By Ryan Lawson, Fitness Coordinator 
Technology is constantly changing in an attempt to make all aspects of our lives easier and fitness is no exception. With so much out there, you may be wondering how technology can be used to help you achieve your fitness goals. Technology can make everything from tracking your heart rate to creating custom workout plans easier. If you’re looking to simplify your workouts, here are a few ways technology can help.
- Listening to music/watching videos. Whether through your phone, an iPod or even a tablet, listening to music or getting caught up on your favorite TV shows/podcasts can help you avoid boredom while exercising. Think of it as multi-tasking at its healthiest.
- Monitoring your heart rate. Your heart is a muscle and needs to be worked through cardio. Monitoring your heart rate and making sure you’re staying in your target beats-per-minute zone. It also helps you make sure you aren’t overexerting yourself. Technology has advanced heart rate monitoring to the point where the watch you wear not only tells your heart rate, but can even notify you when you’re exercising too hard or not hard enough.
- Tracking distance and pace. A pedometer or any other type of distance tracker (such as a fitbit) can show you how far you have walked. Additionally, wearable devices have advanced to the point that once they are synced with GPS they can monitor specifics of your movement—such as how far you have walked, run, biked or swam. These wearables are helpful not only for keeping track of your distance but your time as well. This in turn can help you track your pace. Both of these data points allow you to compare workouts and chart your improvement.