Post Attributed to Kyle Schneider, CSCS (Ahwatukee Location).
Foothills Acceleration and Sports Training locations deliver Phoenix personal training services to athletes across the Valley. We will help you achieve your fitness goals by providing individualized exercise plans that challenge you to push yourself to your highest level of performance. We also offer a free assessment of your current level of fitness, which can be scheduled online here. For more information about personal training, follow our blog.
Kyle Schneider is a Phoenix personal training expert who has worked with athletes of all ages and abilities. He is here today to discuss the impact of technology on our lives, and how it could actually positively impact human health.
Technology continues to make our lives less strenuous. Each year, more and more studies conclude that our world’s population is becoming less active. It’s impossible to deny the facts – the rates of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, and the cost of health care climb every year. Young people spend more time in front of a screen than ever before, and free play has become almost nonexistent. Technology has negatively affected human health by allowing humans to have a very sedentary lifestyle, but recent advances are looking to fight back against this problem.
Technology is starting to help combat inactivity and promote healthy lifestyles through a variety of means. Exercise equipment has been around for a long time, but recent advances have allowed many machines like treadmills and stationary bikes to motivate and give insight on a whole new level. Equipment can provide you with information like your heart rate, revolutions per minute, miles per hour, distance, and much more. Exercise machines are now even capable of communicating with each other. This allows two individuals to run, row, or ride ‘against’ each other, providing a new level of competition and motivation.
If you don’t enjoy going to the gym or you’re pressed for time and can only get a workout in at home, don’t worry – you’re not alone. New treadmills and bikes hitting the market have display units and Wi-Fi capability, allowing users to access routes and classes from the comfort of their own home. Now you can ride a spin bike at home with a route from the 2015 Tour de France on the screen in front of you as you ride through the stage like a pro while the bike changes difficulty as you go up and downhill. If you feel the need to be pushed harder, you can access one of many gyms from around the US and do that day’s spin workout. The instructor will push you through the workout just like they did participants in the class.
If lack of motivation is your fitness fault, don’t fret. With internet access seemingly everywhere, there is no excuse to not stay on track. Booming use of social media may lead to some people spending countless hours sitting on the couch, but it could have an upside. Large groups like gyms, race organizers, schools, and even groups of individuals can set up competitions and motivate each other through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and more. Users of these websites and apps are able to look at what others are doing to be successful and try it themselves, or gain access to new fitness tips.
Social media sites have also become important for individuals to adhere to the goals they’ve set. Announcing that you are training for a specific race, trying to lose weight, or achieve any other fitness goals keeps you accountable and allows friends and family to encourage you to stay on track. People who are hundreds of miles away from each other can compete and post results to push each other to do their best.
The internet also means that access to information on nutrition, strength training, cardiovascular training, and every other fitness topic is at your fingertips. Sites like YouTube, Twitter, and blogs allow professionals to give video instruction on how to perform various exercises and provide other tips. Many types of group exercise classes for individuals to follow along with can also be found online.
Another exercise advancement has arrived in the form of wearable technology. Most people now either wear or know someone who wears a fitness watch like a FitBit, iWatch, Garmin, or other brand. Wearable tech has revolutionized the way we gather information regarding our health. Before the use of this equipment, data could only really be gathered through surveys that were not always accurate. Now, we have access to objective data such as heart rate, number of steps taken, and sleep patterns, and users can input food logs. This allows us to analyze an individual’s health without using subjective data or an individual’s best guess on their level of activity. These technologies also motivate people to walk more, get more sleep, decrease their resting heart rate, or figure out how many calories they’re consuming, and researchers can use this data to help create healthier lifestyles and battle obesity.
So before we blame technology as the downfall of modern human health, let’s give new exercise technology a chance to motivate people and change the role of technology in our lives. Now that is it easier than ever to track your workouts and diet, gain new ideas on what you should be doing to reach your goals, and stay motivated, what’s your excuse for not getting healthier this year?