WELLBEING
PLUG IN BABY Are you switched on to exercising in your own way, in your own time and in the environment you choose? The answer is fitness apps and tech. Sara Whatley finds out more
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n the past decade fitness apps and trackers have developed from fairly niche gimmicks for joggers to all round personal trainers, fitness programmes and wellness spaces. With our smart phones permanently in our pockets or some sort of fitness tech wrapped around our wrists, it has never been easier to manage our own fitness and health. The convenience of being in control of your workout is endless, and makes tracking your progress and setting yourself new challenges really easy. But firstly, what exactly is the difference between a fitness app and a fitness tracker?
Fitness apps are downloadable on our smart phones and cover a huge array of interests, from weight lifting to nutrition. Many are free to download and have plenty of available free content. Some extra content is paid for, or some entire apps are paid for. Most of us already have a smart phone, so it’s not much extra cost to download an app (or entirely free!), making this a pretty costeffective option. Fitness trackers are separate tech in the form of wristbands, watches, pedometers or accelerometers. Monitoring not just our fitness but our health as well has become much more accessible with wearable fitness trackers. The increasing sophistication of these means you can track steps, calories burnt, and heart rate, as well as sleep monitoring, blood oxygen and electrocardiogram (ECG) activity. Anyone can use this kind of technology from fitness fanatics to newbies. There are apps targeted at older generations, younger generations, and everyone in between. It’s a totally inclusive June 2022 | SUSSEX LIVING 119
