Fitness Expert Recommends Top 7 Gamified Fitness Apps Ahead of IPO Filing

Josh Trent is a Corrective Exercise Specialist (CES) and Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) with the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), as well as a hands-on sports technology expert with over nine years of experience in the fitness industry. At the beginning of 2015, Trent carefully selected seven high-quality fitness apps to recommend to readers, and VCBeat compiled and translated his article.

Anyone who has attempted to lose weight knows that the greatest challenge lies not in the initial burst of enthusiasm, but in sustaining the willpower and motivation required for long-term adherence.

Forecasts indicate that in 2015, consumer spending on fitness-oriented wearable devices and applications will increase by more than 30%. A protracted battle is inevitable between the escalating global obesity crisis and humanity’s aspiration to transform lives through technology.

As the emerging trend of “gamification” in internet-based healthcare technology deepens, weight loss, fat reduction, and lifestyle improvement will also enter a new realm.

What is Gamification?

Gamification is the application of game thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage users in problem-solving, enhance their self-control, and promote positive behaviors and contributions.

In short, gamification can make your life more like a game, releasing some serious emotions and alleviating the pressure associated with achieving goals.

Although this concept was first proposed as early as 2002 by Nick Pelling, a British programmer and inventor, it did not gain widespread application at a more specific level until 2010. It truly became popular when social and reward mechanisms were incorporated into games.

In 2014, the internet healthcare sector saw an influx of hot money, with various applications achieving millions of downloads. Data shows that gamification is rapidly becoming a crucial tool for mitigating the global trend of obesity. VCBeat has also published articles analyzingHow Gaming Is Becoming a New Gold Mine for Health Salvation。

Is Gamification Beneficial for Adults?

"Obviously, integrating internet-based healthcare with fun and gamification can help children and young people develop healthy habits, but does this approach also apply to adults?"

The answer is unequivocal. Gamification is grounded in satisfaction and reward mechanisms, not punishment—regardless of our age, and whether we wear ties or athletic shorts to work, our brains prefer it this way.

"Smart Internet healthcare applications support end users' fitness and health journeys."

The 7 Best Gamified Fitness Apps of 2015

☞Fitbit- Available on both Android and iOS, Fitbit has recently launched three standalone challenges: Weekend Warrior, Daily Showdown, and Workweek Hustle. These features allow users to extract relevant data and expand beyond their existing fitness social circles. All aspects of these challenges—including cheers, taunts, and push notifications—can be customized for your team. Within your team, participants who accept the challenge have their step counts measured and compared against other participants, enabling you to see who wins, whether results are closely matched, and whether individuals have achieved their daily personal goals. I have been using this app for three months; the fact that I push myself twice as hard every night at 9 p.m. to beat a friend in the Workweek Hustle challenge is sufficient proof of the app’s motivational power.

☞Atari Fit- In the brand-new year of 2015, Atari Fit is packed with gamified training, multiplayer game integration, and numerous social sharing features. It is compatible with the industry’s most popular wearable health and fitness devices, including Fitbit and RunKeeper, and also aggregates data from world-renowned fitness applications such as Google Health. This allows users to track all their fitness activity data within a single mobile app ecosystem. Undoubtedly, it will also integrate with the HealthKit platform, as the Apple Watch is set to launch in 2015.

 

☞Nike+Running- In 2015, users could set up personalized cheering messages to be triggered at different running distances. They could also share their workouts on social media platforms to gain support from friends and family. Additionally, Nike+ Running was able to sync and store running routes, allowing users to compete or train together with both friends and strangers, while supporting search and sharing features.

☞Fitocracy- When you exercise, this fitness tracker continuously records your points, allowing you to level up by accumulating distance, earning rewards and badges. Within the Fitocracy community, you can make friends, join a fitness-focused social network, and encourage users of similar skill levels. Fitocracy groups users based on their skill levels, with members working together toward shared goals.

☞FitRPG- FitRPG can transform your Fitbit data into a character, allowing you to compete with friends and colleagues through steps taken, distance covered, and sleep quality. If reviewing daily data and charts has become tedious, and the Fitbit dashboard fails to motivate you to walk an extra 1,000 steps, try FitRPG—a game that rewards healthy habits. FitRPG converts your fitness data into your character’s combat power, health points, stamina, agility, and experience points. You can level up by completing fitness challenges or engaging in battles, while sleep helps restore your health points. FitRPG is highly anticipated for 2015.

☞Strava- This app uses GPS to track your runs and rides. By joining challenges, you can compare your performance with friends. You can also set personal records, view comparisons against friends, nearby athletes, and professionals, and participate in monthly challenges designed to push you further. Strava helps you connect with friends and motivate them through kudos and comments. Strava activities can also be synced to Instagram.

☞Map My Fitness- MMF allows you to add your daily workouts to the social app Twist, providing extra encouragement while enabling you to cheer on your close friends and spark friendly competition. Use challenges to set goals, motivate yourself, and then challenge your friends! You can log your results and compare them with other members of the Map My Fitness community. Rewards, which serve as additional motivation, are issued in select challenges.

Gamified Life

When faced with the choice between taking the elevator and walking up the stairs, most people still opt for the elevator, even though they are well aware that climbing stairs is more beneficial to their health. But what if the staircase were a giant piano? How would you choose then?

Experiments show that over 66% of office workers chose stairs instead of elevators. This proves that gamification can serve as an incentive to improve our health.

Of course, gamification is not the only approach to encouraging changes in health behaviors. However, it can serve as a reliable tool to enhance public awareness of critical issues and help society combat epidemics. Gamification can also assist individuals with chronic diseases in managing their treatment plans.

Whether in terms of games or strategies, they are applicable to everyone, yet each individual’s family and work circumstances, as well as their intentions shaped by genetics and personality, are unique. For this reason, I believe we will see tens of thousands of mobile health applications undergo review in 2015.

As our days grow increasingly hectic and sleep becomes ever more scarce, human willpower has become unprecedentedly frayed. At times, we all need a source of motivation to help us overcome our weaknesses; the good news is that this motivation need not be dull.

Looking ahead to the new year, we will see the utilization of gamification drive thousands upon thousands of positive, health-related changes, essentially by making them more enjoyable.

This is something we can all face with a smile.

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