Apps that turn exercise into a spy story or zombie apocalypse
DO you find exercise boring? Just add zombies. Or spies. Or prisoners. What kooky new fitness trend on an app has everyone talking?
WHEN I walk the dog, I’m a Scottish woman saving the world. When I go for a run outside, it’s the Zombies spurring me on. And when I hit the treadmill, I choose to run through the streets of Chicago.
Exercise is good for the body but sometimes it can be a bit sluggish for the brain.
Go for a run outdoors and it can be a great way to recharge the batteries. Or, when you trudge along the same route day after day, it can be a challenge to find the motivation.
As for the treadmill, the legs might move but the brain shuts down.
But in the past week I’ve tried to reignite the spark with a bit of role play.
No, it’s not that kind of story about that kind of spark and that kind of role play.
This is about turning the normal routine into something more exciting.
Okay, it could be about that kind of role play but it still isn’t.
It’s about tricking my brain to think I’ve spent 40 minutes escaping a high-security prison while ignoring the evidence of my feet which testify I’ve just run 8km on a treadmill in the office gym.
You might have seen these apps in the app store that promise to turn your work out into an exercise in make believe.
We put them to the test.
The Walk
Apple iOS and Google Android, $3.79 / $3.29
The first step into the world of tricking myself into an adrenalin surge came on a dog walk.
The Walk is like North by North West with you in the role of Cary Grant, assuming Cary Grant was a woman in Scotland.
Confused? Let’s go for a walk and explain.
Step one is to download The Walk from the app store. It’s nearly 1GB of data so you want to download it on wifi before you go out the door.
The app has a simple overview map of a city. As you move, your phone calculates your footsteps and indicates how many minutes you need to keep walking to get to the next audio clip in the story.
The beauty of this app is that you can use it as a fitness tracker, particularly if you have the iPhone 5S with built-in accelerometer. This feature for encouraging you to stay active throughout the day explains why the app was created with funding by the UK’s National Health Service.
Turn the app on, walk to the office printer a few times, and the next thing you know you’re at the next clue.
Or, if you want to extend your daily exercise a bit longer, start the app as you head out the door and you’ll find you want to keep going to hear the next clip.
This app has a visual side. Look at the map occasionally to make some decisions about your virtual route and find some hidden clues.
In under an hour and about 5km of walking we knocked over the first episode. So far, we’ve realised we’re just an ordinary Scottish woman who has been mistaken for a secret agent (we told you it was like North by North West) and we’re trying to not get killed by the Burn terrorist group.
The best part of the app is that it there is only about five minutes of walking to get from one audio target to the next. The downside is that those five minutes are pretty dull, so you might want to play some music on your phone in that time.
There are 65 episodes and 800 minutes of audio. The makers say you’ll walk the length of the UK to complete the adventure. If you want to use this just on your dog walks, you might wear out your dog.
Zombies, Run!
Apple iOS and Google Android / $3.99 / $4.49
When the zombie apocalypse comes, I’m in big trouble. Well, obviously — but bigger trouble than I thought.
I headed out on my first mission and it started slowly. I was in a plane crash (okay, maybe the story wasn’t that slow to start) but I escaped the wreckage and started running. I could hear a radio operator and he could see me. He has given me a mission. Head to the nearest base but don’t turn up empty-handed or they might not let me in.
At the 1km mark, I came to grief. I stopped to wait for a green man at the set of lights — meanwhile the army of the undead came and munched my brains. It never occurred to me to put the zombies on pause while waiting for the lights.
In three seasons of Walking Dead, I’ve never seen Rick put zombies on pause. Also, I’ve never seen Rick wait for lights. Actually, if you’re a Walking Dead fan, it’s worth pondering whether Daryl ever waited for the green man even before the apocalypse.
Not to worry. If the zombies eat you, just start again.
The app encourages interval training by announcing a distance countdown as the hordes of undead get close. “Zombies at 50m. Zombies at 20m.” You can hear the zombies moaning as they get within biting distance, which is enough to make you pick up the pace.
Along the way, you have to pick up virtual supplies just by continuing to move. In my first mission, I collected first aid kits from a hospital, water and, as I hit the 4.5km mark, I picked up fresh underwear. Actually, if I had zombies chasing me for 4.5km, fresh underwear would probably come in handy.
Like The Walk, this app is created by Six to Start. The app purchase includes 33 missions from season 1 and 7 missions from season 2. There are 57 further missions available through in-app purchase. When you look at the amount of role play you get for your app purchase price, it works out a few cents each work out.
In terms of exercise, Zombies, Run! is the next step up for people who don’t find The Walk enough of a workout.
Runtastic Story
Apple iOS, Google Android and Windows phone / $1.99 per story
Runtastic is one of the more popular running apps, for those who like to use their smartphone to track their distance and speed during a run. But along with the free app, there are also five stories you can download for your workout. If you are looking at bang for your buck, then this isn’t the cheapest option because realistically you will only want to listen to each story once. We went with the story The Carrier of Truth. I started off as an innocent man (that’s good) who had been wrongly convicted and locked up in Alcatraz (not so good). Within the first few minutes, I’ve found some mysterious keys and escape out through a tunnel. The app is created by someone who seemingly knows more about app development than they do Alcatraz because somehow the tunnel leads to a jungle. Anyone who has ever been to San Francisco will have noticed a distinct lack of jungle on Alcatraz. One of the advantages of this role play is that in-between the story telling there is adrenalin pumping music that will get your legs going. One of the disadvantages is that you can hear the footsteps of your alter ego running, and when that sounds doesn’t match your own footsteps on the treadmill it’s rather disconcerting. Think of this story as being like a typical straight-to-video prison breakout yarn, without the video element. The story does end at a cliff hanger so possibly there might be a sequel to come.
Bitgym
Apple iOS and Google Android / $9.99 a month
The motivation for Bitgym is simple: take the boredom out of the gym by tricking yourself into thinking you’re somewhere else.
We’ve tried Bitgym on the treadmill, but you can also use it on an exercise bike and a cross trainer. Presumably you could also use it on a rowing machine, but it might confuse you somewhat when you row through the streets of a famous city unless that city is Venice.
It works by using the front-facing camera in your tablet or smart phone, detecting your movement.
As you run (or ride or step), you travel through a virtual 3D environment that can be a generic desert scene, somewhere in the mountains or something specific like Chicago. If you stop your exercise (hey, who said you could stop?) the video stops. If you’re cheap, or lazy, you can play three Bitgym videos a month for free. If you like it, you can play unlimited clips for $9.99 a month.
If your gym doesn’t have wifi, you can download a running track to your device before you commence your work out.
Our tip is to try the app before you sign up for the $9.99 a month because there are some challenges.
If you are going to use your tablet, and a bigger screen makes sense, you really need to think about how to secure your tablet to your training equipment. There are a couple of example mounts on the Bitgym site. You don’t want to just sit your tablet on the controls of your treadmill and hope your running and bouncing doesn’t send it flying. We tried Bitgym with an iPhone 5S. The app worked well but the screen was smaller than we would have liked. Also, looking down all the time at the moving video made us car sick. Well, perhaps virtual running track sick. Let’s go with motion sick. It would be best if you could prop up your device so you are looking straight ahead rather than down.
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