For all the enrichment that the digital age has brought, one of the biggest challenges presented has been the balancing act between time spent online and time spent up, moving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Couple the popularity of social media with a brighter spotlight on “the wellness era” and it’s easy to see why online health tools are taking front and center stage. This past weekend, over 200 health and fitness-minded bloggers convened at the Healthy Living Summit to celebrate the very online community coaxing this trend along. A few hundred more are now listed in the Healthy Living blog index.
The once passé act of sharing your most recent exercise online has become a widely-adopted social norm, not to mention a source of motivation and positive impact for people around the world. This week’s Friday Five takes a closer look at some of the sites that are pulling together health, fitness and the power of social integration.
DailyMile
Increasingly popular among running enthusiasts, DailyMile tags itself as a “social training log.” Its clean interface, intuitive user experience and connections with Twitter, Facebook, Garmin and Nike+ have put this running site at the front of the social training pack. Users can log a variety of workouts, receive and send “motivation,” search a race calendar, map their routes, and even create challenges for their DailyMile friends to compete in. But more than anything, users boast that its DailyMile’s sense of community that keeps them on track and coming back for more.
Skimble
Like DailyMile, Skimble allows you to track, share, motivate and challenge with the best of them. But unlike DailyMile, Skimble puts equal focus on 30+ sports and will pony up points for each activity accomplished. The points won’t earn you any prize money, but they can place you on the Skimble leaderboard. To up the ante one more, Skimble has released iPhone and iPad apps, as well as an Android app.
Nike+
Nike hit social fitness from a new angle by not only creating an intuitive social fitness site, but by coupling it with useful, and mandatory, products. Grab a pair of Nike compatible shoes and an iPod, sync it with the Nike+ sensor and you’re on your way. Super star bonus: celebrity athletes will provide real-time feedback while running. Post-run, users can simply log-on to the corresponding Nike+ site to log and share their run, compete in challenges, and get inspired by other Nike+ users.
DailyBurn
DailyBurn, formerly known as Gyminee, is less niche and more overall health and fitness. The site boasts a variety of tools that many of the above sites feature, including exercise and fitness logs, free and “pro” training programs, the ability to find and follow “motivators,” and more. But what really differentiates DailyBurn is its propensity to innovate with new technology. Outside of their standard smart phone apps, they’ve created a “FoodScanner” app that allows you to use your phone’s camera to scan UPC barcodes to track your daily calorie consumption. If that’s not enough, what about their WiFi enabled scales that connects directly to DailyBurn.com! Necessary? Depends. Innovative? Indeed.
Athlinks
In a world of numerous health and fitness tracking sites, Athlinks puts itself of the map by being the ultimate resource for endurance statistics. In fact, it calls itself the “largest and most complete results database for endurance races on the planet.” If you’ve ever competed in any footrace, simply enter your name and watch the results miraculously appear. Athlinks went so far back to find one of my first races from 2002! And yes, like the sites above, you can definitely track and share your workouts, and “rival” your Athlink friends.
Image credit: strongwomanbootcamp and martineric
