There are more than enough reasons to increase your physical fitness, but staying on track with your goals can be hard. By utilizing trackable technology, people are improving their lifestyles. With the invention of wearable technology, individuals are encouraged to engage in healthy behavior.
We all have fitness goals, especially after the New Year, but how can you make your workout into game-like experiences? Follow along for the top five ways to gamify your fitness goals.
Nike+
Nike+ is a program created by Nike which was created to encourage its users to exercise more through a fitness monitoring program. With the help of gamification, and the emergence of more technology, Nike was able to create a product that tracks athletes and sports enthusiasts. It can map routes, running distances, speeds, and calories burned.
Exercise itself can be a game, and Nike has managed to gamify elements of training and exercise regimes that were previously seen as a burden. The Nike+ Running app is available for both Android and iPhone platforms. It includes pre-recorded messages of encouragement from celebrities and sports personalities to play during challenging workouts or runs. Social media connection allows for you to share their activity and goals on social platforms to keep friendly competition and encouragement.
Zombies, Run!
Zombies, Run! is the app of the future. This fitness platforms sets you up for the most gamified workout experience yet. As you begin running or walking around, you will begin to hear your mission through your headphones. When the zombies begin to chase you, you have to speed up to avoid becoming lunch! As you run, you automatically collect supplies to rebuild your town. This app comes with over 200 missions so you’ll never run out of plot lines or motivation for your workout. It also allows you to sync your runs online so you can share and track your progress with players from around the world.
Superhero Workout
The Superhero Workout uses your device’s camera to track and count every rep and calorie. The platform currently has 20 missions to complete ranging anywhere from saving Earth from an imminent invasion to piloting a battlesuit. This application makes working out about saving the world, not just staying in shape. There are 12 curated workouts tailored to specific hero needs. If you are looking to improve abdominal strength, you can test out the Core Reactor workout. If you need a quick boost of energy, you can test out the Hypersonic workout!
There is no equipment needed for any of these workouts, which helps you to feel like you aren’t working out, but playing a game! As with most of these other applications, you can track your progress in terms of reps and caloric burn through graphs. You will earn achievement points for hitting rep targets.
Shape Up for Xbox One
Shape Up is an Xbox Kinect video game that provides unexpected workouts. This game asks you to punch asteroids for a cardio workout and squat yourself to the moon for a leg-burning workout. And just in case that’s not exciting enough, you can bench press an elephant to keep you engaged. This game allows you to target specific muscle groups in 90-second training bursts, take on a 4-week quest, or challenge your friends online for a friendly competition option.
Strava
Strava is an application platform that works on iPhones and Androids as a running and cycling tracking device. It can be integrated with heart rate monitors, GPS watches, and head units for a more comfortable tracking experience. Strava works as a social media platform for athletes, allowing you to record and share your activity on the Strava feed with friends and followers. Through this social feed, you can give other athletes kudos on good performances and challenge them to races.
Segments are an important interactive part of the Strava app. These are popular stretches of road or trails with time-tracked history. It allows for athletes to create and work towards a leaderboard for specific segments against other athletes. This also helps athletes who are unsure of where to go next to find a good running or cycling spot.
With the use of any of these applications it’s important to remember you are still working out, and there is still a risk of injury if you don’t follow basic fitness tips. Being aware of common fitness injuries is important to keeping yourself safe and healthy.
Technology is changing the exercise and sports world. With wearable technology and gamification becoming so normalized, users are able to track their workouts from start to finish and set goals based on the data towards. It can be so easy to lose motivation a few months into a workout resolution. But by focusing on keeping your fitness goals on track, and gamifying your workout routines, it is easier than ever to reach them!