As we are living in a time where most of us couldn’t even imagine being without a smartphone for more than maximum of couple of hours, here are some useful apps when it comes to taking care of your physical health.
All the apps presented here are free!
Nike Training Club & Nike Run Club
“Sports has always been a big part of my life. I did athletics until I was 18 years old and at my best I trained seven times a week. As I hadn’t been good at it at any point I decided to give to myself and my coach time for something else other than training me. I was able to be without sports for a couple of months until I felt like I had to start doing something again. As I had never done anything by myself I knew that someone had to tell me what to do. Somehow I came across with Nike’s apps. I started with Nike Training Club and as it was possible to add running to your training program I uploaded Nike Run Club too.
I started using the apps four years ago and have used them ever since, sometimes a little bit more off than on because sometimes you just want to lay on the sofa and watch telly (or probably Netflix these days). Number one reason why I like the apps is that it can make you a training program and it adapts according to how you train. When my training has been more off than on I have also taken advantage of the singular workouts in the Nike Training Club.
My biggest accomplishment thanks to the apps (in this Nike Run Club) is running 11 kilometers with my mom in a race. I even managed to win her but only because she run at my pace the whole time and I’m better at accelerating than (at that point) my 61 year old mother.
The minus with the apps is that they might not be the best ones for people that haven’t done that much sports before. They build up quite fast especially in the beginning.”
-Susanna
C25K
“It was sometime back in 2017 I first heard of C25K. I agreed with my sister to start running. We managed to follow the program for 4 weeks, then I got sick and stopped training. 2018 my resolution was to reach that 5 km goal! My running training got divided into 3 periods (because life happens). At the start of the year I did week 1-5. During the summer I restarted at week 4 and went until mid of week 7. At the end of November I restarted once more at week 5 and on December the 21st I finally reached my goal of 5 km!
The reason why I like this app is because it's easy to follow. And it starts at an easy level. And especially for me with asthma, it has quite good build up, I need to have the walk breaks. I have had some troubles with the app crashing (I've also had way to much stuff on my phone), but my sister haven't had problems with this. I've sometimes instead just used a intervall timer to keep track of the intervalls.
I do recommend this app, and be flexible according to with where you are!”
-Petra
Down Dog
“I had heard so much about yoga. Fit people having a relaxed moment as they were in a position I could never do. The reason I finally decided to try was that I had understood that it relaxes you easily and studying can be quite stressful. And my opinion is that it really does help you get relaxed. As you try to go with the right breathing rhythm you slow down and as the workout ends you feel relaxed. And sometimes kinda sleepy.
I like this app particularly because it has its own music playlists and the guidance is very good. There are multiple different levels, types and lengths of training and you can choose a different one every time according to how you feel.
The thing that I noticed after doing yoga with the app for a while was that my balance got better and it was easier for me to slow my breathing at any point of the day.
The only minus for this app is that sometimes it feels that the warm-up is not enough and that you should maybe first take a walk or a run to get your body ready for some of the positions.”
-Susanna
We hope that if you end up trying these apps you like them as much as we do!
Susanna Ailanto
National Health & Well-being Coordinator