Trendy gadgets and phone apps to help you become a better person

The goal of the participants of the special project “Get in shape in 30 days” is not only to achieve the set goal and see the result, but also to understand how to go through the whole path of transformation as correctly and comfortably as possible. And here it is not only about safety in the gym, a balanced diet and the constant search for motivation in everything that surrounds you … but also about how to learn in time about the appearance of a new application for your phone, which will count the calories in your breakfast in 2 seconds or fitness bracelet, which will become a faithful companion on the treadmill and in the gym. Read more in our material.

Maxim Syreyshchikov, Managing Director of “Championship”

“Features of personal training. What you can find in the fitness room.”

During the entire experiment, Maxim did not use any additional gadgets and phone apps, but was constantly under the control of his personal trainer, who helped to adjust the training program depending on the client’s progress and results. In order to tell you what devices can be found in any fitness gym and how to use them correctly, we turned to Maxim’s trainer, elite trainer of the World Class Vlasov gym Vladimir Bardin.

1. A device for measuring body fat, body water and muscle mass

In fact, these scales are usually not in the gym itself, they are placed in our special medical room, but any client can use them. These scales are based on the following principle: you stand up, infrared radiation passes through you, which determines the level of fat layer, how much water is in the body, how much muscle. This is very useful at the beginning, when the trainer is just making a workout plan and the nutritionist is making a diet plan.

2. Sensors for measuring heart rate (HR).

1) built into exercise machines (treadmills and elliptical trainers);

2) customized sensors that clients purchase on their own.

Gadgets that can detect heart rate are usually self-purchased. There are also gadgets built into exercise equipment, such as treadmills and ellipticals. But built-in sensors can give an error of up to 20 beats. However, in any case, they can and should be used, especially if the training is aimed at fat burning and it is important to stay in a certain heart rate zone.

Their task is to determine the heart rate, the time it takes to recover, and then individually calculate the necessary training load depending on the athlete’s goals. In Maxim’s case, thanks to the fact that he passed the fitness test in the conditions of the Olympic Committee, there was no need to determine the optimal heart rate for training. It was enough to follow the recommendations and keep it within the intervals that had already been calculated in the laboratory.

Sensors, which can be purchased separately, are worn on the chest as a strap and as a watch on the client’s or trainer’s arm. They are very good at identifying heart rate zones. If the coach has the watch, he can see what the athlete’s heart rate is and can control the training process from a professional point of view.

Polina Sycheva, student and freelancer

“A fitness tracker that is always with you.”

Recently, carrying around a “smart” watch has become fashionable. But the prices of such gadgets fluctuate greatly: if the average fitness bracelet can be purchased for just a couple thousand rubles, then you will have to spend a lot of money on an Apple Watch. To participate in the experiment, Polina bought a Xiaomi Mi Band 2 fitness bracelet. In order to understand what is the need for such a purchase and what it can really help you when doing sports, we turned to the participant of the experiment.

A functional toy.
At first glance, the tracker seemed to me not the most necessary item, without which I will not be able to enter the gym, too fashionable wearing such bracelets has become recently. For myself, I picked up a model not even in the middle, but in the low price category in order to understand the necessity of the gadget.

About functions: the bracelet I bought has four main functions – a heart rate monitor, a pedometer, a sensor that tracks sleep, and the ability to connect alerts synchronized with your phone (very convenient when doing sports).

Pros: I tested the pedometer on the first day to see how much difference the fitness bracelet would make from the standard pedometer built into the Iphone. The difference turned out to be decent: the phone recorded 12,350 steps, while the bracelet 16,453 steps. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the phone was not always with me, and the bracelet was always on my arm. Or the bracelet is more sensitive to movement. Among other pluses I can tell you that the heart rate tracker measures correctly, it is very convenient to use it in the gym, you just need to press the button at the right moment and in 15 seconds your heart rate will appear on the screen. During the test, in parallel, I checked the heart rate on the tanometer, no strong errors were detected.

Cons: not much finalized function associated with the so-called sleep control. In idea, thanks to the resulting graphs you can monitor the quality of your sleep and correctly divide it into periods – how much time lasted a short sleep, how much time – a long sleep. Thanks to this, you can correctly calculate and adjust the time of falling asleep and think about what time it is most comfortable for you to get up. However, in my personal experience, I have repeatedly experienced that the application on my phone, synchronized with the bracelet, recorded my time of falling asleep much earlier than it was in reality. This is probably due to the fact that the only metric available to read is your heart rate. So, if your HR decreases at rest, the bracelet detects the beginning of the process of falling asleep.

3. Nikita Kuzin, journalist.

“Forward and with music. Podcasts and playlists for jogging in your phone”

What can be better than running to pleasant music? And it doesn’t matter where: on a treadmill, in a park or in a stadium. Lately, it has become fashionable to run not only to a selection of your favorite tracks, but also to so-called podcasts (audiobooks, motivational commentaries overlaid on music), many of which are freely available for download on iTunes.

Take note: most modern fitness apps released by world-renowned brands contain not only the ability to track your running distance during a workout and convenient GPS navigation, but also playlists compiled with the help of professional athletes.

Where to find music for your workouts? Editor’s Choice:

Nike NRC+ is for those who care about the app’s functionality: music, tips from top coaches, GPS tracker and more.

Download.

“Yandex Music” – the ability to listen and create free playlists yourself.

Download.

Online Radio – the ability to listen to tracks online or download a selection to your phone in advance.

Download.

4. Dayana Mukhametzhanova, student

“Top 3. Review of the most useful free fitness apps”

Working out at home is not easy. You need constant motivation, sources with verified information, and fitness note-taking to keep track of your workout progress on your own. Here’s a useful overview of apps to keep your workouts and nutrition in check.

1. FatSecret is a free food diary.

Download

For whom: for anyone who is watching their weight and keeping a balance of PBJU.

The application allows you to add to your list not only those foods that you can buy in the store, but also those dishes and drinks that you buy in cafes or restaurants. A special search by the name of the establishment works. The app itself has a very large database of products, so you can easily find what you need.

Lifehack: for example, I very often check the calorie content of my favorite rolls and pies in fast food. Once you see the calorie content of a small bun or lemonade, you will think a hundred times: is it worth it?

2. Gipis is a running app.

Download

For whom: for those who are ready to define their goal in advance and are ready to train hard under the command of their Iphone.

A good app that runs in the background and doesn’t eat up a lot of space or battery life. Adjusts your workouts based on your progress and gives you a detailed statistic report at the end of your run.

3. Tabata – timer for interval training.

Download

For whom: for those who are result-oriented and want to make the training process effective.

An app that allows you to perform workouts in the tabata technique – 20 seconds of intense work, 10 seconds of rest. Since each exercise is performed for a specific time, the app has a large timer with audible notifications. So you can work out to the fullest without looking at the screen. It is possible to upload detailed statistics for each workout.