Inspiration

Michi has become 73% stronger and 25 kg of fat lighter. Every Tuesday for the past 12 months, Michi Berlinka, 50, rings the bell at 13:10 sharp at Löwenstrasse 53a, AURUM Fit Studio in Zurich. "If someone had told me that I would name a fitness subscription as the best investment under 4000 Swiss francs, I would have thought the person was crazy. After all, I played handball and soccer for over 20 years. Unfortunately, I had suffered a knee injury, developed a great liking for everything that is unhealthy, and weighed 130 kg thanks to a lack of self-discipline. Today I'm the crazy one, already looking forward on Monday to the fitness appointment on Tuesday!"

As the saying goes, opposites attract. This is also true for my fitness routine, specifically for my yoga practice and weekly strength training. Even though yoga and strength training don't have much in common at first glance, from my experience they complement each other extremely well. If you ever found yourself on a yoga mat trying to feel and look good doing asanas, then you will recognize yourself in my story. Maybe you will even get inspired to pair your yoga routine with strength training!

The pandemic has shown us that health and social relationships matter most. And the lockdown has changed the way we live (at least for a while) and the way we perceive time. When gyms closed and fitness classes were canceled, we had to figure out how to exercise at home. Turns out, 3-4 hours of sweat sessions every week shaking that bootie are not just unnecessary but have also been robbing our time. So did the daily commute. We learned that the popular workout routines varying from yoga, pilates, spinning, body pump, to body boost can be done from home. Alone these apps can get you the needed amount of physical and mental fitness. Except for the 6 Minute high intensity workout performed on our “time machine”. Time, because it literally buys you time and improves your quality of life.

Using various apps and related routines can help you get to the results you want (or help understand why you're not getting the results), increase awareness, expand knowledge or develop a habit. My favorite under-appreciated motivation for using the self-tracking apps is that it is a way to think more deeply about something that's going on in my life. Having tested different wearables and apps praised by scientists and healthy lifestyle enthusiasts, I came to the conclusion: what gets measured, gets managed, and after it gets managed, it doesn’t need to be measured anymore. Take food tracking or meditation: once you learn and build a habit that serves you, you don't need to continue tracking with "obsession". So, what are the best wellbeing apps worth your attention?