aNewDomain — I’m terrible at exercising. Living in Vermont, there’s no real need for the gym since so many natural options for physical activity are at my fingertips, but I still get bored with exercise routines. That’s why I tend to lean on fitness apps like Strava to help me stay on track.
Strava helps me track activities and progress over time. For me, seeing the progress I’m making (or lack thereof) in hard data and graphs helps me stay motivated to keep going. The fitness app will sync data from multiple devices, so if you’re split between iOS, Android and Garmin for your GPS needs, Strava can take the data from any of them to add to your account.
Strava has a number of exercise specific settings, so whether you’re going on a quick run, a marathon-style adventure or biking the app has you covered. There’s a huge social aspect to Strava, which means you can get access to hundreds of other routes that people have run, probably in your location, and test your mettle against them.
The app lets you compete against these people and move up on leaderboards in friendly competition, and also offers several challenges every month that you can opt into. This part doesn’t appeal to me — the competition piece makes me want to give up right away — but the app also lets you track your progress on a certain route and compare your personal performance to your previous attempts on that same route.
Many of the features are available for free, but you can also opt for Strava Premium. Premium features include leveled leaderboards, personal goal setting, training videos, achievement badges and more. Strava Premium is available for an annual $59 subscription fee, but honestly I don’t see any features included in the premium membership that feel worth the additional cost.
The free version is packed with plenty of features to make the app worthwhile. It’s available for Android on Google Play and Apple iOS.
For aNewDomain, I’m Becket Morgan.
Screenshots by Becket Morgan, courtesy of Google Play
Featured image: Bike Lane by John St John via Flickr
