From IT Support Technician James Baker

The benefits of fitness go on and on, but as we all know you need consistency and discipline in order to stick with a routine long enough to reap those wellbeing rewards. That’s where technology can lend a helping hand. The right app can act as a virtual personal trainer or training partner to keep you motivated and accountable.

Here James shares about his own journey to fitness and how technology has kept him motivated:

“From my personal viewpoint exercise is about being healthy and making sure that you don’t miss out on any opportunity to do something that you want to.

“When I first started, I lived a very unhealthy lifestyle with lots of junk food and minimal activity. This became a problem when I wanted to take part in events that required stepping outside of my comfort zone and pushing my physical limits with excessive movement such as wanting to take part in a Tough Mudder.

“This realisation was a good thing, as it allowed me to set a goal and work towards it – the goal setting definitely helped me to focus my motivation … It doesn’t matter if it’s a large goal such as running a marathon or a small goal such as being able to do a pullup with no assistance. Having the target will give the activity purpose and when it’s completed it makes all the training and effort feel worthwhile!

“Once your goal is set you can then help yourself. Personally, I used an app on my phone called MyFitnessPal to track my food intake and see what type of foods I was eating. This allowed me to see where I was going wrong with my diet.

“I also attended the gym between three and five times a week to work for my goal and by speaking with the staff and other members you can learn better ways to improve, as well as more creative ways to work out. Often a lot of them you can do from home such as lunges, squats, pushups etc.”

Now some months into his fitness journey James has reassessed his training goals. He is setting himself smaller more manageable fitness targets, such as his current aim to be able to do ten unassisted pullups, but all still with a focus on achieving his Tough Mudder goal.

Hopefully we’ll be able to read about it here soon!