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‘Start running’, a companion with a voice to become a runner from scratch on your Android

Starting from scratch is not easy. The body resists and puts us all kinds of mental and physical obstacles, but probably the most complex thing is to gain enough physical form so that we feel that everything is progressing and we can encourage ourselves to continue doing it. Therefore, as in any other sports discipline, you have to learn how to do it and there you can help us an application for the mobile phone.

We have all kinds of accessories that help us in sports, such as watches, bracelets and others wearables, and we can complement them with an application that makes us a personal trainer. In the event of becoming a runner, ‘Start running’ can be very useful to us, and we can pay the creator what we consider fair for it.

Let this app teach you to run

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In my particular case, I started the month of July with the Adidas Training application to check if I had enough willpower to follow strict programs, and at the end of July I decided: it was time to run. After evaluating different options for my Android, I opted for ‘Start running’. I have been using it since this week and I am more than happy.

In Vitónica

Tables of the first weeks to start running

In ‘Start running’ we find programs so that we can get up from the couch and, after four months, get to run 60 minutes in a row. Here no one talks about distance, pace or speed, it simply helps us to be able to run during the chosen time and it does this by slightly increasing the running time between sessions. For this, it uses visual signals on the mobile but also the voice to set the tone for us through headphones.

The app offers four programs to go step by step and records our activity and progress

The program is divided into four phases of four weeks duration each, I am currently in the first. So far I have gone from running 6 minutes in 1 minute blocks to running 8 in the third session. The program starts each day with 5 minutes of walking and then begins to get in tune and, if we wish, it also has previous warm-ups before going out or getting on a treadmill. We choose.

Each four-week block has a progressive goal: 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes, and 60 minutes

At the end of each session, the app analyzes our route based on GPS measurements, something that also helps you to know our maximum walking and running speed, and gives us the calories consumed (always an estimate based on the physical data that we give it) and the traveled length. If we wish, we can synchronize the app directly with Google Fit to unify our sports records. In my particular case, for example, I have decided not to synchronize the app with Fit to be governed by the measurements of my smart watch and that both registers are not stepped on. Again, let each user choose what they deem most appropriate.

You can use the app without paying or unlocking the rest of the functions for the price you consider fair

In addition to these guided “learn” running programs, the app has a free running mode that simply uses the GPS to save our records but that he does not carry out any type of tutelage on the race. As we said at the beginning, we also choose what we pay for. We can use the application for free with some blocked functions or choose to pay, and there we find three different rates to suit each user. Everyone pays what they consider fair, or simply choose not to pay.

In my case, I am doing races on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays while the rest of the days during the week (and Saturday) I am dedicating them to a weight program through another app from the same developer. But that application I will tell you another day. If you are looking for a guide when it comes to running, ‘Start Running’ is very inexpensive and, for now, practical. I’ll tell you if at the end of the fourth month I run what it says I’m going to run. For now, the only thing I can assure you is that I didn’t think I would run 8 minutes, even in parts, and I’m doing it.