If you want to get a better overview of your health and activity level, there are a lot of apps and trackers that can help you. A very simple solution is the “Google Fit App”, which, together with other apps and smart gadgets, registers and displays a variety of data. Is it worth making the Google Fit App a part of your fitness trip? The article gives a brief overview.
Google Fit App: An overview
Google Fit is a health and fitness app for those looking for an easy way to record their health data, sports activities and daily walking distances. No Smartwatch or separate fitness tracker is required to record the necessary data, but an additional tracker is useful for recording heart rate and workout intensity. You can install the app on multiple devices, including smartphones, tablets, PCs and Smartwatch, and track your fitness progress on all devices.
The Goal: Active Minutes and Cardio Points
With this app you pursue a mission: To collect as many active minutes and cardio points as possible per day. Cardio points are awarded depending on the type and intensity of the activity. If the intensity of the activity is increased, e.g. by a faster speed while walking or jogging, more points are awarded. This classification is based on the prevention recommendations of the World Heralth Organization, WHO. The WHO recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of strenuous activity per week to each adult in order to improve health in the long term. All collected data is presented by Google Fit in a clear diagram in relation to the target values.
How are activity and cardio goals set?
By simply clicking on “Profile,” you can determine which daily goals you want to achieve. Active minutes are collected quite quickly, for example, when walking before and after work. To earn cardio points, you need to make a little more effort. Don’t set your first goals too high and gain some experience with the app. Increase your activity goals gradually and realistically.
How is data recorded with the Google Fit App?
This fitness app uses sensors located in your mobile device or activity trackers to record the data you need. After granting the necessary permissions, such as access to location data and activity tracking, the app keeps a kind of logbook (training overview) of the registered activities. Details such as distance, speed, calories burned and number of steps are also listed. In the training overview, you can also assign courses to specific activities afterwards. The measured values can be extended by synchronisation with a smart watch, on which the app is also installed. With a smart watch the heart rate can also be measured, which is not possible with a smartphone alone.
Some factors that are relevant for your health are recorded by Google Fit. These include:
- Physical activity: Once installed on a gadget, Google Fit monitors your exercise or physical activity and stores it in a training diary. An estimation of caloric consumption is based on your profile data such as gender, height and weight. Another advantage of this app is that you can make some changes to inaccurate data. For example, you can add notes to entries and edit details such as duration of activity and perceived intensity.
- Lose weight: Google Fit can help you to lose weight. When losing weight, it’s important to burn more calories than you consume. By connecting to compatible apps such as calorie counters, the app of your body weight monitor or other fitness apps, you can get a good overview of all relevant data. Data on your exercise pattern, eating habits, body weight and composition make it easy for you, your personal trainer or your doctor to assess your state of health. Suggestions for improving your fitness training are also more appropriate if they are based on the related data.
- Sleep: Google Fit synchronizes data with apps such as “Sleep as Android” to assess your sleep habits and overall quality. The app can create a graph based on the data.
- Blood pressure: With the Google Fit App you can enter your blood pressure manually. All you need to do is tap the + sign and enter the value along with the exact date and time. The app can also automatically detect your blood pressure, provided you’re using a compatible blood pressure monitor. After a measurement, the collected data is transferred to the mobile app via Bluetooth. A popular blood pressure monitor compatible with Google Fit e.g. is “QardioArm”. The related app can be downloaded from the iOS or Google Play Store.
Conclusion
The Google Fit App is an interesting tool for the collection of data from various areas. With the smartphone alone, the activity profile of the user is recorded via sensors in the device. By synchronizing with compatible apps and devices the data collection can be extended, e.g. by sleep data, blood pressure or heart rate.
Such data collection can be very helpful in assessing overall health and fitness. The graphical representations of sleep, pulse, weight and blood pressure provide a clear overview of the data and allow trends to be identified. All together they can be a good basis for you, your trainer or your doctor to better assess your state of health and give training recommendations.
Using the Google Fit App is easy and doesn’t require much data maintenance. The app is definitely worth a download because the data listing gives an interesting overview of health-relevant aspects. Thus the app can increase the motivation for an active and healthy everyday life.
