Tag: Fitness

Strava

zduhamelLeave a comment

Strava is a relatively new app for tracking your cycling and running. It does what much more expensive pieces of equipment do for FREE..

Reasons I love strava and think you should too.

1. Motivation. Strava is pretty, intuitive and it makes seeing your results easy. You can also follow and be followed by friends for added camaraderie.

2. Tracking.. Strava is accurate. You can track your mileage, speed, elevation, heart rate (with monitor and premium account). It’s hard to get better if you can’t track your growth.

3. SEGMENTS! Strava has a unique community feature called segments. Segments are simply a small (or big) part of a ride created by strava users. Anyone who rides over that same segment will be timed and ranked among all the other users. For you weird competitive ones like me out there, this feature alone is worth the download.

4. Challenges. There are also Strava wide challenges that are usually something like Who can ride 500 km first. Usually these challenges are completed by freaks who ride like 100 miles a day, but they are fun nonetheless.

Conclusion:
Strava is an absolute must have if you run or cycle and you have an iphone. It is simply the best way to track your rides and runs. GET IT.

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//click image to go to app store//

Jawbone UP

zduhamelLeave a comment

I wanted to write a quick product review for the Jawbone UP.

jawbone up

PROS:

  1. Aesthetics. The thing looks cool. Comes in several colors. Definitely beats wearing a hip pedometer in my opinion.
  2. Ease of use. The thing has one button. The nicely hidden headphone plug allows for easy plug in updates to your iphone. The new Jawbone UP 24 connects wirelessly so it doesn’t have the headphone plug.
  3. Great way to track life. The UP tracks your steps, you can input a weight training session (kind of), it tracks your sleep (REM and non-REM), your waking time, your mood, your food and drink intake. Helps improve self-awareness.
  4. Motivation. I think seeing your lifestyle laid before you on a good looking app lets you see progress and where you can grow. Nothing motivates more than measured progress.
  5. Connectivity. The UP connects with other apps like Runkeeper, MyFitnessPal, and Strava.
  6. Battery Life. The thing lasts for days.

Cons:

  1. Accuracy. The UP is worn on your wrist, it counts steps when you move your arms around. Not a HUGE deal but definitely a con.
  2. Not very good for strength training. While you can input weight training sessions, it is pretty vague and just assigns your some calorie usage based on length of time and intensity.

Conclusion:

I love the idea of the Jawbone UP and other “life-tracking” technology, I think they are ultra helpful for getting an idea of what your day-to-day calorie expenditure and sleep cycle looks like. I really think that the usefulness of the Jawbone UP depends on your current fitness level and what your future goals are. If you are living a sedentary lifestyle and we want to become more active GET ONE, but if you are already active or even an elite athlete I doubt the effectiveness of counting your steps. Also for those of you, like me, who are trying to build strength and spend most of your time working out in the gym as opposed to running, cycling or long walks, the UP isn’t for you. I don’t think steps per day is the best metric for you.

Feel free to leave a comment or ask questions if you’d like.