Touch-Screen Technology Brings Fitness To The Tech Savvy
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Touch-screen technology is allowing users to let more than just their fingers do the walking. NY1 Health & Fitness reporter Kafi Drexel filed the following report on some of the latest in technology aimed at keeping you more fit.You can work out a lot more than just your thumbs on your cell phone these days.
"The real benefit here is for people who are just getting into exercise," says Men's Fitness Editor Sean Hyson. "They are not really familiar with a lot of the exercises or how a workout should flow. They can get it all spoon fed to them."
The March issue of Men's Fitness magazine profiles some of the most popular programs available for download on your BlackBerry, iPhone, or Google Android.
For $3, iPhone users can download the iPump Total Body application.
"The iPump Total Body is a very basic fitness application," explains Hyson. "It's got 80 full-body exercises you can use to customize no matter what your goal is: strength, endurance, or flexibility. It's a got a great audio coach; a trainer that instructs you through the exercises so you can do it properly."
On the more expensive side, for $40, the FitSync for Google Android provides you with 20 different exercise categories and 1,000 different exercise videos to choose from.
Then, there's FitDeck Mobile for BlackBerry. For $25, the application takes you through exercises, basically working as virtual flash cards.
In addition to showing you exercises, some of these applications actually link up to websites and help you track your progress and plan your workouts.
"That's great if you need motivation, if you want to join with a buddy, workout with a partner," says Hyson. "You can upload your workouts online, discuss them, and talk about them with trainers."
The trainers at New York Health & Racquet Club say going mobile can be a great supplement to your regular routine.
"A lot of times you see people walk into a gym, hit the treadmill for 30 minutes, 45 minutes and then they leave," says trainer Maria Simone. "They forget about using their body weight, squats, lunges, basic exercises. So here this helps them, beginners get into basic exercises more than just the treadmill."
"You were able to look through just a whole list of body-weight exercises, and I'm a firm believer that body weight is the best way to start any fitness level," says fellow trainer, Zach Hyman.
The programs can not only help you on the road to being tech savvy, but fitness savvy, as well.