I posted a while back on using Map my Fitness to track exercise levels in PE. In trying to find the best tool for the job I’ve put together a list of apps & programmes that might be of interest. I’m currently working my way through trying them out.
1. My Fitness Pal – this app monitors your progress toward a weight goal by tracking your exercise and diet. This might be a great tool for examination level (GCSE, BTEC) to aid the learning of nutrition, energy balance and training.
2. Adidas MiCoach – allows cardiovascular work to be logged with their app. They’re extending its use to football boots now too.
3. Runkeeper – My favoured app for recording my personal cardiovascular training. I’ve tried it with students in school and it works well given its ease of use however students were unable to sync their runs to their accounts. I think this was due to the school system blocking their server. I’m looking into resolving this issue. Combining this app with the Strongerapp programme allows students to log other types of training too (e.g. resistance training). They then get a full timeline of activities undertaken.
4. Nexercise – this app rewards you for exercising by giving you points which earn you unlockable badges/bonuses. The app detects movement and uses a timer to work out when your exercising.
5. Endomondo – I had this app on my iPhone but had missed it untill @mrrobbo made me aware of it once more. This allows all activity to be logged either via their site (manually) or their app (GPS compatible). The app is free however there is a pro upgrade for further features. On initial look this looks a great tool as it allows activities to be logged manually (so students can do it outside of lesson time if it is not possible in PE lessons) or automatically, using the app.
When trying the apps out I feel the following are important features if they are to be implemented in a school based setting:
- An ability to log activities via app on handheld device and online
- GPS to log runs/cycles (which will sync to students accounts in and out of school)
- A simple log in process, preferably via Gmail (our students have school Gmail addresses)
- A wide variety of activities available to be logged (large list of sports, resistance training and cardiovascular activities)
- A quick and simple process for logging activities (possible with the option to input more detail e.g. reps, sets, HR…)
As always-would be great to hear if anyone else has tried some of these tools and what you feel are important features for an exercise/activity tracker.
The Physical Education Teacher (@DylanBlain) 
I’m a Learning Specialist at a small private school, and this year I’ll be starting an afterschool running club. I’d love to find a way to utilize technology to help me track both individual and group based goal achievement for my students.
The students I work with will have VERY different needs and will require lots of individualization, and not all of them will have smart phones.
Does anyone know of a good way to accomplish the following:
Track student distance/speed when running unique courses (variable per day, per runner).
Compile data as a group (eg: the group ran a total of 12 miles today, with a lifetime mileage of x).
Have student/parent logins available to see student progress, and a teacher login to see group and all student’s progress.
Ideally, it could be an app the would sync data from some sort of cheap GPS clip on dongle.
– – –
I know that a perfect fit probably doesn’t exist, but does anyone know of anything close?
My thought is that there might be an app where runners can organize into a running group. Does this exist? And if it does exist, is there a way to sync the data from some sort of wearable?
Thanks!