For several months, I was thinking of inducing some kind of workout into my otherwise not-so-active (I spend most of the day with my head leaning forward gaping at computer monitor) daily life. Finally, I started to spend some time hiking every weekend. Till that point I never looked at the iPhone apps that fall under the category 'Health and Fitness'. The one that I really liked is RunKeeper.
When you are about to start your workout, just fire up the app and press the start button and let it run. That's all you have to do. You can optionally select the kind of workout (whether you are running, walking, cycling or hiking). If you do the same kind of workout regularly, it will remember your last selection and you only need to change it if you change your type of workout. Once the workout is done, press the stop button and you will see the statistics like duration of the workout, distance traveled, average speed, feet climbed and calories burned. As the tracking is GPS based, it will track your location even though there is no cellphone signal.
The cool thing about RunKeeper is that they have a web version where all your workout data is uploaded. Once the data is on the site, you can see your track embedded on a Google Map and you can share it with your friends or the world. There is also Twitter and Facebook integration to post your workout data as a status update with a link to the map and details. Sharing is completely optional and you can keep it to yourself if you do not want to share it with others.
The best thing about tracking your workouts is that it will keep you motivated. You will see how you are progressing or improving over a period of time and you will try to do more the next time. And as it costs you nothing, there is no reason not to try it out.
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