How Technology is Helping People Stay Fit
Sure, technology can be a double-edged sword, but when used the right way, it can be a huge positive, especially for people trying to get fit. Technology has revolutionized the fitness industry in the past decade, and although the brunt of the work will still be left to you, it has changed how people train and approach exercise. So with that in mind, we look at how technology is helping people stay fit.
Technology and Fitness
Through the years, advances in technology have given people plenty of means to improve their fitness, from innovative exercise equipment to fitness trackers. We will therefore focus on these devices, which in most cases are worn like a normal, traditional watch — only smaller and sleeker. But how do these wearables help people get and stay fit in the first place? The answer, curiously, is quite simple: by letting you keep track of your progress (or lack thereof). As explained in the article ‘How Fitness Trackers Help Motivate Us to Keep in Shape’ published on The Conversation, people are greatly motivated by progress. When they see concrete evidence of improvement, they tend to push a lot harder, full of optimism that the extra work will lead to even better results.
Getting People to Workout The science, however, is a bit murky, as there is to date no overwhelming evidence that definitely proves the effectiveness of fitness trackers in terms of improving the fitness levels. But as cardiologist Tara Narula told CNN, fitness trackers and wearables in general “make it easier for people to work out and that's ultimately what we want." It certainly helps, too, that most of these devices have features that encourage their users to go the extra mile to meet certain fitness goals (e.g. have a resting heart rate in a specific range) or accomplish various fitness-related tasks (e.g. take 10,000 steps daily or burn X number of calories per day). Sure, said encouragements don’t always work, but in cases when they do, positive results do follow.
Technology and Athletes If technology can help improve fitness, imagine what they are able to do for athletes, to whom fitness is an end in itself. Halo Neuroscience CEO Daniel Chao states that technology is helping athletes train intelligently, with the world’s best, often engaging in next-generation training regimens that involve all sorts of technologies. The latest training tech includes gadgets like the military-grade goggles with strobing effects often used by the inimitable Stephen Curry to help him prepare for matches. Sports news site Coral points out that technology has become prevalent in many different disciplines, with VR now even used to train racing drivers and quarterbacks. Wearables like fitness trackers and jersey-embedded sensors are also popular with professional sports stars, as they provide data in real time that athletes can evaluate to maximize their training.
It Is Up to You
All things considered, we’ll go back to an important point made earlier: technology can help you get and stay fit, but the brunt of the work will be left to you. In other words, you will need to put in the time and effort necessary for you to achieve the level of fitness you desire. And you can begin by crafting a fitness plan that follows the pointers given in our ‘4 Tips for Creating a Fitness Plan’ post. You can even shake things up by checking out ‘5 Creative Ways to Get Fit’ and trying our suggestions.
Beatrix
