It’s no secret that keeping up with a New Year’s Resolution to get healthy gets more difficult as time goes by, with most guilty of forgetting their diets by February when faced with temptation of endless buffalo wings and pizza that any Super Bowl party up to snuff is sure to have.
Only 46% of those who make New Year’s Resolutions managed to stay on-track six months into their goal according to John C. Norcross, a professor of psychology at the University of Scranton who specializes in research on keeping resolutions.
In hopes of keeping up with their fitness resolutions, many have signed up for online health networks such as the newly launched CaféWell and Fitocracy, where health-conscious users can interact in different communities focused on medical issues like diabetes, cancer and obesity. Members participate in challenges created by other users like the taking the stairs or drinking eight glasses of water a day, reporting their progress on their profiles.
With a look like Facebook’s, the site Fitocracy features more of a competitive edge. Users are encouraged to compete against your other users using a system of points and rewards like the barbell badge, given to users who make notable progress lifting. With the help of the site’s app for the iPhone and Android, users like Jesus Maldonado, an architecture major at the University of Texas and avid Fitocracy user, can log their work-outs in real-time.
“I have a couple of followers who give me props whenever I post a new work-out,” Maldonado says, “I give them props, they give me props — it’s like liking a status.”
New weekly challenges keep Maldonado logging in long past January 1st. As a part of the weight loss and University of Texas groups, Maldonado’s dashboard is filled with similar user’s fitness statuses and work-out logs. But not all registered members are as active on the site as Maldonado with a number of profiles noting a user’s last login in 2011.
“I can see people using these sites being less likely to stay active members if their motivation to work-out isn’t intrinsic.” Professor Esbelle Jowers, the director of the University of Texas’ Exercise and Sports Psychology Laboratory, said. ”The novelty of using sites like Fitocracy can wear off quickly. Most forget their New Year’s Resolutions to stay fit whether or not they’re part of a web community. Users are tempted to obtain an immediate reward, but that’s just not how staying fit works. Results take time.”
One thing is certain, the market for social health platforms is growing. At last count, there were over 250,000 Health and Fitness applications in the Apple iTunes store ranging from calorie counters to pedometers. With new technologies emerging every day, the future of fitness is guaranteed to be a merge of our virtual and real worlds in a way never seen before.
Apple’s latest patent hopes for just that. The filing from October 12th outlines a new technology that automatically syncs your exercising data between friends exercising on similar equipment while you work out. Instead of logging on after exercising and manually entering how many miles ran or laps swam, Apple does it for you. Participants in the same gym or across the globe can share info automatically and accurately using only a wireless signal. Sorry AT&T subscribers.
21st Century Calisthenics
It’s no secret that keeping up with a New Year’s Resolution to get healthy gets more difficult as time goes by, with most guilty of forgetting their diets by February when faced with temptation of endless buffalo wings and pizza that any Super Bowl party up to snuff is sure to have.
Only 46% of those who make New Year’s Resolutions managed to stay on-track six months into their goal according to John C. Norcross, a professor of psychology at the University of Scranton who specializes in research on keeping resolutions.
In hopes of keeping up with their fitness resolutions, many have signed up for online health networks such as the newly launched CaféWell and Fitocracy, where health-conscious users can interact in different communities focused on medical issues like diabetes, cancer and obesity. Members participate in challenges created by other users like the taking the stairs or drinking eight glasses of water a day, reporting their progress on their profiles.
With a look like Facebook’s, the site Fitocracy features more of a competitive edge. Users are encouraged to compete against your other users using a system of points and rewards like the barbell badge, given to users who make notable progress lifting. With the help of the site’s app for the iPhone and Android, users like Jesus Maldonado, an architecture major at the University of Texas and avid Fitocracy user, can log their work-outs in real-time.
“I have a couple of followers who give me props whenever I post a new work-out,” Maldonado says, “I give them props, they give me props — it’s like liking a status.”
New weekly challenges keep Maldonado logging in long past January 1st. As a part of the weight loss and University of Texas groups, Maldonado’s dashboard is filled with similar user’s fitness statuses and work-out logs. But not all registered members are as active on the site as Maldonado with a number of profiles noting a user’s last login in 2011.
“I can see people using these sites being less likely to stay active members if their motivation to work-out isn’t intrinsic.” Professor Esbelle Jowers, the director of the University of Texas’ Exercise and Sports Psychology Laboratory, said. ”The novelty of using sites like Fitocracy can wear off quickly. Most forget their New Year’s Resolutions to stay fit whether or not they’re part of a web community. Users are tempted to obtain an immediate reward, but that’s just not how staying fit works. Results take time.”
One thing is certain, the market for social health platforms is growing. At last count, there were over 250,000 Health and Fitness applications in the Apple iTunes store ranging from calorie counters to pedometers. With new technologies emerging every day, the future of fitness is guaranteed to be a merge of our virtual and real worlds in a way never seen before.
Apple’s latest patent hopes for just that. The filing from October 12th outlines a new technology that automatically syncs your exercising data between friends exercising on similar equipment while you work out. Instead of logging on after exercising and manually entering how many miles ran or laps swam, Apple does it for you. Participants in the same gym or across the globe can share info automatically and accurately using only a wireless signal. Sorry AT&T subscribers.
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Posted in Commentary, Feature, News
Tagged apple, apps, cafewell, exercise, fitness, fitocracy, resolutions, social media, weight loss