When most people think of getting or staying healthy, they probably picture a line of treadmills at the gym or bulky weight equipment. However, it’s easier than ever to stay fit and track results from your home. You don’t even need a ton of extra space to develop a full-body wellness routine and monitor your success. Best of all, as technology develops it’s more accessible than ever. Here are a few fitness technology essentials to build your wellness routine.
Tech to Monitor Progress and Track Results
It can be difficult to understand just how much progress you’ve made if you never measured where you started. Here are a few items to replace the tracking you would get with a personal trainer or the gym:
Smart Scale
A smart scale does more than just monitor weight. They can also determine body composition, including muscle and body fat percentages as well as bone mass and water percentage. For those who are looking to gain muscle and not just lose fat, or are worried about a weight plateau, a smart scale is a vital upgrade from the traditional bathroom scale.
Additionally, smart scales use bluetooth to sync results to your phone so you can track progress over time. They’re even smart enough to track multiple people, so one scale can help the whole family stay on track. And many smart scales can sync directly to your other fitness devices for a holistic view of your health and fitness.
Fitness Trackers
Combine the smart scale with a wearable fitness tracker to see the whole picture of your fitness journey. Some of the most popular wearables are the Apple Watch and Fitbit Charge, which each include a heart rate monitor and automatically track workouts. Newer versions of each are also waterproof. However, the two high tech watches have key differences to keep in mind when deciding between them.
Apple Watch
The Apple Watch is first and foremost a smartphone companion, which works primarily with Apple devices. It comes with the Nike+ app, Apple Activity app, and can work with a number of additional fitness apps on the app store. The newest iteration also includes an ECG application in addition to the standard heart rate monitor, heart rate sensor, and step counters.
However, its best features are not fitness related, like Apple Pay, Siri, and a number of touch screen apps available through your iPhone. The Apple Watch is a great pick if you’re looking for an everyday wearable that also happens to track fitness – and if you don’t mind spending a bit more.
Fitbit Charge
Meanwhile, the Fitbit Charge puts smart fitness first, with its incredible 7-day battery life, built-in sleep tracker, and 20+ goal-based exercise modes. The newest version includes GPS to automatically track workouts, and the Active Zone Minutes feature monitors your heart rate and alerts you when you’ve reached your target heart rate zone during a workout.
The Fitbit Charge isn’t a fully-fledged smart watch, however. While you’ll get call and text alerts to your synced device, you can’t access any apps that do not come with the device. The display is smaller and monochrome, as it puts function above form; the screen shape fits the wrist beautifully while the LED screen is easy to read even in direct outdoor light.
Whichever fitness tech you choose, you’ll be glad to have your activity tracked in real time and remove the extra work logging your next workout.
Build Out Your Home Gym
Now that you’re ready to track your workouts and results, let’s dive into how you can turn your living room into a full-body home gym. Most virtual classes don’t require any equipment, but you may want to invest in some resistance bands, dumbbells, and a yoga mat that you can stash away when not in use.
Fitness Classes
There are more online fitness classes than ever and for a fraction of the cost of in-person fitness classes. When choosing your digital training sessions, try to choose ones from a reputable source and not just what pops into your YouTube feed. You want to know that who is building the routines knows how to avoid injury and properly demonstrate activities
Here are a few popular choices that you can stream or cast to devices like Roku and smart TVs:
- The OrangeTheory YouTube channel (Free): When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down studios, OrangeTheory rose to the challenge and began publishing daily full-body workouts for their members. Today, there are dozens of daily workouts plus extra challenges. However, there is a chance that they could remove these videos once restrictions are lifted and gyms return to full capacity.
- The Peloton App ($12.99/month): You don’t have to own the pricey home bicycle to access Peloton’s comprehensive app. You’ll get access to thousands of live and on-demand classes, including outdoor running, strength training, bootcamp, yoga, and meditation. Non-peloton stationary bike owners often use a tablet to ride with the classes; however, without a Peloton you won’t be able to participate in challenges or the leaderboard.
- Daily Burn ($14.95-$19.95/month): Daily Burn offers a wide range of fitness videos, from beginner classes and dance workouts up to HIIT and advanced strength training. Its live Daily 365 videos are like joining in on a group workout class, which pump up the motivation and keep your daily workouts fresh.
Meet with a Personal Trainer
Just because you’re not going to a gym doesn’t mean you can’t work with a personal trainer to achieve your goals. With personal training, you’ll have an expert by your side to monitor your metrics and help develop a targeted workout routine and even an eating plan. You’ll be able to make the most out of all the fitness technology above while focusing on the results you want to see.
For personal trainers looking for the best tech to improve their business operations including scheduling, billing, and client management including fitness assessments, try the EZFacility app for Personal Trainers. You’ll save time and be able to spend more energy focusing on your clients.