distance/speed calculator and calorie burn estimator. The web app has 912,680 routes for you to run through.

For options you can also check out MapMyRun and GMaps Pedometer. Running Map does the same job but on a Yahoo map.

RunKeeper

RunKeeper is an online app which tracks your fitness activity. Using RunKeeper you can create and save your routes and monitor your progress over the course of days. RunKeeper also gives you a free iPhone and Android app. The mobile apps come with unique features like heart rate monitoring, audio cues, and two-way sync. Though the web app has been updated, you can catch our earlier review and see How To Use RunKeeper To Set Exercise Goals.

Running is one of the best solutions for a healthy body and a clearer mind. If you want to get off the couch and start with an exercise, there’s nothing as good or as free as running. Let us know if you are a runner and your favorite online destination that keeps you motivated for the long run.

Image credit: Shutterstock

10 Great Health-Related Apps for the iPhone and iPad

Bakari Chavanu — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 18:30:01 +0000

One of the best things about iOS mobile applications is how developers try to create solutions for the practical needs of users. The popular Apple ad slogan “There’s an app for that” rings pretty true, especially in the case of health care software for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the iPad.

While there are several dozens paid applications in this category, you’ll be pleased to know there are a good number of free options that will address many of the exercise and health related needs of iOS users. From calorie counters, fitness apps, to kids’ health information; these apps can be very useful in helping us take better care of ourselves and our loved ones.

Note: all the links in the headings below are to the App Store.

Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker

No doubt many of you have a new year resolution for losing weight and watching your calorie intake. MyFitnessPal’s Calorie & Diet Tracker is like keeping a calorie diary on your iPhone.

After you log in and register your weight loss (or gain) goals and your exercise habits, you can use Calorie Counter to tap into its large food database. The app provides you nutritional facts about the food you eat. You log in and add the information about your meals each day, and Calorie Counter keeps track of your calorie intake and the progress you’re making toward your goals.

The app also enables you to invite your friends to become a part of your weight watching program. Calorie Counter has very high ratings in the App Store. The more you learn to use it, the easier it becomes to maintain it as a daily log.

Calorie Counter

FatSecret’s Calorie Counter is another meals, exercise, and weight tracker for the iPhone and iPod touch. There’s also an optimized version for the iPad.

In addition to its large database of food information, Calorie Counter includes a barcode scanner feature for getting more accurate data of the foods you eat. You can also browse menu information at nearly all national restaurant chains, as well as popular brand products from major supermarkets. You can save your searches and re-use them for future log entries.

The user interface of Calorie Counter is very well done, featuring a diet calendar, exercise diary, weight tracker, and of course, a food diary. All your data can be synced to your Fatsecret.com account.

Fitness Free

For those of us looking to get a fitness regiment going, Fitness Free includes 300 exercise routines you can choose from and add to your fitness log as you complete them.

You can also customize your exercises. Each exercise “recipe” includes instructions on how to perform the exercise and where it should fit into your daily or weekly exercise routine. The paid full version of the application offers other features, but this free version is enough to get you started.

Glucose Buddy

For iOS users with diabetes, Glucose Buddy is a data storage utility in which users can “manually enter glucose numbers, carbohydrate consumption, insulin dosages, and activities.”

Glucose Buddy is well designed and graphically oriented, with graphs, log-in reminders, and the ability to sync information to your online account.

Carb Counting with Lenny

For children with diabetes, Carb Counting with Lenny is a fun app for managing diabetes. According to the app’s description: “Carb counting allows children with diabetes to eat a variety of foods, just like other kids, and increases their sense of control and confidence in managing their diabetes. For parents and caregivers, this is important in order to plan meals and help children maintain good blood sugar levels.”

Children can search food information by photos and save them to the photo library of their iOS device.

SparkPeople

SparkPeople is the iPad and iPhone version of the popular exercise and fitness website, SparkPeople.com. This application is also well designed with lots of colorful graphic detail.

In addition to helping you keep track of your food and calorie intake, SparkPeople can help you plan weight watching meals, keep track of your exercises, and the progress you”˜re making toward your weight goals. SparkPeople could possibly replace a couple of other fitness apps that do the same thing. While the app has many categories, it’s very easy to search food information and keep track of your daily meals and exercises. You can also link your information to your online SparkPeople account.

Everyday Health

We all should all have a general health reference guide that we can access at any time. Everyday Health, Inc. has produced well designed and easy to use general health information application filled with descriptions about the top 50 health conditions, including allergies, eating disorders, HIV/AIDS, lung cancer, thyroid conditions, and yeast infections.

The health care software for the iPhone includes hundreds of daily health tips, expert answers from doctors and pharmacists, and nutritional facts about various snacks that we love to eat. Its “What Would Mom Say…” list home remedies for common health problems like sore throat, sprained angle, sunburns, cold sores, and queasy stomach.

Everyday Health is like having a big 500-page medical reference guide on your iPhone or iPad.

The Snack App

For us snack lovers, EverydayHealth has also produced an app for keeping track of the calories for the snack foods we love to eat.

It breaks down food categories by the number of calories, and it also provides ideas for burning calories and making healthier snack choices. The app is visually designed and descriptions are easy to read, so there’s no reason not check out its content.

Pink Pad Free

This menstrual period and health tracking app is receiving high ratings in the App Store. The app’s calendar-style user interface is easy to navigate and helps women keep track of health-related issues such as weight, menstrual cycle, and emotional/physical well-being.

The app of course sends you menstrual and fertility notifications, and its latest version allows you to set up any reminders you like, such as for drinking water, taking your pill, or getting a breast exam.

KidsCheckup

Designed by pediatric experts, KidsCheckup is a simple reference guide application that includes descriptions of medical treatments, such problems as asthma, common childhood orthopedic conditions, muscular dystrophy, childhood cancer, and cystic fibrosis.

Its “What Do I Do” section provides information for symptoms and solutions for conditions such as asthma flare-ups, chest pains, chicken pox, coughs, dental entries, rashes, splinters. This app is a useful medical resource for parents.

For even more health related apps and information on MUO, check out these articles, here and here. If you know of useful free heath and exercise apps, please let us know about them.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

10 Bicycling Websites That Will Pedal You Into The World Of Cycling

Saikat Basu — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 19:31:56 +0000

Three cheers for human power. Nothing typifies it more than bicycles and the fleet of cyclists that are pedaling on the tarmac with fresh gusto. I am a born again cyclist. Although I aspire to go into the rough and tumble of trail biking, my reboot has been calm.

The thrill of pushing the pedals and “˜burning rubber’ is there, even as a few motorcyclists make me see dust. But we bikers of the lesser kind may be losing out on the glam quotient but gaining a lot when it comes to exercise and carbon credits.

Bicycling or biking is not as simple as it sounds. There’s a lot of technology and technique involved. For instance, coming to grips with the right gear and the right safety precautions is a must. Thankfully, the stock of dedicated cycling websites on the web stops you from taking a wrong turn.

These ten websites will show you that from the first Penny Farthing till the present day, bicycling has never gone out of fashion. Motorbikers can eat dust.

Bicycling Magazine

With articles like 5 Rookie Maintenance Mistakes and Get Off Your Plateau, this website has become one of my favorite reads as I try to catch up after a decade. There’s a whole section for beginners where one can learn the nitty-gritty of bicycling. Bicycling tools like Find a Ride/Map a Ride, a Training Log, or the mobile phone apps (for iPhones, Android, Blackberry etc) make this website worth a bookmark. Also check out the videos on Road Biking Skills in the video section of the site.

Bicycle Tutor

If you thought that your new bicycle is a maintenance-free machine think again. But you have these video tutorials and a helpful forum to fall back on. The Bicycle Repair Guide is a quick way to get to the video tutorials. This is where I learnt how to shift gears on my bicycle and make sense out of all the gear combos available.

Commute by Bike

A nice little blog with a focus on the more utilitarian uses for a bicycle ““ going from Point A to Point B amidst the urban chaos. Read through the Top Ten Commuting 101 Articles if you are a commuter cycling beginner.

Cycling Forums

I bumped into this pretty active forum (200,000+ members) on cycling and although I am not yet a member, it seems to be a nice place to be for bicycling knowhow. The forum also has a regional section on cyclists from Europe, Australia and New Zealand. You can check out the Wiki for any bicycling related information (and also contribute).

Map My Ride

On this site, you can plan, plot, and log your bike runs with just a few mouse clicks. The site is a training application and has a suite of websites on the same concept. The training tools are based on geo-mapping and also give you single-click information on many saved routes, fitness calculators, global event listings and opportunities to compete virtually. The site has a social community built around your training needs.

If you prefer something simpler, try out Gmaps Pedometer.

Pedaling

This site is only for U.S and Canadian cycling buffs. It’s all about getting on the perfect cycling route. Here you will find the straight dope on the best trails because they have already been ridden by zealous cyclists. You can search by ZIP, or by region. Pointers like the difficulty level and traffic rate is also included. Maps and cue sheets are printable for some routes.

VeloNews

You can treat this journal of competitive cycling as a trail post if you are headed that way. The site is chock-a-bloc with resources on hardcore cycling and I can’t even mention them all here. But you might want to check out Tech Answers where Lennard Zinn runs through a lot of technical Q&A on cycling.

Bike Radar

BikeRadar.com takes a 360 degree look at mountain, road, and beginner bikes. There are lots of news, reviews, tips, route information, upcoming event alerts, with a large forum thrown in. Go through the Buyers Guides or the Bike Maintenance Workshops just in case an emergency strikes on the road.

One of the sections I really like to browse through is the Bikeradar Blogs written by a lot of guys on the seat.

Bicycle Law

Bob Mionske is a former Olympic and professional cyclist. He is also an attorney with lots of experience when it comes to dealing with cycling mishaps. His site is all about the best legal advice you can get for free if you are in the United States. Contrary to popular opinion, bicyclists also don’t lead charmed lives on the road.

About.com

Along with Wikipedia, About.com’s pages on all things that have to do with cycling were my first reference point. They could be yours too, if you have just decided to take it up. Follow the links to some helpful hubs on why bike in the first place, finding the right bike size for your height, or the different kinds of bikes that are there. The information is brief and easy to grasp.

So, are you ready to let some sparks fly? Drop a comment if you are an avid cyclist, and also let us know if you have a favorite cycling website of your own for supporting your pedal pushing. Happy cycling!

Image Credit: Shutterstock

3 Fitness Sites That Make Use Of Social Features

Steve Campbell — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:31:07 +0000

Are you finding it difficult to keep up with your fitness goals? It can be hard sometimes to find enough time to work out (even at home), and staying motivated is even harder. Having a gym buddy can help, but co-ordinating two busy schedules can seem pretty impossible sometimes.

It’s because of this that social networks and fitness go hand in hand. To be a part of a network where you have a multitude of supporters with the same goals as you helps get you inspired and into the gym every day. It’s also a great way to track your goals and keep up on your progress over time.

I have come across a few free fitness social sites that promote strong social community in the fitness realm. In this article, I’ll tell you who they are and discuss some of the features that make these sites unique.

DailyBurn

Formerly known as Gyminee, DailyBurn is first up on our list. DailyBurn allows you to track what you eat, record your workouts, follow your progress, and be held accountable for reaching your goals by others.

To record your food intake, you can utilize DailyBurn’s huge database of nearly 400,000 foods and recipes. You just run a search for what you ate, select it, and it appears on your log. If you can’t find what you’re looking for in the database, you can add your own. Also, use it to look up detailed nutritional facts for any food you want.

Tracking your workouts in DailyBurn is just as easy. You can subscribe to workout programs created by others or create your own. Motivators will praise you when you’re meeting your goals and encourage you when you aren’t. Groups and challenges also help to add a level of competition to inspire you to meet your fitness goals.

Traineo

Next up on our list is Traineo, another site to keep you motivated. Traineo has a community of over 200,000 members and offers motivation tips, a before and after gallery, diet plans, tips on nutrition and exercise, and workout routines.

Traineo has tools to calculate precise weight loss using historical trends and daily energy goals. This is largely based on your progress and the goals you set. For a visual example of how this works, check out this short video :

Traineo’s support network is a very social community where others can leave comments and messages of motivation for one another. There are thousands of individuals in the community that can help you out, including your friends and family.

Earndit

The last fitness site with social qualities that I would like to cover is Earndit. Earndit is a little different from the previously mentioned sites. They aren’t social in the way of a community of motivators, but in the way of connecting with existing social tools you already use.

Earndit rewards you for getting fit in the way of gift cards and online discounts. Basically you use a service you might already be familiar with – like Foursquare, Nike+, Everytrail, Garmin Connect, and Fitbit – to record the distance you walk or run to receive points.

It’s an interesting concept that provides an incentive to get fit. To sign up for Earndit, you can create an account on the site or join with your Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Google, Windows Live, or OpenID credentials.

Conclusion

As you can see, tech and fitness work pretty well together. There are some immediate benefits to belonging to an online fitness community, like receiving feedback and motivational comments from people with the same goals as you. Having someone in your ear constantly telling you, “You can do it”, is an amazing motivator.

It’s also statistically proven that we are more likely to meet our goals if we record our progress along the way. Additional incentive doesn’t hurt either.

What free fitness social sites or apps do you use to keep track of your fitness goals? Leave your thoughts, ideas, and comments below!

Image Credit: Kitch Bain

Get Fit: 10 Sites To Find Best Walking, Running & Hiking Trails

Dave Drager — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 16:30:19 +0000

If you are anything like me, you spend the majority of your time during the day at a computer. Although a desk job has its perks, one of them is certainly not a benefit to your cardiovascular system. Every once in a while, you simply need to unplug, get away from all electronic devices, and get out in nature. Even a few short minutes away a day on a hiking trail will do wonders for both your physical and mental conditioning.

Anywhere in the globe (just about) there are plenty of walking, hiking, running and backpacking trails available – long and short, difficult and easy. You just have to know where to find them.

AllTrails

AllTrails is probably the most comprehensive of the sites I’ve used. They let you search by location, and then there are tons of options to narrow down your search by trail length, distance, skill level and more.

Once you’ve picked your set of options, you can select which location interests you. Each trail has a profile and rating, with reviews and comments on the hiking trail. After you are done with your hike, you can create an account and leave a review of the trail to help others in their search.

United States, Canada and Puerto Rico only.

Trails.com

Trails.com and AllTrails actually look like their base trail databases come from the same source. So as far as completeness of trails, they will be about the same. As with AllTrails, Trails.com allows you leave reviews for trails but also is set apart by two notable features.

The first is that you can view and print topographical maps of the area. They are vanilla, not having the trail path labelled, but are good to have if you are unfamiliar with the terrain.

The second neat option is the ability to upload GPS coordinates from your hike. These plot out the hike on a map, and is a neat way to track where you’ve been. There are many tracking apps available for smartphones, and you can also export them from dedicated GPS devices.

EveryTrail

EveryTrail bills itself as a “GPS Travel Community”. Unlike the prior sites which first built out their databases using pre-existing sources, Everytrail has been built from scratch using GPS imports from actual hiking trail experiences.

The good part to this is that each trail is ‘real’ and someone else has done it. Many trails also have photos and more information about it. On the down side, this site is less comprehensive than the above sites especially with regard to smaller local trails.

Another feature that sets EveryTrail apart is its mobile applications which let you track your trail and save it to the site, with pictures and video. EveryTrail has apps for iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile and Blackberry.

Everytrail is International and includes hikes from all over the world.

TrailLink

TrailLink is a project of the Rails-to-Trails conservancy, which means it mainly consists of railroad tracks and grades that have been converted to trails. These trails are great for walks, biking and general ‘commuting’ since they connect locations together.

TrailLink is US only at this time.

LocalHikes

Localhikes is another US-only site which has guides for many trails. This site has less trails in number, but each hiking trail has a nice writeup for it and also has many comments which may have valuable hints for the trail.

Google Earth Layers

Google Earth has partnered with many organizations to provide trail map and information in its program. Once you have installed Google Earth, there are several Layers which provide trail information. Look for:

Everytrail
Trimble Outdoors Trips
Wikiloc

In addition to these built in layers, many of the sites listed in this article have Google Earth integration via a .kml file. Look on each site for links to “View in Google Earth” to load them and launch the viewer.

Google Earth works for trails worldwide.

WikiWalki

WikiWalki is probably the hidden gem of the group. The interface allows you to map any trails or walks, and it is primarily ‘map focused’. However, the trail database is lacking in completeness, making this site hard to use for people in most areas. Hopefully more and more trails will be uploaded, and it would be great to see this as a primary site for finding walkable paths.

WikiWalki is for international trails.

Wikiloc

Wikiloc is the website component to the Google Earth layer mentioned above. Their site, much like WikiWalki, allows you to upload your trails and then view profile information and map them in Google Earth.

In my opinion, Wikiloc’s interface isn’t as visually appealing at WikiWalki but they do seem to have more data which is a definite plus. Their search function didn’t appear to work correctly for me, but using the map to narrow down to my area did help find trails relatively close.

Wikiloc works for trails worldwide.

Traildino

Traildino bills itself as the largest hiking trail database. Traildino is a bit different in that it does not track the trails itself, but works as a sort of directory to links of the website of many trails. Traildino is international, so you can find trails all over the world.

I’ve found that Traildino does have many of the more famous trails, but do not expect to see smaller local trails listed here.

MapMyHike

The final site is more of a ‘social fitness’ site which connects together groups of individuals looking to attain a physical fitness goal. As with some of the other sites, MapMyHike has a free iPhone app named iMapMyHike [iTunes link], which is a personal fitness app which can help you track your physical fitness. They also have separate apps that can map your hikes, bikes, walks and more – and upload them to the site.

They are currently developing a new version of their site (included in screenshot above) and looks to be an up and coming website.

When All Else Fails

What happens if the sites above don’t have a trail listed near your location? Well here is the good news, you actually don’t even need a website to tell you where to walk. You can simply turn off your computer and walk out your door and you have unlimited miles to walk for free. I never thought it made much sense to drive to find some place to walk, but in many urban areas this is simply the case.

Let us know if you have any other favorite places to track down interesting walks, hikes and more!

Image credit: Shutterstock