App Review: Nike + Running

Hey guys,
Kevin here from the MNBKS Fitness team coming with something a little different today. I've been using the Nike+ Running app for iOS and Android lately and thought I would give you guys my thoughts.

So as most people know, running is one of the simplest, easiest, and most effective forms of cardio. Just a little bit everyday will build your muscles, improve cardio vascular fitness, burn plenty of kilojoules, and even strengthen your bones!
The Nike+ Running app aims to add elements of 'Web 2.0' and social networking to your runs to help make then less 'boring', and motivate and drive you towards your fitness goals.

When you start Nike+ Running for the first time you're presented with the main feature app. Essentially it's an app designed to track the route (through GPS), distance, time, pace, splits and NikeFuel of your run.
All of this data is stored and available to you at any time and therefore can act as a very powerful tool for the setting and achieving of goals.
You might want to be able run an extra kilometre next week. Run a kilometre 30 seconds faster? Increase your pace for next time? All of this is trackable through the Nike+ Running app.
When you're finished you can even share your run on Facebook directly through the app and get cheered on by your friends.









Competing against yourself and beating your previous goals however is only the start. The best motivation comes when you're competing against others right? The Nike+ Running app allows you to do just that. You can set challenges for you and your friends, complete with a full, real-time leaderboard.














The Nike+ Running app has definitely made running more fun and interesting for me whilst I've been using it. Setting and beating personal goals, and fighting for every metre so that my name is on the top of that leaderboard was really motivating for me.

All in all I hope this review was of some use to you guys, the app is definitely worth checking out. Also did I mention that it was FREE!? What more could you ask for?

Be fit, be happy, and get to running!

-Kevin

Training Hard vs Training Smart

For many people embarking the fitness journey, getting to the gym is the biggest problem and once in the gym, they often don’t know what to do. The most common thing I have experienced with people starting out is that enough is never enough. People want to go 6 times a week and each session they plan to do every single machine in the span of one hour or less or incorporate 50+ working sets. Whilst I am guilty of training like this in the past, a workload of such is simply unrealistic and unsustainable unless you are a professional athlete, enhanced or Russian. One has to remember that whilst fitness should be a core component of our lives, it shouldn’t be the only thing we expend energy for.

This problem is most likely going to occur with a beginner lifter who is transitioning into an intermediate lifter. They often still have the mindset of a beginner lifter, eager to do everything, however their bodies won’t be able to recover in the same way that a beginner would as they are lifting more weight and using their CNS more efficiently. As a result of not being able to fully recover for the next workout, they will constantly feel fatigued and without the needed rest, may result in overtraining and/or injury.

An easy solution to this problem is to have smart programming. For beginner lifters, programs such as starting strength by Mark Rippetoe or Mehdi’s 5x5 stronglifts program are a great place to start and as they progress they may look into programs such as The Texas Method or Billstar’s 5x5. These programs may or may not be suitable for the goals of individuals not looking to gain strength and have other goals in mind.

Lord Rippetoe beams upon you as you descend below parallel in the squat

In the end it’s fine to train hard, but train smart as well.

Be fit, be happy.

Cardio workout

Hi guys guess who's back with some fitness tips. Great work there Kev and Boris, good pointers about the big 3 and great motivational post about having goals. So what I have in stock today are some advice regarding cardio. So how would you define cardio exercise? Cardio exercise is a form of physical exercise of low to high intensity that depends primarily on the aerobic energy-generating process.^[1] Some common cardio workout is jogging on a park or running on a treadmill. While these exercise does serve the purpose of cardio workout, in my opinion it is one dimensional. Don't you think so? So how about trying a sport instead or Zumba or maybe even a form of mixed martial arts :D Let's not get carried away there, for beginners let's just stick to sport or Zumba. :)

Now Zumba is a form of cardio exercise that's growing in popularity. I think it's great and works as a cardio workout and you can even learn a form of dance through it. For those who are not keen on dancing, getting involved in a sport is a great choice. For example indoor soccer, basket ball, tennis or maybe badminton but none of that golf stuff. I don't see how that's a workout. :P Anyways back to point, considering sport for a workout. So the benefit of such a workout is that you are covering the part of cardio exercise that you would normally cover while jogging, on top of that you are working on your stamina, agility and sense of team work as well. Overall the experience can motivate you further. You don't necessarily have to be good at the sport but that's the beauty of it, you can get better through commitment and in due time besides maintaining fitness, the sport is a new skill attained. That's like hitting two targets with one arrow. Achieving such a goal in context, you will be FIT and you will HAPPY ;)

That's all for now, keep an eye out for our next post. In the mean time 
work hard, 
play hard.
Be fit, be happy.


Reference:

1.  Sharon A. Plowman; Denise L. Smith (1 June 2007). Exercise physiology for health, fitness and performance. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-7817-8406-1. Retrieved 3 October 2014.