There is a raft of technology aimed at helping you on your fitness journey, including the Couch to 5k app. Join me on my journey to fitness and general activity with the help of various technology devices and apps.
How can technology help your fitness?
I’ve found various reasons for technology helping my fitness work; some are obvious while others are a little more obscure. It’s of course beneficial to track your steps, calorie intake, distance and metrics like heart-rate. This is all made much easier through various fitness bands and apps on the market. For me there are other reasons technology helps to keep fit.
By purchasing various bits of tech and apps, I feel that I am committing to something. It could be a €200 fitness tracker or a €2 smartphone app. Regardless of the cost, a little investment will drive you to keep going as there is no worse feeling that wasting money. We’re here to guide you towards intelligent fitness and money spending throughout your journey to fitness. The first bit of advice we have is to get a plan together, a plan like Couch to 5k.
What is Couch to 5k?
Couch to 5k provides you with bite-size chunks of jogging, gradually ramping up towards a five kilometre run. The programme has been largely successful owing to achievable goals from the very start. Couch to 5k asks you dedicate just three days a week over eight weeks to improving your fitness. This starts out with a five minute warm up walk and interval training of running and walking for one minute and one and a half minutes respectively.
Couch to 5k is designed for outdoor use, but can be used with some tinkering for treadmill usage.
What do I need for Couch to 5k?
Really all you need to get going with Couch to 5k is the app itself. There are several apps that do all seem rather similar. I opted for the Zenlabs version on Android but which is also available on iOS, with a different version on Windows Phone. As I said earlier, a little investment can be great motivation, so I purchased the premium Android version for about just a little over €1. Currently, I’m on day two of week one, but follow us on Twitter for updates.
Which fitness trackers work with Couch to 5k?
You don’t really need a fitness tracker to get the most out of the app. There is no harm in having one and you can link the data from the app into another like MyFitnessPal; another app I’m using that we’ve discussed previously. To be honest, the linking isn’t great with reports of regular crashing. We strongly recommend using another app to track your steps along with Couch to 5k. We’ll look at these apps at a later date, but if you need to know in the mean time drop us a comment on Facebook.
Can I use music with Couch to 5k?
Running with some rhythm is essential for many. The app itself supports control of music on your device, but cannot control third party streaming apps like Spotify. It’s not all bad. You your favourite streaming app and run it in the background while you run.
And you say all I need to get fit is this app?
Unfortunately no. The app will work on it’s own as a fitness programme, but you need a few more things to get fit. The most important things are will power to keep going and a healthy diet. Running is always good for your health, but you have to make sure your fuelling yourself properly too.
Finally, I strongly recommend setting yourself a goal. Weight loss and running further are great goals, but you should try aiming for an organised 5k run. There are plenty of these organised throughout the year so you should be able to find one that fits your time frame. Once that’s complete, you guessed it, you can download Couch to 10k.
It’s still early days for this tech guy’s journey to fitness, but keep an eye out for our latest updates on Twitter and Facebook.