Thing 8

Health & Wellness

Guys who always have pockets for their phones are the ones who get the most out of these cool fitness-tracking apps, at least for things like Human, the all-day activity tracker (not formal workouts). Sadly, I no longer belong to a gym, but if I did, I would get one of those armbands where you can strap your phone on so I could track calories burned, steps, heart rate, etc. If I didn't have a highly reactive dog that requires me to take short walks close to home and be hypervigilant when we're outside, I would love to take long walks (or even maybe do a tiny bit of running?) with him, and the fitness apps would be great for that too. 

So what else? When I saw the Daily Yoga app mentioned on the 23 Mobile Things site, I perked up. I love yoga and have recently started up my home practice again. I downloaded Daily Yoga and selected one of the free video downloads, a 10-minute series focusing on the abs. You can choose to play the new-agey music with it or silence that, and you can select voice prompts or silence them. I turned off the music but turned on the voice prompts. The person demonstrating the postures was a very fit man who could do everything with ease; it's just him with a white background, nothing more. The woman giving the verbal cues had a noticeable Asian accent but was easily understandable. I had to prop my phone up against a book on the floor to see it while I was on the mat. 

Unfortunately, most of the video downloads on Daily Yoga are labeled "Pro," meaning you have to pay for them. I joined DoYouYoga.com about a month ago online, and while they don't have an actual app, they do have a mobile version of their site. But I've found that when doing an online yoga practice, it's a lot easier to follow the videos with the laptop on the floor rather than using the little phone.

I haven't tried it yet, but I plan to download the calorie-counter and food diary app soon. I need all these before my high school reunion this summer.