Friday, December 30, 2011

Two Great Workout Apps

R got me an iPhone for Christmas.  He has this knack for buying me electronic gizmos I see no need for, but soon realize are absolute necessities.  It started with my pink RAZR years ago.  *Sigh*  I loved my pink RAZR, and held onto it for years after it became obsolete.

Then it progressed to XM satellite radio.  Could not live without this now. I got the home kit the next year, and it made my work life infinitely more bearable.

So, now I have an iPhone, and I love it.  R keeps telling me I'm going to run out of my data plan before the month ends.  Anyway, I've found two apps that I just love, and I'm really enjoying playing with them utilizing them in my workouts.

The first is Moodagent.  This one is free.  Yay!  It allows you to choose from a range of moods, and then it customizes a play list from your iTunes to fit that mood.  You enter whether you're feeling sensual, tender, happy, or angry (or a range of those) and then you select the tempo you want.  You can also select one song from your list and then have it create a playlist of songs similar to that one.  It's fabulous!

In general, I tend to prefer more mellow, soft rock type stuff.  However, when I'm walking, this doesn't work.  So, I've found myself in the past skipping 15 songs in a row before I get to one that's appropriate for my workout.  This handy tool eliminates all that.

I'll give you one little hint though.  If you're like me, the songs that are perfect for working out to, Moodagent considers "angry."  I was having a hard time getting just the right mix, until I jacked the "angry" all the way to the top.  Then it was pouring out Lady Gaga, Madonna, Bon Jovi, and P!nk.

The second app I'm loving is called Quick Sleep, and it was 99 cents.  It's designed for ummm...sleep...Hence the name.  But I'm loving using it for yoga.  It has a selection of sounds, everything from thunderstorms to wind chimes, to New York at night from a rooftop.  And what's neat is, you can mix them!  So I can put in say a cat purring, a flute song, and waves crashing, and have a nice relaxing yoga soundtrack.  Fun!

So there you go.  If your New Year's Resolution involves getting more exercise, and having fun while you do it, I highly recommend both of these toys!

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