These five apps can help kick-start your journey to a better body
Fitstar Personal Trainer
(Available on Android and iOS)
Fitbit’s personal trainer app can customise your workout based on your Fitbit activities. Each workout is accompanied by a well-made video and voiceover coaching, so you have adequate guidance and never lose your place. There are a number of workouts available, although some require a paid membership. Seasoned athletes may not find the workouts challenging, but most people should be able to break a sweat and feel some burn.
30-day Fitness Challenge
(Available on Android and iOS)
This app may not be sophisticated nor visually appealing, but if you are looking for an uncomplicated approach to fitness, this might just be it. Choose from five workout options: full body, abs, butt, arm or leg. The app will prompt you daily to complete your exercises, which are simple and should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete. Exercises for the abs workout, for example, include crunches and planks.
HealthHub Track
(Available on Android)
Developed by the Health Promotion Board, this app allows you to set up action plans to achieve health goals. These goals might include losing weight, sleeping better or reducing stress. After you choose an action plan, the app will suggest small lifestyle changes to focus on each week. Check a task off five times and you will be given a new one. The action plan is completed when you have mastered 10 habits. These might include going to bed at the same time every day or going for a walk at lunch.
Eat This Much
(Available on Android and iOS)
After asking you some questions about your height, weight and goals, this meal planning app can generate breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes that fit a proposed caloric intake. There are options to set a daily meal budget (although the prices may not accurately reflect local costs) and to exclude allergens or specify a diet type such as vegetarian or paleo. With a premium plan, which starts at US$7 ($9.70) a month, the app can generate a week’s worth of meals at a time, create a grocery list, keep track of your leftovers and even include leftovers in subsequent meals.
Zombies, Run!
(Available on Android and iOS)
Plug in your headphones and hear zombies breathe down your neck as you run from them. The app’s dramatic storytelling — you can run to quite a number of different missions — has been able to motivate many people who find running too boring. Players collect items as they run and sometimes have to speed up to avoid being caught and losing their supplies. The first four missions are free, and you can unlock one new mission a week. For a fee, unlock more than 200 missions immediately.
This article appeared in Issue 782 (June 5) of The Edge Singapore.
