Fitness app developers say that the pandemic helped them to increase users for their applications.
India has witnessed 156 percent increase in downloads of health and fitness applications during pandemic. There are around 58 million new active fitness app users in India.
Prachita Poojari an employee at Cult.fit said that, “The response to the app was excellent and positive especially given that the offline centres were closed and people wanted to continue their workouts and fitness journey. So, we got a huge traction online. The instructors give specific instructions while conducting classes which should be followed properly. There are trainers who are specifically showcasing the movements. If you follow them, then the scope of injury is very less.”
The World Economic Forum report shows that, between Q1 and Q2 2020, there was a 46 percent increase in the download of health and fitness apps globally.
Arun (name changed) a user of the fitness apps shared his experience “I am currently using a fitness app which helps me to track the number of steps I walk in a day. It motivates me to constantly keep moving, it even motivates me to have a regular consumption of water. It reminds me of the intake of calories. It also tells me the amount of food I have consumed and the breakup of the total calorie intake and also the total amount of water a particular food has. In a way it has helped to create a habit of eating healthy, doing exercise that has helped me to bring my weight under control and move to a fitter lifestyle.”
Doctors say that online fitness apps have their plus sides but first-hand check-up and treatment by experts should always be the first priority of people. They even say that fitness apps are here to stay and help people, but a proper balance has to be maintained between the two entities.
Dr. Ramesh Kumar, senior consultant physician said “Fitness apps, AI, machine learning is here to stay as people like to do exercise online. But there is a lot of false information which has to be properly guided by a health professional or a health practitioner.”
He further adds that first hand medical health consultation is required for people with medical conditions before leaning towards such wellness apps.
