Alexa could be your new best friend when it comes to an accountability buddy. She can help you get healthy, lose weight, and stay fit throughout the year, beyond just your New Year’s resolution, thanks to her multitude of great skills. Some skills can help you keep track of water consumption and fitness goals, while others provide guided workouts anywhere you can take your Alexa speaker. Here are our picks for the top fitness skills.
MyFitnessPal Lite
If you’re new to using your Alexa for fitness, the first skill you should equip is MyFitnessPal Lite. It can track just about any health and fitness goal you have, such as water consumption, calorie intake, steps taken throughout the day, your weight and more. All you need to do is say simple commands like, “Alexa, tell MyFitnessPal to log 1 liter of water,” or “Alexa, tell MyFitnessPal to log 10,000 steps.” You can also ask Alexa to recall previous logs. Everything is stored to your account, so you can see the data in graph form on the MyFitnessPal website or app.
Fitness Thirty
Fitness Thirty is like having a trainer in your Alexa speaker. You pick “chest,” “cardio,” “abs,” or “yoga” and then Alexa will call out a workout move for you to do while she counts down 25 seconds. After the 25 second countdown, she gives you a 5-second rest. Then, you can start all over again with a different move. For example, if you choose “abs” she may tell you to hold yourself in a plank position for 25 seconds. After, she’ll say, “You deserve a five-second rest,” and count down five seconds. Once the rest is over, she will ask you to choose a category again, so you can really mix up your workouts.
Easy Yoga
Practicing yoga is a great way to build strength, flexibility, and balance. The Easy Yoga skill is a good way to practice without going to a studio. You can choose between a morning, evening, or energizing yoga routine, and then an instructor will guide you through the moves.
My Better Nutrition
The My Better Nutrition skill was created by dietitian Ashley Koff. It’s designed to help you answer your most pressing nutrition questions, such as, “What breakfast will give me more energy?” and “What foods should I eat before a workout?” It also offers motivation, recipes, and tips to help you eat healthier.
7-Minute Workout
This skill guides you through a quick, seven-minute workout to help you get in some fitness when you don’t have a lot of time. You can choose from low-impact, standard, and advanced workouts and randomizes the exercises to prevent boredom. 7-Minute Workout has more than 45 exercises and provides music while you work out, too.
6-Minute Full Body Stretch
If getting limber is part of your fitness goals, the 6-Minute Full Body Stretch skill will help get you there. The skill guides you through stretching out six body groups with gentle music in the background. What’s really awesome about this skill is that it tells you step by step what you need to do, how long to hold the stretch, and some times, you may like to use the stretch throughout the day to prevent stress, stiffness, or anxiety.
