Anyone with access to a mobile phone with internet can download a fitness app, but an app’s success depends upon how it can motivate users to excel.
There are countless fitness apps available, and over 100 million people worldwide subscribe to one of these apps. However, if an app’s purpose is to solely count calories or distances walked, then it doesn’t serve the purpose of motivation.
Without this incentive, the app becomes that treadmill you bought for your parents last Winter that still sits in the garage collecting dust. It may have been used once they figured out how to set it up, but it quickly becomes another piece of technology that has great potential for good, but the motivation to use it is lacking.
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Competition can either motivate fitness-seeking users to push themselves to the limits, or it can make one feel inadequate and inferior in comparison to those who make it seem easy to get in shape.
According to Shape, “Competition can breed camaraderie and can be a positive outlet to releasing stress that’s built up during the day.” But this also depends on the type of competition involved, and each person reacts to competition in his or her own way.
Another motivational method used by fitness apps is to inspire social collaboration to help achieve personal goals. Having a social network of like-minded individuals can have lasting positive effects on well-being, physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Social collaboration inspires users to help out their communities, and it it isn’t just limited to physical activity. Educational tools, articles, and advice can be shared across these platforms that help further develop an overall understanding on which workout or activity would yield the best results for any given demographic.
According to Zara Martirosyan, co-Founder of social fitness app inKin, “The social aspect of our platform helps our community members to get more active on the daily basis via communication and friendly competitions with their friends, family, and co-workers.”
Zara believes that the “global social health & fitness ecosystem will educate people and help them manage their most crucial and invaluable asset – their health and well-being.”
“At the end of the day,” says Zara, “a device is just a device and as humans, we crave social interaction, competition and rewards.”
