Three health apps for your smartphone

One of our clients is an engineer who measures electromagnetic waves for a living. He says that Singapore has a very high "dose" of this form of radiation since we have wi-fi, 3g and radio waves just about everywhere.

While its probably bad to hang around areas with high levels of electromagnetic waves, one of the good things about this is that we have a high penetration of smart phone usage. So lets make use of the apps that come with them to improve our health.

Here are three of my favorites:

1. Myfitnesspal

This is a free meal tracking software (the exercise tracking part isn't as good). While "calorie counting" isn't the first thing we teach most clients at Genesis Gym - good food choices are far more important for most people - you can't eat excessive amounts and expect to stay healthy and lean.

The good thing about this app is that it is web based so you can track your food on your PC/smartphone/tablet etc. It's also free, and it has a large database of foods, including quite a lot of Asian foods which can't be found on many other food apps.

By the way, a good caloric starting point for weight loss for most men is about 14x body weight in pounds (2.2lb per kg) and about 10-11x for ladies. Make sure that you get at least 2g protein per kg of weight, and stick to non-refined food sources.

2. Training Timers

Most people don't train, they simply show up to "work-out". There is a difference. Working out has no goal in mind, and most people will end up doing what is: easy, unfocused, and convenient. Thus getting little result. Reading a magazine while pedaling on a recumbent bike is a good example, and so is floating in a swimming pool. That's not swimming, that's playing in the water!

One of the keys to training is sticking to prescribed rest periods. And timing software like "Gym Boss" and "A HIIT Interval Timer" allow you to preset your rest periods so that you can stick to them. They come with countdown beeps and a stopwatch to make sure you stay on track. After all if you spend more than 45-60 minutes of training time (excluding warmup, stretching, showering etc) in the gym, you are making friends, not making progress.

3. Sleep Trackers

There are several sleep tracking software for iOS or Android, and they use the accelerometer of your phone to see how deep your sleep is. While this is not the most accurate measure of sleep quality (you need to hook your brain up to electrodes for that!) it is convenient and will give you general indications of your sleep quality.

Good sleep improves brain function, energy metabolism, mood and stress management. If you see short, not-deep, or highly interrupted sleep, you can take a few steps to address it.

A quick note: turn your phone to airplane mode when you do this, having a transmitting device near you when you sleep can affect sleep negatively as well.

There we have it, for the price of $0.00 (well, except for seeing a few ads that support the development of these mostly free software), you can use these apps to take control of some aspects of your health.

For the best fitness boot camp program, and personal training in Singapore visit www.genesisgym.com.sg or the Genesis Gym facebook page. Or visit Coach Jonathan's homepage and blog at www.coachjon.com