iPhone Applications to Get You Moving: Biking, Running, Yoga, and More

Our weekly Get Fit blog: The latest news, trends, research, and workout tips

By Amanda MacMillan

As iPhones get better and more affordable, more and more of my friends and colleagues are opting to replace their current mobile devices with this all-in-one gadget. And while many of them are having fun downloading random, pointless applications that pour virtual beer or sound like light sabers, not many of them have realized yet that the iPhone can also help transform their health and fitness goals.

Besides the convenience of having a phone and an MP3 player all in one (not to mention email, an Internet browser, and GPS, a nice feature in itself when you’re heading out for a walk or a jog), the iPhone gives you the ability to download countless applications straight from the iTunes store—more than 500 in the Healthcare and Fitness category alone, and most of these for just a few bucks or less.

Here’s a sampling of some we like; links are accessible via iTunes. Most are also compatible with the iPod touch, as well, if you’re not quite ready to give up your old cell.

• iFitness (.99)
  This comprehensive exercise database provides clear pictures and instructions for more than 130 unique exercises, sorted by body region or specific muscles targeted. You can build custom workout lists for different days of the week, add your own moves and photos if your favorite exercise is missing, and save or email your progress updates.
• LoseIt! (Free)
  This searchable database of food and exercise lets you look up and keep track of your daily activities in order to stay within your daily calorie allowance. If you’ve got a weight loss goal in mind, LoseIt can calculate the date you’ll reach that number, based on your daily progress. For hard-core dieters, there are other paid calorie counters with more foods and more features—but for someone who just wants to keep track of her numbers day to day, this is a great free tool.
• RunKeeper (Free with ads; .99 without)
  It’s not just for runners: This mileage tracker uses the phone’s built-in GPS (it’s not compatible with iPod Touch or first-generation iPhones) to enable runners, walkers, hikers, bikers, and even skiers to track their outdoor distance, duration, pace, and altitude. You can download and store your data on your personalized online dashboard and share activities with your friends.
• Yoga Trainer PRO (.99)
  Hundreds of poses, step-by-step instructions, and voice alerts let anyone—beginner to advanced—practice yoga wherever and whenever; you can even customize your own yoga sequences. Coming soon from the same company are Pilates and Tai Chi apps, as well.
• iSPINNING (Free)
  Download this app, sync your iPhone with a heart rate monitor, and you’ll be able to track your speed, distance, and power while on a Spinner, road, or mountain bike. Hook it up to the SMHeart Link receiver (0) and sync it with a heart rate monitor, and you can program your workouts with heart-rate goals in mind.

Have you tried any of these applications, or do you have a favorite of your own? If you’ve got an iPhone, let me know what you think!

Last Updated: March 6, 2009
Filed Under: Get Fit Blog

Peace and Courtesy on the Mat: 5 Ways to Avoid Yoga Rage

Our weekly Get Fit blog: The latest news, trends, research, and workout tips

Last weekend, Health magazine and Health.com held the second annual Here Comes the Sun festival in Central Park; it featured more than a dozen specialized yoga and Pilates classes. (Check back soon for video and more coverage of the event!) While Here Comes the Sun turned out to be a fabulous day of relaxation and refreshment, we know that yoga doesn’t always happen that way. This week’s Get Fit post comes from guest blogger and fellow Health.com staffer Jennifer Garam.

I live in urban New York, so I don’t drive, and therefore don’t experience road rage. I do, however, experience its distant cousin—yoga rage. As a yoga practitioner for the past 10½ years, perhaps I should embody a love for all humankind at this point. But still, nothing gets my yoga pants in a bunch like rude yogis and yoginis who don’t observe the rules of the road. So for rookies to seasoned class attendees, here’s a list of simple, common courtesies that every yoga practitioner should observe.

1. Give others their space
The other night in yoga class, I set up my mat near the far, windowed wall, and though the room was practically empty on that rainy evening, a woman came in and plunked her mat down right next to me—too close to allow me to spread my arms wide for the Swan Dive Into Standing Forward Bend at the beginning of Sun Salutations without hitting her. Annoyed, I moved my mat closer to the wall and then reclined resentfully as I waited for class to begin; the cold wind blowing through the windows gave me chills.

As we settled into our meditative seats and the teacher led us in a supposed-to-be soothing chant of the mantra “om namah shiviya” (there is not an exact translation for this but I have heard it described by a yoga teacher as “I bow to my highest self”), I seethed inside at this personal space invader and engaged in an angry internal dialogue with her, admonishing her for squishing me into a cold, windy corner when there were only about a million other available spaces in the room.

2. Stagger when space isn’t available
Last week, in a full classroom, I set up my mat next to a girl who grudgingly offered me a bit of space. Again, our mats were too close to do the Swan Dive without colliding, so I moved my mat up in order to stagger and have enough room to spread out my arms. She moved her mat up. Then I moved my mat back. She moved her mat back. This woman was clearly oblivious to mat-staggering etiquette!

3. Do not take what’s not yours
Midway through that same class, the teacher instructed us to use our blocks for a pose that required props to make it easier to reach the ground. The non-staggerer at this point grabbed for one of my blocks, and without asking to use it, absorbed it into the rest of her practice. Moving my remaining blocks to safety and out of her entitled reach on the opposite side of my mat, my rage flared up yet again as I (internally) blasted her for not having the courtesy to ask to use something that didn’t belong to her.

4. Keep hands and feet to yourself
One of the worst bouts of yoga rage I’ve experienced was this summer, when I took an after-work class at a popular downtown studio. The room was so packed that there was a boundary of only a couple of inches between me and other practitioners on all four sides, which meant, among other things, that I would have someone’s feet in my face for the whole class and have to dodge being kicked in the head during Downward Dog Splits, in which one leg shoots up into the air.

Of course, my feet would similarly assault the person behind me, but at least I was conscious of this fact and tried to adjust or limit my motions accordingly. The kicker (no pun intended) was that during Side Crow—a complicated pose in which you balance on your hands and rest both knees on one upper arm—the sweaty, uncoordinated guy next to me lost concentration and clumped his feet down at the head of my mat—right where I rest my face between poses.

5. Gentlemen, wear a shirt
It seems obvious, but apparently some yogis don’t feel that shirts are required even in a hot, crowded studio. Remember Sweaty Side-Crow Guy? Make that Sweaty Shirtless Side-Crow Guy. With no top to catch his sweat droplets, they were flying around willy-nilly onto other students. In addition to the feet in front of me and the arms on either side, I was also forced to dodge sweat droplets all class long.

After an hour and a half long (internal) tirade, I emerged from the studio with a friend who had found a spot on the other side of the classroom; she had not been tormented by the shirtless sweater. She had transcended the overcrowded class and felt uplifted by the collective energy in the room. I had failed to attain any sort of yogic bliss and was in a sulky rage.

I go to yoga class in part to defuse my anxiety and agitation, not to add to it. I want people in class to obey common sense and unspoken rules, and to respect my boundaries with their mats and their person—and when they don’t, I get really pissed off. And I know I’m not the only one who feels this way: A U.K. article earlier this year reported that yoga-induced anger incidents are on the rise. Even deep inhales and exhales can’t soothe me when I encounter an inconsiderate, reckless yogi or yogini, and at these moments I wish that there were clearly marked road signs and yoga police to keep the offenders in line and let me get back to my relaxation in peace.

I’d love to hear your yoga class experiences—what types of behavior ruin your session, or are you guilty of breaking an unspoken rule? Personally, I may be on the yogic path that leads to lovingly embracing all humanity, but I know I’ve still got some road (and some rage) ahead of me.
(PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES)

By Jennifer Garam

Last Updated: February 24, 2009
Filed Under: Get Fit Blog

New Study: Do Exercise Ads Make You Fitter…or Fatter?

By Amanda MacMillan

When I signed up for my first half-marathon back in 2007, I tore a full-page ad for the event out of Runner’s World magazine and hung it on my bedroom wall, so it was the first thing I saw when my alarm went off in the morning. Good thing I didn’t hang it in my kitchen. New research from the University of Illinois suggests that advertisements designed to promote physical fitness may have an unexpected consequence—they actually make people eat more.

The study published this month in Obesity observed 53 college students as they looked at posters from an exercise campaign and later looked at posters that did not mention exercise. The participants were given a handful of raisins after each session. And after looking at the exercise posters they ate one-third more than they did after looking at nonfitness pics—an average of 18 calories, compared with only 12.

Similar results were found with a second test, in which different students played a computer game involving either action words like “active” and “go” or neutral words like “pear” and “moon.” Those who heard the action words ate more peanut M&Ms afterward than the neutral group.

Where and when these ads appear is also an important factor, says Dolores Albarracin, the study’s lead author and a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois. “When the setting of the advertising is more conducive to eating than exercise, people eat,” she told The New York Times last week. “If you just wallpaper everyplace with these kinds of posters, it may not do much good.”

I admit, when I’m really being good about working out every day, I tend to allow myself a few (hundred) extra calories—especially in the form of desserts, drinks, or other “rewards” for making it to the gym. So maybe that’s what subconsciously happened to the people in this study. They thought about exercising and decided to indulge a bit more in return.

But this makes me wonder about the age-old practice of using motivational photos or objects—such as hanging up a bikini, a pair of skinny jeans, or a picture of a celebrity role model—as an inspiration to lose weight or get in shape. I recently replaced that old half-marathon ad with the brand new Team in Training jersey that I’ll wear for my first triathlon in July. Now, whenever I spot it in my bedroom, I’ll try to be aware of any mysterious hunger cravings!

Have you ever used fitness-related props like these as a gentle reminder of your goals? Have they worked? And do you think we need to watch out for absent-minded eating?

Last Updated: March 13, 2009
Filed Under: Get Fit Blog