Home fitness APP

For the 90% of ordinary office workers and students who have no gym training foundation and have less than 5 hours of exercise time per week, choosing a home fitness APP that suits their needs can completely develop exercise habits and gradually improve physical fitness at zero cost. There is no need to worry about whether it is an IQ tax.

When I just changed my job in the Internet two years ago, I worked overtime until 10 o'clock every day, and got an annual fitness card that cost 3,000 yuan near my home. I went there less than 10 times throughout the year. Then I downloaded two home fitness apps with the intention of giving them a try. I have been using them intermittently, and my body fat has dropped from 27 to 22. I have not suffered from the shoulder and neck strain that has troubled me for several years. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is the most valuable "virtual fitness equipment" I have bought in the past two years.

However, I also know that many people sneer at this thing. Last year, my best friend followed the trend and followed the promotion of "Building the vest line in 7 days" and chose the most intense core class. Her core strength was weak, and her abdominal crunches relied entirely on her neck. After the same day, she was so painful that she couldn't straighten up. She went to the hospital to check that it was a muscle strain. Now everyone she meets says that home fitness apps are harmful.

In fact, you can’t blame the APP entirely for this. Just like if you clearly don’t know how to swim, but you insist on jumping into the deep water directly, you can’t blame the swimming pool for not setting a swimming ring for you, right? Nowadays, the evaluation of home fitness apps on the Internet is polarized. Essentially, many people do not understand their needs at the beginning, and rush to the crash course to avoid injury.

I previously looked at the data in the "2023 National Sports and Health Trend Report". Among users who have used home fitness apps for a long time, 42% can persist in exercising for more than 3 months, which is several times higher than the 13% retention rate of traditional fitness card users. To put it bluntly, for most ordinary people, "being able to persevere" is the first priority. It takes half an hour to go to the gym, you have to fight with a bunch of people for equipment, and you are too embarrassed to ask about the exercises. These barriers do not exist in the home APP. You can practice by changing into sportswear and turning on your mobile phone. If the barrier is low, it will be easier to persevere.

The fitness friends around me are also divided into two groups. Those who do powerlifting basically use recording apps. When practicing, they can record the rest time between sets and the weight of bench press and squats with just one click. They don’t need to take a small notebook to record it. It is much more convenient than before.； Little sisters who like aerobics prefer gamification functions. They can check in with friends online. If they jump incorrectly, there will be AI recognition reminders. Last week, a few of us competed online for a 20-minute fat-burning exercise. The loser was treated to milk tea. After the exercise, we were quite happy. ； If you just want to stretch your shoulders and neck during work breaks, you don’t even need to download the APP. The 5-minute office stretching classes in many small programs are enough, and the cost is 0.

I have been through a lot of pitfalls myself. I bought an annual pass for an APP that mainly focuses on boxing classes. I spent more than 300. As a result, my coordination was really poor. Later, when I chose an APP, I tried the 7-day free membership first. I practiced the lowest level class twice first. I could keep up with it and feel comfortable after practicing before I considered recharging. After all, what works for others may not be suitable for you. If you ask someone who usually gets out of breath when climbing the third floor to practice high-intensity intervals, isn’t that asking for trouble?

To be honest, whether it’s a fitness card or a home APP, they are just tools in the end. You can’t just buy an oven worth tens of thousands and expect to automatically become a Michelin chef, right? If you are really confused about whether it is of any use, you can open the app store and download two free ones to try. It only takes a few minutes anyway. Just practice for 10 minutes. Sweating is better than anything else, right?