Twitter Your Way to a Fitter Body

Usually, when you think of measuring your fitness with technology, you think of hospital machines and scary tests.

This isn’t always the case. The combination of fun, fitness-savvy technologies—there’s the Wii Fit or the myriad iPod fitness apps—is a recent phenomena. The former can take you through an interactive exercise routine and monitor your weight, body mass index and fitness level. The latter is somewhat less interactive—but it can go with you anywhere, in your pocket. Both are great for beginners or those who need some external motivation to stay active. They’re also great for techies.

With the iPhone or the iPod touch, you can download programs—known as “apps”, short for applications—that can provide you with a fitness routine, monitor your daily activity level, help you maintain, gain or lose weight,  give you fitness advice, show you how to perform a stretch or exercise, help you eat healthful foods, and more.

Apple boasts a program on its website, called iWorkout, that has 101 workout videos and many of the features already mentioned. This app can be downloaded for $ 2.99 CAD, or—if you already went broke buying the iPhone—you can get a lite version for free. The free version  includes a pedometer and metronomes to assist with timing exercise repetitions.

If you’re looking for more than a basic pedometer, there is StepTrak Lite. (Also free.) This program counts walking and running steps separately, and also totals the minutes of moderate and vigorous exercise the user gets. You reset the counter whenever you’d like. You can adjust the sensitivity of the device, and adjust the “classification bias”, which ensures the program properly differentiates between walking and running. Not interactive enough for you? StepTrak Lite is also connected to Twitter. You can log on when you’re using the app, and send Tweets about how many steps you’re taking towards your fitness goals.

Another great, free application is called Lose It! When you open it up, you have to enter your weight (be honest), height, age, and weight loss goals. The program tells you how many calories you require every day to reach your goal by a certain time—you decide how quickly or slowly you want to lose the weight—and allows you to log the food you eat and the exercise you get. There is an extensive list of searchable foods to chose from, and an easy-to-use scrolling menu to enter the quantity you ate. You can also keep track of “nutrient preferences”, and the program will tell you how much sodium, fiber, protein, etc. you are consuming. When you’ve lost the weight, you can keep using the program to maintain your new figure.

These are only a few of seemingly endless health & fitness apps you can download. From free to a few bucks per app, there will be something out there to motivate just about anyone.

Shaun Karp is a certified personal trainer. For further information call his office at 604-420-7800 or visit their web site www.karpfitness.com.