You probably had made some fitness resolutions at the start of the year, which continued for a few weeks to a month. Today, at almost half past the year, if you are struggling and thinking of giving up, don’t! There are wonderful motivations around you to give you a boost at achieving your fitness goals. Don’t look too far, the motivation could be right in your hand. Let us make a little more use of technology which keeps you smart and on your track.
The return to your fitness regime after a long hiatus will probably bring a volley of unpleasant thoughts like: I am again going to fail at this again? What will keep me motivated? What if I can have something quantifiable goals and stick to them? More importantly, how can I keep it fun! There are many other factors which keeps you away and lethargic from your fitness regime which you never accounted for, like sleep, kind of food you eat, etc. Giving up drinking or taking up jogging, making resolutions are always easy, but difficult is sticking to them where technology can help.
With increasing utility of smartphones and other gadgets, there are simple solutions, the free apps on your phone which can help you track, quantify and stick with your fitness routine. These apps in combination with some calorie measurement apps like My Fitness Pal can help you log your day’s calories and assists you to create a calories deficit. There are many other wearable devices available which can be worn on your wrists like Fitbit, Nike’s Fuelband, Jawbone’s Up, and so on. I am not endorsing any particular brand here, though. These are little stylish tools which can not only keep you up with your goals but also keep you positively amused.
Once you’ve set an exercise routine and have a realistic idea of what your goals,  these fitness gadgets and trackers delve further into your psyche by motivating you. These could be,
1. Objective & Quantifiable view – A walk in the park or a run on a treadmill will make you certainly feel active. But if you can get an exact amount of steps you took, not just while your workout but throughout my day, it would make you more happy and achieved. With the amazing analytics and graphs of these apps/gadgets, you can quantify your efforts in a more concise pattern, which will motivate you to do better tomorrow. Week on week comparison charts and an analysis of your each day will even motivate you to create a calorie deficit in order to compliment your steps/efforts more.
2. Change the way I look at my workouts – Once you start using these apps and trackers, you will start valuing your workouts more than ever before. You will quite intuitively take those stairs instead of jumping into that elevator at the first sight. You will probably start chucking those boring park or treadmill walks and look for more exhausting activities like playing a sport.
3. Meeting daily goals – Each day start to seems like a new challenge for your fitness routine, in a very positive manner. You would love to see how you have been doing throughout the day, which not only makes you a better planner but also makes you do better each day. Little changes will be incorporated by you intuitively, such as, food intake, regular sleep time, etc in order to meet your daily goals.
4. Competing with others – It cant get better than this! We always want to do better than others in everything. Why not in fitness then? These apps and gadgets have an amazing concept on pairing your friends and co-workers. It gives you an access to their records and performances. You can set up  weekly steps competitions with your co-workers and monitor the performances throughout the week. It will keep you on your toes, in a healthy way. Fun eh!
5. Broadcast your results – When you have it, flaunt it. Right? Absolutely. Turn to your social media and other broadcasting channels to keep up by receiving well wishes and motivational words. These apps and gadgets have a very smooth way of sharing your achievements and encouraging others as well!!
These motivations would keep me enough encouraged to kick-start my long lost fitness routine. Go on, download an app on your smartphone or consider buying a tracker!
Happy tracking and moving ahead..
Riddhi Shah I Digital Marketing Manager, Ashnik

Passionate about Content Marketing, Riddhi looks after innovative content marketing strategies through the digital platforms at Ashnik for SEA and India. She aims at continuously working towards taking Ashnik to the next level by increasing it’s brand awareness with a focal goal of generating interests around open source technologies.