Get fit with your phone: Smartphone apps, other devices can help you stay fit and healthy

How do you like to stay in shape -- walk? Cycle? Run? Swim? Cardio? Weights? Diet? Yoga? Dance? Shoot hoops? Hike? Garden?

There's an app for that.

Actually, there are many applications for your smartphone or other mobile device, and activity-tracking devices, too -- from chest straps, armbands and wristbands to clip-on monitors. They provide the ability to log daily activity, provide performance reports and compare your progress to that of your friends and even celebrities.

Search the term "fitness app" on the Internet, and the results are legion. Apparel makers such as Nike and Under Armor sell activity-tracking devices at a range of price points. Men's Fitness magazine offers its top 10 apps for tracking nutrition, cardio activities and weightlifting. Websites such as everymove.com and greatist.com offer extensive fitness apps advice as well as nutrition tips, recipes, biking and running routes in various cities and more.

The online site BuzzFeed suggests the app Spring Moves for dancing, The New York Times Seven-Minute Workout app, FitStar Yoga and Strong Lifts 5x5 for building muscles.

The popularity of activity trackers and analyzers has grown steadily in the past few years, says Brian Kelpe, who, with Kim Kelpe, owns Missouri Running Co. in Cape Girardeau, which has been in operation for more than three years.

Melanie Sanders walks on a treadmill while tracking her workout with a Fitbit at HealthPoint in Cape Girardeau. (Glenn Landberg)

Missouri Running Co. manager Chris Crossett says the store sells the full line of Garmin products to help runners and walkers track their activity and more.

Crossett explains the capabilities of the various Garmin devices, which range in price from about $100 to $400.

The Garmin Vivo Fit, at the lower end of the range, is designed for "Step-tracking throughout the day and estimating calories. You can check your heart rate, and it does sleep tracking, which shows how much movement you experience to determine quality of your sleep," Crossett says.

"Newer runners, who may not be as dedicated, are likely to go for the lower-end models that track distance and pace, and they may be worried about some of the other technologies that might be overwhelming," Crossett adds.

Melanie Sanders displays her Fitbit after a workout at HealthPoint in Cape Girardeau. (Glenn Landberg)

Because the more sophisticated devices are outfitted with GPS capabilities, runners can use them to measure and track their routes, not just count their steps.

The more experienced runners, Crossett says, "may want to measure their progress. They can get into metrics to help them get more efficient in their running -- to run faster, farther."

Crossett says the more sophisticated devices, the Garmin Forerunner series, calculate and produce metrics on performance such as "cadence -- how many steps per minute -- heart-rate training and elevation gain and loss, which can be beneficial if you're running on a trail."

He adds, "Others just want to be able to say, 'OK, I ran this far today.'"

Kelpe says the Garmin devices work with popular fitness applications such as My Fitness Pal and Run Tracker.

Melanie Sanders walks on a treadmill while tracking her workout with a Fitbit at HealthPoint in Cape Girardeau. (Glenn Landberg)

The concept of accountability is what motivates Melanie Sanders of Jackson to clip a small device called Fitbit to her waist as she exercises.

Doug Ambler prepares for a run with his running partner and canine friend, Zoey, at Bel Air Grill in Cape Girardeau. Ambler uses the Garmin Phoenix II fitness watch to track his fitness progression. The Garmin syncs to his phone and his fitness app, My Fitness Pal. (CAROL KELLISON PHOTO)

"What I like most about Fitbit is to link it with Fitness Pal, so it allows me to track how many calories I burn and how many calories I consume. At 44, it sounds kind of obsessive, but it helps me feel accountable," Sanders says, adding she has been using the pair of tracking helpers for about two years.

Sanders says she's not "one of those people who enjoys exercise. I'm the one saying, 'I'm glad that's over,' not the one saying, 'That was amazing!' The moment [exercise] starts to burn or hurt or not feel good, I want to quit, but this helps me stay motivated."

Fitbit, she says, helps her set goals and sends a "badge" when a goal is achieved.

"I like the weekly progress report -- calories in, calories out. My interest in fitness has increased because of the information I have at my disposal. Knowledge is power," Sanders says.

Another Fitbit fan is Dot McQuade of Frohna, Missouri, who recently participated in a 5K race.

"I'm not your typical runner. I walk-run; mostly walk," she says.

McQuade likes using the iPhone Runtastic Pro app, for which she paid about $20.

"It shows the route I had taken, plus it tells me while I'm running/walking when I've done a mile, etc. It also tells me how long it took me to do it," she says.

With Fitbit and an iPhone app, she says, "I can see what my friends are doing, too. I can't see their daily total, only what they've done in a week, but it does kind of spur one on to do more if you have that competitive spirit."

The area running community is active.

Steve Seyller, a member of the board of directors of the Cape Girardeau Road Runners club, says, "As a club last year, we timed 78 races from the area of Farmington to Charleston. ... You could almost find a race or fun run every week of the year except for a few. Some weekends have up to four races going on."

It's a social community, too. For the past two years or so, Missouri Running Co. has sponsored a Wednesday night event for running, walking and socializing. The group meets at 6:30 at Bel-Air Bar and Grill on Spanish Street.

"We have a fun time. Some walk, some run about six miles, and then we eat together as well," Crossett says, adding that a typical winter turnout is 15 to 20 people, and the summer crowd swells to 30 or 50 people.