New App Recommendation: Fitocracy

It's been a while since I made a recommendation. A friend turned me on to Fitocracy. It's a social network for healthy people!

So, Fitocracy is not just an app, it's a true social network available both online and through the app. The reason this post is an app recommendation is because the app is awesome. Now, I'm also on Bodybuilding.com, but I find their app is clunky, lags horribly on my cheap smart phone, and crashes with an unfortunate frequency. It might really be my phone's fault, given that the Buzzfeed app also crashes, but I digress.

The great thing about Fitocracy is how easy it is to use. It even has a cool section where if you don't know how to do an exercise, there are either pictures or a thorough description. Creating a workout is a matter of hitting a little button and you can work off that same workout each time with no need to search for your exercises every time you want to log a workout. On top of all that, there's a points system!

Really, the points allow you to level up. Near as I can tell, there are no perks to leveling up, but it's a great mental reward. I'm a level 6 already. What does that mean? No clue. Am I excited about it? Yes!

App Recommendation: BHF Tracker

It dawned on me that some of you might not be inclined to measure for the same reason I initially put it off: I kept losing my damn paper. Where did I measure? Am I making progress? It was pretty bad.
Then I found the BHF (body, health and fitness?) Tracker. It's great. Tracks weight in kilograms, stones, or pounds, body fat percentage, as well as measurements. There are also cool charts and a BMI calculator (if you're interested in that). Anyway, its a great free app that's easy to use and it even allows for multiple users.
Here's a sample image of 3 month weight change of a user:

App Recommendation: Couch25k

There are a lot of different Couch to 5k training apps. The one I like is by Zen Labs and it's free. Why do I like it? Just like Lift (which you can read my review on here) it's easy to use. It even has the warmup and cool down built right in.

You scroll from side to side to select what week and day you're on, then just press start. A woman's voice says "Begin warm up." When the warm up is over she once again speaks up, "Begin running." What I especially like is that it runs in the background and you can listen to a playlist or Pandora. It automatically turns down the volume of your music, givea you instructions, then turns the volume back up.

My favorite featurw though, as silly as it sounds, is that it tells you when you reach the half way point. As someone who runs down the road, its nice to not have to check the time to figure out when to turn around.

Want to check out the app for yourself? Here is the link to the official webpage and it can be found through the PlayStore.

App recommendation: Lift

If you can't tell, that's a little frog on top. The whole thing is covered in frogs. I feel silly writing in my froggy diary at the gym while men nearby bench press twice my body weight. If ycan't tell, that's a little frog on top. The whole thing is covered in frogs. I feel silly writing in my froggy diary at the gym while men nearby bench press twice my body weight. t tell, that's a little frog on top. The whole thing is covered in frogs. I feel silly writing in my froggy diary at the gym while men nearby bench press twice my body weight. I really wanted to find  an easy to use app to record which lifts I'm doing, how many reps, and the weight. Here's what I'm currently using:

If you can't tell, that's a little frog on top. The whole thing is covered in frogs. I feel silly writing in my froggy diary at the gym while men nearby bench press twice my body weight.

So I thought Lift by Lift Worldwide was the answer. It wasn't, of course. Nothing is ever easy when it comes to technology. Why am I recommending it? Because it's a great app, of course! Lift is basically a goal achieving app. The publisher's description reads: Lift breaks your goals down into simple habitra and routines, then prompts and encourages you to take regular steps towards healthy life change.

There are all kinds of neat goals you can work to achieve. I currently have one goal I'm working on and one goal lined up for next month.

It's easy to use, which is the best part. Want to check in with a goal? Just select it then tap the checkmark. All done!

The reason I think this is such a great app is because it makes lifestyle changes small and manageable. As a girl who drank a two liter of soda every two days, giving up soda was a big deal. I've been 11 days soda free now. Sure, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but to me, that little green check and the note that says I've hit that check for 11 days is my pat on the back.