It’s not easy getting into shape. If it was easy, everyone would be walking around with six-pack abs. Having the right equipment alongside a healthy lifestyle is just as important to help you reach your fitness goals. Fitness doesn’t have to be hard, nor expensive, therefore, here are some of the best cheap fitness gadgets/apps you can get that’ll help you achieve your goals.
Fitness App(s)
Fitness apps can go a long way in helping you achieve your goals. Sometimes, you have the right attitude and motivation but you don’t know what you need to do. It’s very easy to make mistakes when on a diet or a “healthy lifestyle”. Not everyone has someone who can guide them through it all. That is where fitness apps come in.
Find an app where you can log your daily calories and check the number of macronutrients you’re getting per day through the foods you eat. This is extremely important as not many of us realize how much calories are in certain foods and how much calories we actually take in daily. Once you start tracking calories, you become more aware of what you eat and are thus able to avoid diet mistakes which would hinder your progress.
A great app to get is MyFitnessPal by Under Armour. You can track your daily calories using the app as well as your workouts. The app will also tell you exactly how many calories you need per day according to your height, weight, age, gender, and goals. There are daily blog posts posted on the app which include healthy (and yummy) recipes, workout routines, some tips and general advice on what to do such as when you hit a plateau etc.
Moreover, the app is completely free so you don’t need to spend any money on it. It does have a premium version if you feel that’ll suit you more. You can also check out apps like Six-Pack promise which gives you daily core workouts, it requires only a one-time payment of $4. There are many great apps out there, find the one that is right for you.
A phone armband for when you workout
Phones have become inseparable now and it would be hard to imagine life without them. This holds true even when we workout. Most of us find that extra burst of energy while working out to our favorite tunes whereas some just enjoy having music around them.
It becomes really awkward and annoying having your phone in your pocket while working out. This is especially the case if you’re running. That is where the armband comes in handy. The armband straps to your arm firmly and the phone goes into the socket. The armband is powerful enough to keep your phone in place whilst you do all sorts of exercises, so there’s no need to worry about your phone falling during a run. It’s incredibly useful especially if you use your phone to track your footsteps.
There are many variants out there, but you should get one that comes from a reliable company which is also preferably water resistant. Arms can get really sweaty during an intense workout, therefore the armband should be water resistant otherwise your phone may even get damaged. Check this one out on Amazon for just under $11.
A food weighing scale
As mentioned earlier, we greatly underestimate the number of calories we eat. This is why tracking the food you eat on a daily basis is so important if you want to reach your goals. However, many calorie tracking apps will often give you a calorie count according to a specific measurement. For example, a 100g serving of food X has Y number of calories.
Therefore, it’s important to keep a food weighing scale so you can accurately measure the amount of food you’re eating. Many people have no idea how much they eat, they usually tend to eat a lot more than they think. For example, to someone, a single bowl of pasta may look very light, but it’s very likely that it weighs over 200-300 grams, and thus it contains a lot of calories.
Keeping a food scale gives you a bit of perspective on how less you can eat of the bad stuff and how much more you can eat of the healthier stuff. The latter has much fewer calories, yet is nutritionally rich. Food scales aren’t that expensive and this food scale on Amazon will cost you hardly $12.
A smart scale
Perhaps the most important thing you’ll ever need in your fitness journey is a smart scale. It is the only thing that’s slightly more expensive than the rest of the items on this list, but it’s worth it. A smart scale will give you a much better insight into your progress than traditional weighing scales.
Using just your bodyweight can be a very misleading way of measuring progress. Sure, if you’re losing weight or bulking up, you may see big physical changes, but sometimes the number on the weighing scale may not move or it even increases despite your efforts. This is where bodyweight fails to be a real indicator of progress. A smart scale gives you accurate readings of your body weight, BMI, body fat percentage, muscle mass, water weight and bone mass.
So if you gain weight despite eating clean and working out, you can check whether you actually gained muscle instead of fat. Most smart scales can be synced with different fitness apps over an internet connection which makes it easy to access and read all your data. A recommended scale would be this one, for under $25 on Amazon.
Bluetooth earphones/headphones
As discussed earlier, music is a very important part of many people’s workout. Most people can’t get into the “zone” without listening to music while working out. However, earphones can be very annoying while working out due to their wires getting in the way especially during running. This is why one should consider investing in Bluetooth earphones or headphones.
Wireless earphones have evolved over the years. They are almost as good as their wired counterparts now. Having Bluetooth earbuds or headphones makes it easy to workout without unnecessary wires interfering in between. They’re particularly useful in running because now there are sports earbuds that are made to stick to your ears while you run.
Sports/workout friendly Bluetooth earphones/headphones are also water resistant so you need not worry about damaging them. It’s recommended that you go for any reliable company’s sports earbuds or any renowned company’s Bluetooth headsets, they will do just fine. It all depends on your choice and range, there’s a lot of options out there.
