Apps are one of the brilliant things about technology today, they can enable you to do so many things! Music being one, as so many people don’t have access to instruments or music lessons, or any tools they may need to pursue their dream. That’s why apps like garageband on pc are important, because you have the chance to make your own music without the trouble of buying extra tools. With the increasing popularity of the music industry too, people can really experiment with their talents. There are many apps out there, even ones you can get on your phone or tablet. One of my favorite new training tools is an iPhone app called Spring. I’ve mentioned it before a couple times, but today I really want to dig in to what Spring is all about and how it can help you with your training.
What is Spring?
Spring is an iPhone app founded by an entrepreneur and seasoned marathoner. It’s a music app similar to Pandora – it shuffles through songs based on pre-determined music genre selections you make when you first begin to use it.
How does Spring work and what does it have to do with fitness?
Spring uses amazing technology to detect your cadence – or steps per minute – and then pairs your cadence (or your desired cadence) with appropriate music based on beats per minute.
Simply put, Spring is like Pandora but with specific songs to match a specific cadence. If I choose to run 180 steps per minute, Spring plays songs with 180 beats per minute. Make sense?
Now that you know what Spring is and how it works, let me give you five reasons why Spring is a kickass app for fitness – specifically, running.
Five Reasons Spring is a Kickass App for Running
- Cadence is important. As is evidenced by my personal experience with injury and cadence, as well as my blog post on cadence and form, steps per minute are really important for runners. If we take too few steps, we overreach and over-stride which can lead to injury. I’m not going to get into it here again because it’s already been discussed at-length in previous posts, but with Spring’s technology, it can really help you hone in your steps per minute.
- Running with music is much more fun when working on cadence. You can certainly use a metronome, as I have. But speaking from personal experience, a metronome can be really, really boring. Running with music puts a “spring” in your step. (Yeah. I did just say that. But yeah. It’s totally true.) Even if you aren’t working on your cadence, Spring is a pretty rad app simply based on the awesome playlists available.
- Spring works. And not just like, halfway works. It works, works. I’ve tested it time and again by using my metronome to match up the beats in the songs and they’re spot on. When I set my goal cadence to 180 on Spring, the songs playing are 180 beats per minute.
- When a song is over, you know how there’s usually an awkward pause until the next one starts? Spring acts like a legit DJ, allowing one song to segue into another. You don’t lose focus and you don’t lose your running rhythm. Another cool feature is by clicking the “heart” or the “X” icon, Spring learns what kind of music you prefer.
- Spring is fully integrated with the Health feature on the iPhone. Plus, when you invite friends to join Spring you can create a Crew. I haven’t used this feature yet but it does look pretty awesome. I can’t wait to try it out.
So that’s Spring in a nutshell. I use it on every run now, and I’ll be using it with clients when we start meeting for our track sessions this summer. It’s a unique app created by a runner, for runners.
And I have some great news – by clicking on this link, you can download Spring from the App store and get a free 30-day trial. The free trial is normally limited to the first 90-mintues you use the app, but by clicking the link, your free trial is extended to 30 full days.
If you’re a desktop user and unable to click the link to download via the App store, you can text RUNONHAPPY to 41411.
The free month of use is worth the clicking. Trust me.
I hope you choose to download this awesome app. Let me know how you like it if you do. It’s fun, it’s easy to use, and I think you’ll really enjoy it. Have a great run this weekend!
xo
TALK TO ME!
What distance are you running this weekend?
Do you think you would be successful using an app like this to help with your cadence?
This post is linked up with Courtney, Mar, and Cynthia for the Friday Five.
This post contains affiliate links.
