Turn your Lumia into a personal trainer
Forget splashing out on expensive one-to-one training. To get fitter and healthier this year, your Lumia has all the motivation you’ll need.
Last week, a Windows Phone app emerged victorious at the AT&T Developer Summit Hackathon in Las Vegas. Winner of the “Accelerator Challenge”, FitBike is designed for cycle enthusiasts.
The idea allows a combination of services, hardware and tools to be integrated into the app’s functionality. For example; using Nokia’s Imaging SDK for profile shots, using HERE Maps for routing information, connecting to Sensoria to capture cadence information, even communicating with a vest that signals what way you’re turning. Cool.
FitBike will also connect to a GoPro camera for taking action shots on the move, and a Pebble Watch that receives data about your current ride.
As cycle fans who currently partner up with a Nokia Lumia 925 on rides, we think it’s a great idea that would really take advantage of the Lumia’s raw power. No release date has been announced, but its makers and winners of the $10,000 first prize, Team Metro, are working to get it into Windows Phone Store soon.
The success of FitBike signals a growing trend on mobile – the increase of health and fitness apps – and your Lumia has the prowess to get you in shape. Here are our highlights of the latest apps that will get you fit, get you healthy and help you achieve that resolution you set yourself on January 1st.
RunTastic PRO
Regardless of its namesake, RunTastic PRO is, in fact, designed for all-manner of sports; walking, golfing, hiking, cycling, yoga, even back-country skiing. In fact, there are 51 pre-set activities to choose from.
In its most basic mode, it’ll use your Lumia’s GPS to record your workout and present you with, among others, a detailed breakdown of average pace, max speed, elevation gain, calories burned and, if you have a monitor connected via Bluetooth, heart rate.
Dig deeper into the stats and you can assess split times and running routes. Then upload your workouts, share routes via NFC and devise training plans. You can even enable ‘live tracking’, allowing contacts to watch your progress and send you ‘cheers’.
The new ‘Story Running‘ feature offers a selection of pre-recorded story themes (spoken word and music) to motivate you while running. Quite cheesy but something new, I guess.
If that’s not for you, listen to your own local playlists or delve into workout mixes, specially curated by Nokia Music.
Elan Skis
If you’re lucky enough to be getting fit on the slopes this winter, then download this seriously impressive skiing app.
Exclusive to Windows Phone, Elan Skis allows skiers to track their speed and position on the mountain, thanks to Active Network technology powered by Microsoft Azure. If you’re good, fast or crazy enough, you might end up on one of the global leaderboards.
As well as tracking and recording your runs, the ActivePic feature – a bit like Instagram – allows you to share shots straight from your Lumia.
Also included in the app is information for thousands of ski resorts, live snow conditions, open trails, ski-lift details and mountain information. You can also set your lock screen to display pertinent information during your runs for easy visual access.
One of our favourite features are the training plans for skiing, cross-country skiing, snowboarding and telemark ski. Split into distance, these (paid-for) downloadable three-to-four-week plans appear right on your Lumia, inviting you to improve your snow skills.
An essential accompaniment from green run to black and beyond.
adidas miCoach
It’s one of the world’s most popular fitness apps, with thousands uploading and sharing workouts, receiving daily instructional exercise programs and tracking their running progress using nothing but this app and their phone.
As well as being highly integrated with Nokia – you can listen to Nokia MixRadio during workouts, for example, – the latest update for Windows Phone users add a plethora of welcome additions, such as:
- An extra table of splits per lap listed on your workout results
- Both kilometre and mile map markers, now added to workout results
- Support for ‘stride sensors’ – only on Lumia phones that support Bluetooth Smart, which is part of the Black update.
- A new ‘compete’ feature that, using NFC/Bluetooth, allows two miCoach users to bump their phones together and instantly compare statistics.
- Best of all, a new Anna Ivanovic motivational voice pack has been added. Who, you ask? This is who.
Gym Pocketguide
Rather than an app that tracks, records and analyses workouts, Gym PocketGuide does what it says on the tin – gives you a guide to the gym, in your pocket. Well, on your Lumia actually.
The free version contains individual programs for male/female body building, male/female fat loss and muscle-bulk for men.
Dive into any of these to get a seven-day plan, each attacking a different area of the body and giving you a list of activities to endure, replete with sets, reps and, if needed, time on the treadmill or track.
If this all sounds too much, too soon, don’t sweat (literally), most programs have a rest day for some well-needed R&R.
The workout section is split into various areas of the body, such as abdominals, arms, back and chest. Within each are pictorial guides to the workouts that each program refers to. The stretches section (very important) is split into upper and lower body, again with photographic guides to aid your stretching prowess.
A great companion for the gym, whether at home or at the local studio.
Are you using any fitness apps not mentioned here, or do you use you Lumia to aid your workouts? Let us know in the comments below.