In the name of community and continued fitness goals, YouAppi teamed up with Adjust and Reddit to host another Barry’s live virtual workout event on June 2, 2020. The event was attended by close to 50 mobile marketers, led by Barry’s elite instructor, Rio Hall

Record Growth for Health & Fitness Apps

Downloads for apps in the health and fitness category continue to see record growth. With one month left in this quarter, health & fitness category app downloads are already up a record 47% year-over-year increase to 656 million in Q2 2020. To give some perspective, the previous highest Y/Y increase occurred between Q2 2017 and Q2 2018 where health & fitness app downloads grew by 29.2%, to 417.7 million

Historically, January has been the top month for health and fitness app downloads, but with COVID19 shelter in place measures, 2020 has bucked this trend. March and April represented record months for health & fitness app adoption, peaking at 339.7 million in April, up 83.6% from January and about 42% from March.

May 2020 has also generated record revenue. Last month, the category accumulated $160.5 million in user spending, over 14% from January and about 5% from April.

Source: Sensor Tower

Connecting Through Fitness, Round 2

To invest in the continued health and wellness of our mobile marketing community, we teamed up again with Adjust and this time also included Reddit to host a virtual 35-minute bodyweight workout, led by Barry’s instructor, Rio Hall. After the 35-minute bodyweight HIIT class, Rio hosted a 30-minute Q&A answering attendees’ at-home fitness questions. 

More At-Home Fitness Questions Answered

Q: What are the best workouts targeting specific body parts (lower body, core, etc.) to do at home?

Rio: Divide your fitness routine into working out each specific body part you want to target on specific days. For example, an upper-body day, lower body day, core day, etc. For each day and body part, try to find 3 or 4 exercises, and do a total of 100 reps per exercise. That could be 5 sets of 20, 4 sets of 25, or any other variation. The focus should be on getting high volume and a lot of repetition to boost your calorie burn. This stimulates your muscle to fatigue to stay tight and toned. 

If you have bands or weights, again, the name of the game is fatigue. With a light weight or band, try to do as many reps as you can in the first set. If you are able to do 30 or 40 reps, then try to do 2 or 3 more sets where you try to match that number. If you are only able to get to 10 to 12 reps that first set, then just do 3 or 4 sets where you try to match that number. Again, the key is to pick 3 or 4 exercises per body part to fatigue the muscle.

 

Q: How far should I walk if I’m trying to burn the right amount of calories?

Rio: Distance is not as important as time and heart rate range. Depending on your age and fitness level, your heart rate range for low-intensity cardio should be between 130 to 150 beats per minute (BPM). Once you get into that range, hold it there for about 45 minutes to an hour. You can also break that up: 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening, for example. The important part is to hit the right BPM range for an extended period of time, versus trying to walk a certain distance. 

 

Q: In terms of higher intensity cardio, what interval ratios should I be keeping in mind?

Rio: If you’re running, you should keep a 2 or 3 to 1 ratio for your intervals. If you’re running as fast as you can for 2 minutes, give yourself a 1-minute rest. If you’re running as fast as you can for 1 minute, give yourself a 30-second rest. Keep those ratios for high-intensity cardio to implement a good rhythm for your body. Focus on spiking your heart rate as high as you can and then giving yourself a release. If you have issues running, biking and rowing are great alternative options. In the case you don’t have the equipment for biking or rowing and you can’t run, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is another great fitness option that uses your bodyweight for high-intensity cardio. 

 

Q: Should I use weights for strength training?

Rio: If you’re trying to strength train to get bigger versus toned muscle, then focus less on heart rate. You should lift as much weight as you can for 6 to 8 reps and then rest until you can match that same weight and repetition again or increase it. 

 

Q: What kind of workouts are right for a mother-to-be? Or, when should you consider adjusting your workout?

Rio: Your first trimester, adjust your rotation so that you don’t rotate your trunk area. You can still do crunches and most exercises where you lie flat on your back. As your stomach starts to grow, adjust your position as you lie flat on your back. For example, if you’re doing chest presses, try placing the bench at a 30-45 degree angle so you’re not totally flat on your back. From that angle, you can even do little crunches, leg lifts, and other workouts that strengthen your core without putting too much stress on your body. In the final trimester, adjust the impact. So, switching from running to power or incline walking or biking. If you worked out consistently prior to your pregnancy, you can continue doing exercises like squats, pushups, any strength training, low-intensity exercises. Adjust but don’t quit.

 

Q: What is the best mix of strength training and weight loss exercises?

Rio: If you want to max both your strength and fat loss, you always want to do your weight training before you do your cardio. This is because when you do your weight training, you utilize the sugars in your body to stimulate your muscle. This forces your body to utilize the free fatty acids for fuel when you do your cardio. It’s also important to do a moderate to low intensity cardio workout since your muscles will be working at a different rhythm post-weight training. So, do a weight training workout where you fatigue your muscles as much as possible. Then do a 30-45 minute low-intensity cardio workout where you have a 130 BPM heart rate that utilizes your free fatty acids. 

As you lose weight and get more toned, make small increases to your cardio or the weight and repetition you’re using in your strength training. Remember to increase the intensity of your workout very slightly. Don’t go from 30 minutes of cardio to an hour. Go from 30 minutes to 35 or 40 minutes of cardio so that your body can adapt and maximize the change.

 

Q: How do I affect my metabolism?

Rio: The truth is your metabolism is controlled by one thing: the mitochondria within your lean muscle mass. Our metabolism slows down as we get older and we become more sedentary or we don’t lift as much. This depletes our lean muscle mass. When your lean muscle mass depletes, your mitochondria’s utilization of calories you consume decreases. If you focus on weight training and rebuilding your lean muscle mass, you’ll restimulate those mitochondrial cells. This is what ramps up your metabolism so that when you’re not exercising, your body is using the calories you’ve consumed throughout the day.

Here’s another way to think about it: while you are working out, you are undertaking active calorie consumption. Basically, for every repetition that you do, you’re burning calories. Your metabolism is what you’re doing when you’re not exercising. So when you’re sitting at work, how many calories are being burned? The answer to that has to do with how much lean muscle mass you’ve added to your body. So if you want to think about increasing your metabolism, focus on your weight training and keep your body mass relatively lean. 

 

Q: What is the best way to rehabilitate an injury in your workout? What about specifically for a knee injury?

Rio: In general, give yourself a week or 2 of rest before you start to gently rehabilitate your injury. Focus on restoring balance and stability first before you go to strength training. As you go into strength training, add bodyweight first before you add weight to your workout. When you have injuries, the less impact the better. For a knee injury, specifically, you don’t want to run at first. Biking would be a good alternative or doing incline walking. If you have a roller, use it to reduce your range of motion but not lock out your knee. If the injury is serious enough to go to a doctor, then defer to their counsel.

A tip for checking your rehabilitation is closing your eyes and lifting the body part on both sides. Check to see how the injured side feels and if it’s at the same height as the non-injured side. If you feel pain when you lift the injured side or you can't match the height of the uninjured side, then there’s still something that needs to heal. You want to look for symmetry of range of motion on both sides. If there’s pain or asymmetrical range of motion, then you should refrain from putting pressure on that body part. 

 

Q: If you could have one item to workout with at home besides a yoga mat, what would it be?

Rio: A pair of dumbbells that are about 60% of what you can lift. For example, if you can bicep curl 35 lb dumbbells, get a pair of 20 lb dumbbells. Bells are very versatile: you can use them for squats, lunges, shoulder and arm exercises. If you are not comfortable with weights then buy some bands which are also very versatile.

 

Q: How can I maintain workout intensity and motivation during quarantine?

Rio: Make sure to separate motivation from goal setting. Keep yourself targeted and accountable by writing things down, for example. It’s not about daily motivation because that goes up and down depending on the energy of the day. One way to keep yourself motivated is working out with a connected fitness device like an Apple Watch or FitBit. Something like that can help you keep track of your calorie burn and spikes during your workout to give you that immediate rewards system that can help boost your motivation.

 

Q: What is the best way to tone without getting bulky?

Rio: This has to do with diet. Keep your calories low. Your basal metabolic rate is how many calories you burn while you’re at complete rest. Start at about 750 to 1000 calories (depending on if you’re male or female) above that number and try to consume that amount of calories per day while working out. You’ll find you’ll get your strength increase and tone without putting on bulk. Give yourself a 2-week buffer to evaluate what’s working. Shift your calorie intake if you find your weight stays the same after the change. For example, shifting your calorie intake from 750 down to 650 or 700. Make those small changes every 2 weeks and watch how your body sizes up or down until you get the change you’re looking for. 

Thanks For Joining Us!

For those of you who tuned in for our virtual workout brought to you by Barry’s, thanks for sweating with us! For more answers to your fitness questions, check out Rio Hall on his Twitter and Instagram.

Can’t wait for the next workout? It'll be here before you know it.
Register via this link to attend our third virtual Barry’s workout event on June 24, 2020.