Panting, sweating, heart racing; most Convent of the Sacred Heart students do not enjoy adding exercise into their every day routine. However, iPhone apps make working out more pleasurable and give athletes the satisfaction they deserve after working their absolute hardest.
Forget a personal trainer. The Nike+ Running app is a great motivator that pushes the athlete to run for a longer time and for further distances every time she exercises. By enabling the iPhone’s pedometer and by utilizing the phone’s built-in GPS, the application is able to track distance, pace, and time. For those users who might not be able to check the statistics of their workout while running without tripping over their feet, the app has special feature that speaks the pace and length of the run at every mile.
“I love the Nike+ Running app because even if I don’t know exactly where I’m running I can still measure how much I ran,” senior Emma Leary said. “You don’t need to be on a treadmill to know the stats of your workout.”
The app is also unique in that it gives the runner the ability to sign in with Facebook and post that a run has been started. The Nike+ Running app will speak and notify the runner if a friend has commented on a Facebook post, motivating the runner to keeping going. After finishing the workout, Nike+ Running keeps the statistics of that run, aggregates it with previous runs, and creates valuable visualizations that will help the athlete become stronger in the future.
Another popular workout app is Nike Training Club. This app has four different categories: get lean, get toned, get strong, and get focused, which allows the person using the app to personalize their workout based on what they want to focus on most. After choosing a basic category, the user can choose which muscles they want to focus on. Similar to the Nike+ Running app, this app tries to motivates throughout the workout.
“I really like this app because there is a voice that comes on at the really difficult parts of the workout and encourages you,” freshman Elizabeth Considine said. “You can also watch a video on each exercise if you haven’t done it before.”
Not only does this app personally motivate the athlete by giving words of encouragement, it also raises the level of competition by letting the user post workouts and reward statuses to Facebook and Twitter.
From motivating users to tracking progress, these apps have received acclaim for their high efficiency and their ability to make the dreaded task of exercising something to look forward to.
 
– Julie Goodfriend, Arts and Entertainment Editor