The short answer is – it depends on whether you plan on using the app! One of the more difficult aspects of maintaining your workout program is consistency. Whether it’s tracking your workouts, your diet, your blood pressure, or sleep patterns, maintaining records can show you where you’re at, where you’ve been, and where you want to be. And, regular use of health apps can be important tool to help you stay on your workout plan!
One of the biggest advantages of workout apps is – if you have the app on your smartphone, you’ll always have your records with you. In the past, most records we used to keep track of our health and workout progress were on paper. And, out of site – out of mind. Having your history on a health app means it’s always with you. This makes it much easier to keep your records current, as you can update your records “right now”. And, having your records accessible at all times – can help you stay motivated as well – just seeing that app every time you look at your phone can act as a reminder to get to the gym, drink that extra glass of water, or stay true to your diet!
Additionally – good health apps can provide education about your health, diet, and workouts that can help you change past behaviors – leading you to better success with your workout and diet plans. Use of health apps can help you be more proactive in your cardio, weight training, and your overall exercise regime.
For example, let’s say you’re going to go for a run. You know that on your last run, you ran 2 miles. You know this because your health app tracked the distance and time from your last run – and using GPS, even mapped that run for you.
Now – if your goal is to run a 5K next month (which is about 3.1 miles) – you want to make sure you’ve run that distance a number of times before that race you signed up for. You can take a look at your last run, check the map to see if you want to extend your distance on that run, and even have an idea that if you did that 2 mile run in 20 minutes last time, if you want to extend it to 2.5 miles on your next run, you’ll want to run for about 25 minutes – and as your health app will track your distance as you run, you can now set a goal to run that distance and time on your next run.
Using a health app can make for a great training partner. Many of the apps out there for both iPhone and Android do a great job providing record keeping, workout ideas and information, and diet tips and recipes. Just make sure you open the app and use it!
