Some mornings you’ll want to smack the snooze button, possibly several times, instead of waking up to run like you said you were going to the night before. As you sluggishly throw back the covers and brace yourself for getting ready for work, in about nine minutes less than if you hadn’t have hit ‘snooze’, you remember your over-eager enthusiasm from last night’s comment. You shake off any guilt from not doing that pre-empted run, and the thought alone is tiring enough this morning. It’s okay though, you can fit a gym session in later, or maybe tomorrow.
Life is busy, for the vast majority of us, and there never seems to be enough hours in the day. We either work hard for our ever-expanding cost of living, are looking after the constant chaos of the family home, or we’re cordially accepting and filling the social calendar. It’s rare to find quality time just for you, or at least time that isn’t guilt-ridden – having not called him or her back, finished that on-going job…you know the groundhog drill.
Equally, ‘the youth of today’ are getting a negative slamming with the constant ‘obesity crisis’ publicity, with them ‘not spending enough time keeping fit and active’. The pessimistic assuming, would believe that all children enjoying any indoor, tech’ gaming have replaced actual physical activities, resulting in a root cause for weight gain and a generally unfit generation. I’m not in denial and agree that if this were the general rule and core option to keeping kids entertained, it wouldn’t be a wise one for the obvious health implications. However, modern technology doesn’t necessarily determine an unfit future, there’s a lot to be learned.
In reality, there have been so many techy advances for making fitness an (almost) effortless inclusion in our everyday life, that there really are no excuses to finding the time to keep fit. If you’re like me, you’ll have heard this before from many a promotional article or from a fitness-pushing pro’ you once met at a mind-numbing networking event. However, I’ve started to really listen, I’ve needed to, and I’m learning that it really isn’t that hard to find time in a digital age.
Why have I all of a sudden become a fitness freak and discovered there’s extra hours in the day?
Well I haven’t on either counts as yet, but here’s what’s paving the way to a more positive, healthy future and it’s a brighter one.
1Rebel mobile spinning classes – commuting whilst working out! Fitness brand, 1Rebel, claims to be revolutionising London’s exercise industry. It currently runs a series of centrally located, no-contract ‘pay-as-you-train’ boutiques that promise “highly intense fitness sessions against a backdrop of live entertainment.” Rather than taking you to the gym, 1Rebel takes you to chic locations that feature bespoke playlists, curated and mixed by internationally acclaimed DJs.
Yet creating a fitness experience that galvanises and inspires, isn’t enough; 1Rebel has announced plans to transform London buses into mobile spinning studios, enabling you to combine your commute with a high intensity interval training (HIIT) workout.
The fitness brand is currently in talks with a number of bus companies, and awaits the go ahead from the government. If all legalities and permissions are approved, the bus could be launching in a matter of months. The innovative spinning classes will travel along the most popular commuter routes through London, finishing up at the 1Rebel studio, where riders can grab a shower and smoothie before heading into work.
So how are we going to get active today? Here are a few of the latest digital fitness apps that will make working out, work for you…
The 7 Minute Workout Challenge – an award-winning app for an effective workout.
The authors, Brett Kilka and Chris Jordan have written a very comprehensive research article that should really be read in its entirety, but for those of you with little time, or patience, here’s a summary.
Backed by peer-reviewed scientific research the 7MWC app has become an international hit. Designed with your busy life in mind, it allows you to workout anywhere and anytime. The researchers have put together twelve exercises that can be performed in seven minutes, but achieve the equivalent of an hour’s workout. There is a catch, in that you need to do them to the best of your ability, high intensity, and rest very little in between for a maximum of ten seconds. It promises a straightforward, effective and ‘proper’ workout, with trackable results, and incentivised unlockable achievements. So with “over a million people” already giving it a go, it makes sense to give this one the time.
Zombies, Run! – a game-based app that gets your heart racing.
Only a few have survived the zombie epidemic and you are a runner en-route to one of humanity’s last remaining outposts. ‘They’ need your help to gather supplies, rescue survivors, and defend their home, but you have another mission – one they don’t know about…
It’s a fun app that you walk, jog and run your way through. Hearing your ‘mission’ and music through earphones, if you’re chased by zombies you’ll run, and you’ll automatically collect supplies to build up your base. An app that’s not only a refreshing, albeit nerve-wracking, break from the norm’, but one that can be liked by kids too.
Sworkit – a fitness app with a personalised exercise plan.
Sworkit, derived from ‘Simply WORK IT’, is a fitness app that takes you through five to sixty minute strength, yoga, pilates and stretching workouts, requiring no equipment. Its aim is to provide the simplest way to workout anywhere, anytime, with no allowance for excuses.
The Sworkit custom workout builder allows both novices and professionals, such as physical therapists, personal trainers, physical education instructors, and doctors, to create and share custom routines (‘playlists’) from a growing library of over 170 different exercises. It’s as easy as building a music playlist.
Daily Yoga – a free yoga app for those on the go.
Daily Yoga focuses on providing an intuitive and comprehensive yoga training app for that’s suitable for all abilities. One of the top, free mobile healthcare & fitness apps on the market, it helps millions of people to get and stay healthy, by exercising yoga workouts on the go.
It goes without saying that finding both time for yourself and time to keep fit, isn’t always as simple as we want and need it to be, with work and life commitments inevitably taking precedence. Yet by utilising digital fitness aids, we can achieve more ‘me time’ and increase our successes in both work, and at home. Be a happier, healthier you and get digitally active.
We would love to know what fitness apps or trends you’ve tried and tested, loved or loathed. Do you have a strong opinion on having time to realistically incorporate fitness into everyday life? Does your workplace or business encourage and endorse a healthier lifestyle, to further productivity and lessen absenteeism?
