Keeping up with fitness at University isn’t an easy task, nor the cheapest, but Radar has put together a list of apps to help you keep up with your fit life that won’t cost you a penny.
So freshers is over, your dominoes vouchers are all used up and you’re settling into student life. After all that pizza and maybe some drinking you might be looking to clean up your diet and even hit the gym. One problem, a student budget doesn’t always necessarily allow for completely clean eating, a gym membership, and all the equipment and tools that can come along with it. That’s okay, you can use a variety of free apps to help you out.
If you’re a beginner in running, this is the app for you.
Couch to 5K gradually trains you over an eight week period to go from running novice to running five kilometres.
Fully equipped with warm-up information and a full schedule, the app helps you slowly progress into running longer distances.
This app does require a decent amount of commitment as workouts generally take at least half an hour to complete.
Once you’ve completed a 5K and feel confident, there is a companion app to help train you for a 10K. You never know, you could be taking part in next year’s Great Aberdeen Run with help from C25K.
If you’re just as tight on time as you are cash, then you’ve got to give this one a try.
As you can probably tell, the app gives you workouts that can be completed in just seven minutes. It’s got more advantages to it than its quick nature though.
Workouts are labelled with a level – Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced. You can also find a label with the amount of calories each set burns, plus it’s got individual ab workouts and other exercise types such as Tabata.
Once seven minutes feels easier and you’ve maybe got some more time on your hands, the app is still of use. You can use the “7M Complete” for a 26-minute workout. You can even build your own custom workout using the exercises from the app’s database.
Once you’ve got an exercise routine you’ll learn you can’t out train a bad diet. So it’s time to start tracking what you’re eating and how the exercise you’re doing effects what you need to eat to stay at top performance level. Enter MyFitnessPal.
There is a paid version of the app but the cost-free version provides plenty of help. You can use MyFitnessPal to track what you eat and drink plus track the exercise you do. When you set up the app you get to set out your measurements and goals.
It doesn’t stop there; it also sets targets and allows monitoring of foods individual macros. So if you’re looking to add muscle, it will tell you how much protein you’re consuming, and how much you should consume too. You can even look at what amount of vitamins you’re eating each day, so it’s really helpful to spot what you need more of.
The app has a wide database of your favourite foods (yes, even chicken nuggets) and exercises so you can track them accurately. It also has a barcode scanner so even foods that aren’t all that easy to find via the search function can be entered.
At the end of each day, complete your tracker and the app will let you know if you’re on the road to your aims.