Do you need a little extra motivation? Feel like you’re floating around the gym with no direction? Let's face it; it's not always easy to hold ourselves accountable for eating well or exercising on a regular basis. Fortunately, there are an increasing variety of tools and trackers to assist us in this ever-so-modern world. Whether you need a push to go for a run or just want to set goals to beat your personal best, these are our favourite fitness apps and trackers ↓
MY FITNESS PAL 🥗
What is it: MyFitnessPal is a calorie and macro tracking app that helps you record, track, and manage the amount of carbs, fats, and protein you consume on a daily basis.
Features:
- Customise your daily macronutrient and calorie intake
- Track micronutrients and water intake
- Scan your meals for convenience and when eating out
- Log your exercise, measurements, progress photos and more
Investment: Free to download for basic use; $29.99AUD per month or $129.99AUD per year for premium features
Why we love it: We highly rate this app - it is perfect for both beginners and experts! Look no further if you want to eliminate the guesswork surrounding how many calories are in that cupcake (yes, you can have your cake and eat it too!)
We love planning and having control over our day to day eating (coffee included) but also the flexibility of being able to say yes to team dinners and having the ability to scan in a product during that dreaded grocery shop.
Download here: https://www.myfitnesspal.com/
THE GYM JOURNAL 📘
What is it: The Gym Journal is the ultimate training tool to help you smash your health and fitness goals.
Features:
- Weekly planner to track your goals, nutrition targets, daily habits, weight & cardio workouts and supplements
- 7 separate workout pages per week with space to track all the important variables including sleep, rate of perceived exertion (RPE), menstrual cycle, mood, water intake, energy and body weight
- Weekly reflections and check-ins to keep you accountable to your goals.
- Hardy vegan leather to survive your gym bag, and 3 fun colours to choose from #aesthetics
Investment: $34.95
Why we love it: While being a badass at the gym, we love putting pen to paper and avoiding the distraction of our phones. The Gym Journal has everything you need to keep moving forward and staying accountable, no matter where you are in your fitness journey, as well as a space to map out your health and training goals.
It's the ultimate distraction free, back to basics weight training tracker and we are here for it!
Purchase here: https://thegymjournal.com.au/
STRAVA TRAINING 🤼
What is it: Strava combines fitness tracking with a hint of social aspect. You can track your entire active journey in one spot – and you get to share it with friends.
Features:
- Record everything – runs, rides, hikes, yoga and over 30 other sport types
- Discover anywhere – The Routes tool uses de-identified Strava data to intelligently recommend popular routes based on your preferences.
- YoStrava makes fitness tracking social. House your entire active journey in one spot – and you get to share it with friends.
- Build a support network
- Built in training log to record all your workout data, so you can see how you performed
Investment: Free to download; $14.99AUD per month or $99.99AUD per year for premium access
Why we love it: We can be a little competitive at times, after all, we do have the best coffee on the market! ;) But what we like most about Strava is that it allows you to measure your progress over time while socialising!
Best of all, you can compete against friends and work colleagues. What's not to love? After your workout, you can find almost any performance metric you're interested in learning about in your workout summary.
Download here: https://www.strava.com/apps/training
SMILING MIND 🧠
What is it: Smiling Mind is a unique meditation and mindfulness app developed by psychologists and educators to help bring balance to your life.
Features:
- Meditation sessions based on a range of factors such as age and the challenge the user is experiencing (such as sleep difficulties, high levels of stress, difficulties with eating or even with sport performance)
- Programs for the classroom and the workplace.
Investment: Free
Why we love it: We love this Australian meditation and mindfulness app because it can be used by all ages, any time and anywhere. We are advocates for promoting awareness around mental health so we think this is a great tool to help us take a minute or 5 to ourselves after a chaotic day!
Download here: www.smilingmind.com.au/
GARMIN CONNECT
What is it: Garmin Connect helps you track and analyse health data gathered from your Garmin wearable device.
Features:
- Detailed information from your workouts
- Daily step counts
- Overview of your stress and exertion level, monitored throughout the day
What it costs: Free
Why we love it: Garmin Connect is where the magic happens when it comes to monitoring your heart rate & activity, or logging and analysing your workouts. We love how adaptable it is for all activities, including swimming! Who hasn't considered keeping tabs on their swimming performance? 😉
Download here: https://www.garmin.com/en-AU/p/125677
How do you track your training? Do you think we've missed a good one? Let us know! — Team BYS ☕
Written by: BYS Nutritionist Brianna-lee Schiefelbein