Top tech in the gym

Using your new fitness tech

Each Christmas we see a new set of fitness trackers and health apps appearing in our gyms and we want to help you get the most out of your latest toy and become one of our #ActivePeople. Don’t have a tracker? No worries – we have an app for that! Read on to find out how you can track your activity and make moves count.

Places Locker App - our favourite of course :) 

You don’t need the latest fitness tracker in our centres, it’s still possible to track your workouts using just your smartphone. Our Places Locker app holds all you need for a great workout and is designed especially for use in our centres as well as at home and on the go.

Key features include:

  • Track your classes, swim, sports sessions and individual gym exercises all in one place. You can use our quick scan QR codes on the equipment to easily log each exercise. You can also log activity outside the centre such as running, cycling, walking the dog and evening gardening!

Places Locker is included within all our memberships and if you don’t have a membership you can still get it by joining our FREE Places membership.

Already a member? Just ask a member of the team to send you the invite email to activate your Places Locker account.

Garmin

Originally designed with GPS for running, Garmin have now expanded into the fitness tracker market but whether you have a Vivofit or Forerunner model you can make use of both in the gym. In addition to counting your steps and calories, the best feature of your Garmin in the gym is the heart rate tracker as it’s here that you can make sure you are working hard enough to achieve your goals. Talk to our instructors about Heart Rate zones to get a guide on what you should be aiming for at different stages of your workout.

Fitbit

The Fitbit range of trackers are right up there for style and simplicity. Each tracker has varying levels of functionality but perhaps our favourite feature is the quick switch into exercise mode when you start your workout, just don’t forget to turn it off at the end J If you don’t remember to switch into exercise mode don’t worry the inbuilt recognition feature will automatically detect your workout style, plus you can manually add different workouts at a later date if you forget. Your Fitbit also allows you to link up to friends who use Fitbit – a little healthy competition goes a long way and makes fitness fun.

Apple Health

Most mobile Apple products come with the Apple Health App already installed. The App is a great way to keep all your data in one place. You can record exercise, sleep, nutrition, body measurements and much more but it does require a wearable tracker (Apple watch, Polar, Garmin etc) to make the most of it. If you have it on your phone it will track your steps when you are on the move but if you want to add your gym workout you will have to do this manually. 

SWIMTAG

It’s not all about the gym! Most trackers aren’t waterproof so all our pools have SWIMTAG technology to let you can track your swims. The SWIMTAG wristband will count lengths, detect stroke type, time your swim, lap times and much more. There are a whole range of challenges you can take part in with SWIMTAG including Escaping from Alactraz or swimming the Channel. Why not challenge a friend? SWIMTAG also syncs with our Places Locker App so you can record your swim with the rest of your workouts. What’s more it’s free to use for all members. Not a member? No worries just sign up to our FREE Places Membership to get access to SWIMTAG and Places Locker App.

So whether you are into the gym, classes, sports or swimming there is an App or tracker out there to help you record your exercise and more importantly get you moving more. To make the most out of any of the options set yourself some goals, challenge your mates and get moving!