23 Mar Journalism project
**** My written piece delves into the bad / good of wearable tech and the possible consequences of using social media to document your workouts. It also looks at popular celebrities such as the Kardashians and how they use their platform to promote fitness and a healthy lifestyle. My audio piece considers how an all girls’ school in Gloucestershire has made the decision to ban wearable tech due to the girls paying too much attention to counting calories, ending in them skipping meals. My VT is an interview with certified personal trainer, IT girl and blogger from LA, Soleil Collins. I also created two infographics to give visual aid to my piece, along with my images. My piece is aimed at all ages as I think it’s an interesting read ****
Data Driven Exercise? How tech is shaping tomorrow’s fitness
Convincing yourself to get up and go to the gym is a workout let alone actually getting up and going.
So, will the hybrid between technology and your long-lost fitness regime come together and change the ways we approach exercise? Apparently, the new name for it is Immersive fitness? And it’s all the rage, especially for those who don’t love to venture out to the gym. It surrounds itself around the visual components.
My own research has shown people respond better to computerized graphics, colors and music when working out. Well, all new fitness app’s have got this all sorted for you, without leaving your humble abode.
In more recent years’ technology has been at the heart of our fitness regime. The fitness industry has embraced all new high tech apps to enhance the consumer’s experience of working out and making it that little bit easier. Like most, my fitness regime is multifaceted. A dog walk here, a run here, walking up the tube escalators (if that counts)?
“Technology has changed the way we plan our fitness activities, the way we work out and the way we measure our results,” says David Walmsley, senior leisure analyst at Mintel. “So as well as giving us online booking systems, new technologies are letting fitness club members see how busy the gym is in real time. Fitness classes are becoming more immersive as operators add a new visual element to the standard music and choreography, and wearables are allowing us to monitor how we perform.” So, cut a long story short, our fitness centers are working out technology”.
The generation of today’s apps continue to make your fitness life easier and easier. There’s now no need to ring up the gym or venture in to sign up to a class, now most gym’s have a specified app where you can log on to your own personal account and sign up to the gym and pay right there and then. No need to carry any money with you, it’s all done using ‘tomorrow’s technology’.
Infinity fitness gym in Kings Hill, Kent, has been rivaling with competitor chain gym David Lloyd. Besides the fact Infinity is over 50% cheaper than its rival, they offer 24-hour access with finger print admission. Features of the gym are multiple studio’s where members can work out with their gym app’s instead of using fitness machines and equipment, and the use of high tech applications which are generating a hybrid between fitness and technology that shows the amount of consumer participation it takes for it to work. When speaking to gym owner and CEO Dean Smith, he said ‘I am loving the hybrid between our new-found love for fitness and technology. Not only does it make my life easier when it comes to not having to be on the premises 24 hours a day it also enables the users to work out freely. As much as I do think it’s a great concept, I would always want to have staff at the gym as we all know we can’t 100% rely on technology, and I wouldn’t ever want anything to go wrong!’
Technology has paved the way for flexible work out times, with the tap of a button you can have your classes booked for the forthcoming week and a session with your personal trainer. Easy peasy!
With the huge rise of the number of apps used to aid a person’s fitness they’re making it considerable easier for you to communicate and organize your life. One of the most popular fi
tness app’s (which I use myself) MyFitnessPal, was originally created back in 2004 and had 80 million users. Three years ago, the up and coming app was taken over and bought for $475 million dollars by Under Armour and now has a whopping 165 million users to date. The walking-talking application enables users to enter exactly what they’ve eaten throughout the day / week / month and total a calorie intake. You can even input your latest goals you wish to achi
eve and what exercises you’ve done to see if you’re on track to reach those goals!
Much like app Strava, you can also connect with other users and compete (How fun!) I spoke to fitness enthusiast Anna West who works out at Infinity Gym who said ‘Since downloading MyFitnessPal (which is free!!!) I have seen such positive changes. I’ve lost 6lbs and have a regular habit of imputing all my food related data into the app so I know exactly how much I’ve eaten. This technology has really changed the way I work out now and I’m sure it will continue to change’. 
This level of tech is making it much easier for those people who work their 9-5 jobs and don’t have the time to faff around going to the gym to book in their classes.
Futuristic work outs
Who needs a real-life gym buddy when you have the perfect workout partner right there on your smart phone. The future of futuristic fitness is now becoming a bit more real and not just a tongue twister. Whereby, when doing the workout routine, it shows you on your fitness app, your fitness friend will not only mimic it with you, but push you harder and encourage you to work more. It’s becoming more and more easier for you to incorporate technology into your exercise, from app’s, data tracking systems, nutrition bots and high end body analysis. “I see the emerging trend of technology becoming more and more invisible,” said Mounir Zok, director of technology and innovation for the US Olympic Committee. The idea isn’t new. In 1984, Adidas released the first shoe integrated with technology to electronically measure the wearer’s running distance, average speed and calories burned. The shoe, called Micropacer, had a microcomputer hidden in the left tongue to collect data.
Another concept that is very up and coming is YouT
ube. With currently over 1 billion users and over 30 million active users a day, it’s a great way to display workouts for fitness fanatics. With 300 hours of creative content uploaded to YouTube every minute, (YouTube stats) you will be sure to find a workout video of your choice, from PT’s displaying their go to workouts to amateurs showing what they did at the gym last night!
The downside of wearable technology
Now I have your attention, is there a downside to wearable technology? It keeps you on track, it’s for on the go, its wearable! According to software group Mintel, sales for wearable technology have risen in the past few years from £1.4 million sales to £3 million. However, the only downside I can seem to think of is the fact its seen as a fashion statement.
Even with products like the Apple Watch, you can change the straps up to pick something that coordinates with your outfit. It all seems to be a little materialistic in my eyes.
Ward, however, questions their long-term viability. “Whilst these devices undoubtedly have huge potential, most are treated as fashion accessories, it will be interesting to see if wearables become essential items in the next five years, or whether they become the equivalent of the exercise bike in the 1980s which everyone owned but mainly used to hang their washing on in the spare room.” Given the recent surge in futuristic workouts, the future of gymnasiums is being transformed. From gym’s acting as a place of work and a fitness area for those who don’t have the time to do both separately, to having a space solely where you can work out using your choice of app or on screen personal trainer.
Customizing your workout
When you think of technology it usually comes with a bad rap. Usually we link it to people forever being lazy on their phones, tablets and other tech.
However, we usually don’t tend to link it to being active and getting fit. In a global survey of exercisers, Life Fitness found that ‘exercisers that use technology to support their workouts consider themselves to be more successful at achieving their weight and fitness goals’.
The best things are wearable technology is the fact they’re able to measure heart rate, temperature, sleeping patterns and even your blood oxygen levels. This info can all then be linked to the app on your phone so it’s available on more than one handset. One of the greatest aspects of using an app to exercise is the social aspect.
There is a huge downside that many people don’t recognize when it comes to fitness and tracking your goals. It starts a kind of rivalry that becomes embedded within yourself. Many of us don’t realize it’s happening but using apps to track your workout data has been proven to be the beginning of many eating disorders and self-confidence issues.
Especially with today’s millennials and the way they have continued to use social media to portray their every move; it can become dangerous to use it to document your fitness life.
On the plus side, social media isn’t all that bad. For me personally, I love using Instagram. It’s probably my favorite go to app for inspiration! I have a weird obsession with the Kardashians and love scrolling through their feed for lots of different reasons! Mainly though for when I’m feeling a little de-motivated when it comes to fitness, my university work load or my part time job. Seeing them post their workout’s or seeing them in nice clothes gives me the inspiration to get up and go and get fit!
Back in 2015, the Kardashian / Jenner sisters each launched their own IOS app. Each of the five sisters created their own a
pp from scratch to document a serious of different aspects of their life through live streaming, Q&A’s, up close and personal photos and videos that fans don’t usually get to see. Per fortune.com ‘Kylie Jenner’s app was downloaded 1.75 million times during the first week of availability, according to mobile app data firm Apptopia. In contrast, Khloe Kardashian’s app had 498,000 downloads while Kim Kardashian’s app saw 477,000’.
All the sister’s apps were produced by Los Angeles based production company Whalerock who have previously worked with Kim Kardashian-West before
‘Kylie’s app brought in $134,000, according to Apptopia, compared with Khloe’s app, which brought in $25,000. Kim’s app brought in a little more than $19,000. Khloe Kardashian’s app topped conversions with 9% of users opting to pay for the app after the trial. Kim’s app followed with a 7% rate, followed by Kylie with 6%’. With Khloe’s app, she was the sister who had the highest turn out of users wanting to pay for the content.
This is super interesting because Khloe has the most content surrounding around fitness. As many of her fans will know she struggled with weight loss and was a well-known yo-yo dieter. Her change of lifestyle was documented on their multimillion dollar show Keeping up with the Kardashians. Fans will also see behind the scenes meetings from the sisters when discussing their app’s. Khloe was the first of her sisters to have a fitness tab on her app. It’s at the top of the page showing the hierarchy that fitness comes first with Khloe.
How this new tech has helped not only the fitness world
As well as just revolutionizing the world, prosecutors in Connecticut believe that Fitbit is the answer to their prayers when it could solve one of New England’s biggest murder cases. *https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/25/fitbit-data-murder-suspect-richard-dabate*
Officials say that the timeline given by Richard Dabate, accused of killing his wife in the couple’s Ellington, Connecticut, home in 2015, is at odds with data collected from her Fitbit, a wearable device that tracks physical activity. Dabate told police that a masked assailant came into the couple’s suburban home at around 9am on 23 December 2015 and subdued Dabate with “pressure points” before shooting his wife, Connie Dabate, with a gun that Richard Dabate owned.
He said that the man killed his wife as she returned through their garage from a workout at the local YMCA. Dabate claimed that he eventually chased the assailant off with a blowtorch. Nonetheless, the wearable told a whole different story.
According to data from the device, which uses a digital pedometer to track the wearer’s steps, Connie Dabate was moving around for more than an hour after her husband said the murder took place. Not just that – it also showed she had traveled more than 1,200ft after arriving home, contrary to Dabate’s story that she was killed as she arrived. The distance from her vehicle to the location she died is “no more than 125ft”, according to police documents. “It is an electronic footprint that tracks your movements,” Stedman said. “It is a great tool for investigators to use.” This proves that your digital footprint, especially your wearable is even more crucial than you thought. Simon Leigh, a health economist at the University of Liverpool, said that of far greater concern were health apps that made recommendations about medication, such as adjusting insulin dosage. “These have the huge opportunity for error,” he said.
“Exercise apps on the whole may result in a small number of incidents, but in general they are promoting healthy behaviors. So, the opportunity for damage, although increased for some, such as diabetics who suddenly up their exercise, is likely to be minimal.”
The number of heath care app’s on IOS’s app store has sky rocketed with more than 165,000 health related active app’s. These app’s now make it possible for you to do the extraordinary; being able to monitor blood pressure, calculate insulin doses for diabetics and even solve murder crimes!
They most definitely have their perks, but do they outweigh the cons? I suppose we’ll never find out. For now, they do the job!
Interview with personal trainer: Chris De-tute
Me: As a personal trainer do you tend to mix technology when you’re training clients?
Chris: No I don’t use it at all. I’m actually very anti-social media myself so would never use technology in a workout with one of my clients. I like to keep it more personal and hope they see the amount of work i put it to help them, so no I don’t need technology.
Me: Would / have you used an app to help you work out?
Chris: I’ve never used an app as I think sometimes it can be a little disheartening to the user if they aren’t getting the results they are hoping for. However, when I first started out, before I became a personal trainer I used to watch Youtube video’s if I didn’t quite know how to use a specific machine or do a specific exercise, so in terms of that, its great!!
Me: What do you think of wearable tech?
Chris: I actually have a fitbit myself. I think it’s great if you love cardio as it tells you exactly how far you’ve run / cycled! I think they’re a great idea.
Me: What about the idea of not needing a workout buddy and the apps are substituting that?
Chris: You know what, I think thats a great idea for anyone who feels a little scared or worried about going to a gym by themselves. This way you don’t have to venture out, you can do it all at home with the support of the bot on the app! I’m very confident in the gym but for someone who isn’t, its a great stepping stone.
Me: Lastly, do you think it’s bad for young adults to see celebrities posting their fitness routines online / their idea of the perfect body?
Chris: Like you said, it’s great for when you’re lacking motivation and want that push to get up and get a great workout in, BUT, as many of us know, those instagram pics are always edited and that’s not exactly what they actually look like so in some ways it can be a false image for the younger generation to look at.
