The world of fitness and sports tech is full of apps these days to help you keep track of your performance: monitoring distances covered, calories burned, cardiac activity and times… you can do anything with just one click!
So which apps do athletes love most?
Without doubt the best-known app in the running world is Runtastic. Much more than a normal course tracking program, this app also acts as a social network and enables you to share your results with other users throughout the world. One feature lets you “interact” with other runners during training sessions, sending them voice messages and encouraging them to track you using a GPS map.
Moving to apps for gym lovers we cannot fail to mention Google Fit, which is able to monitor not only the user’s activities in the weights room but also those performed outdoors. Google Fit enables you to set a personal target, record your weight and monitor your progress easily, quickly and free of charge.
Until just recently, on the other hand, it wasn’t possible for skiers to find an app to work as a digital assistant during their sessions on the snow. Stepping forward to fill the gap is Snowit, an app that transforms skiing into a shared digital experience. You can use Snowit to track and share your performance, challenge your friends and earn prizes. In particular, Snowit lets you record distances, descents, speeds and calories burned, with the option to also share your skiing sessions and photos on social media. Another highly innovative feature is the possibility to sign up for challenges promoted by the sponsors or to create your own and race against your friends: only the best skiers have access to discounts and prizes offered by Snowit’s partners! By activating tracking while skiing you also get the chance to receive Snowcoins for each kilometre of piste skied, valid for purchases on the app store.
As well as apps for monitoring sports performance, in the past few years heart rate monitors, fitness bracelets and GPS watches have also become widely used. The latter in particular are becoming hugely popular among sports lovers. Foremost among these is undoubtedly the Apple Watch which, in its latest version in association with Nike, also includes Nike + Run Club, a well-known multi-platform app for runners. The app enables them to create maps of their routes and to monitor their progress, encouraging them to improve their performance.
Swimmo is the first smartwatch designed specifically for swimmers which, as well as a traditional heart rate monitor function, enables them to keep count of lengths swum, swimming speeds, calories burned and length times. They can also set targets, beat their personal bests, challenge their friends and keep a personal swimming record storing analyses of their training sessions.
For lovers of extreme sports, on the other hand, Nixon has developed the Mission, a digital watch designed to work under extreme conditions Resistant to shock and low temperatures, it has specific features for skiers and surfers and is waterproof to 100 meters in depth.
