Fitness and Devices: No Longer an Oxymoron
Regular exercise provides many benefits for physical and mental health at all ages, reducing risk factors such as overweight, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol that lead to various chronic diseases.
By contrast, a sedentary lifestyle increases our risk of many conditions such as mental health issues, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and many types of cancer.
Despite widespread awareness of the benefits of daily physical activity, only 15% of Australian adults successfully meet the recommended Australian guidelines for physical activity and muscle strengthening. We should all be aiming for a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise or 10,000 steps per day, whichever framework resonates best with you.
With life’s busy schedule, it’s easy to lose sight of these goals. However tracking one’s fitness progress increases the likelihood of ongoing success, irrespective of whether the aim is to lose weight, gain muscle mass or to simply maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Improvements in smart phones and smart watches has made tracking our physical activity much easier. Using this technology, we can now track our activities such as step-count, heart rate, exercise frequency, exercise duration and more.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE BENEFITS OF LOGGING AND TRACKING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY:
- Improves the likelihood of reaching and surpassing one’s goal
- Improves workout efficiency
- Lends accountability to oneself and one’s goals
- Highlights when and where changes need to be made, allowing easy modification of one’s exercise plan.
- A great way to self motivate and reinforce the activity, and a regular reminder to stay on task.
- Keeps you committed to your plan
- Allows you to share and compare your data with others, including friends family and even your doctor
FREE APPS TO MEASURE ACTIVITY
- iPhone Health App – Measures daily, weekly and monthly step count
- MapMyWalk – Sets a walking route, and keeps a log of steps and frequency
- MapMyRun – Sets a running route, and keeps a log of steps and frequency
- MyZone – Purchase a heart rate strap and monitor, download the app and keep a log of exercise, heart rate, calories burnt and more
3 STEPS TO BECOMING MORE PHYSICALLY ACTIVE
- Establish your goal – e.g. 30 mins of daily exercise, 2 weight sessions per week, 10,000 steps per day
- Measure – Using smart-phone or smart-watch technology or Fitbit.
- Review – Each week set aside 5-minutes to review your activity and adjust if necessary. It can also be helpful to have review appointments with a professional such as your GP, and exercise physiologist or personal trainer to monitor your progress, and suggest and implement modifications tailored to your lifestyle and goals.
When the starting point is a sedentary lifestyle, making the first step is always the hardest. Having some support when embarking upon change is the best way of ensuring adherence. Before getting started, consult a health professional to determine what types of exercises are safest and best suited to your individual circumstances. Discuss your goals, and create measurable and achievable outcomes to ensure these lifestyle changes can be maintained.