I’ve recently noticed, one of the fairly newer trends of the fitness realm has been the flashing of sleek, slimming ever so delicate Fitbits. Whilst these popular fitness motivators haven’t quite tickled my fancy nor have they earned a trip to my closest tech store, they did have me pondering over the need to workout more often. Whilst scrolling over some fitness apps on my phone, I came across Charity Miles, one of the very few which use charity donations as an incentive to get you back on track and ready to start pacing!
This app allows you the leisure of partaking in absolutely any fitness activity of your choice, whilst recording your motion and distance through your phone’s motion sensors, GPS, and accelerometer. Once you’ve sweated off a healthy number of miles, the app invites you to select from 40 charities operating worldwide, to donate your earnings to. The best part about the concept - you’re losing weight, toning muscle, feeling fresh, and releasing those good old endorphins at the same time.
Charity Miles has raised over $2.5 million since the launch of the app and has contributed to charities that work to serve a range of differing purposes, just a few mentioned below:
The conservation of nature and wildlife: World Wildlife Fund
Education: Pencils of Promise
Food insecurity and the water crisis: The World Food Programme and charity: water
The funding and treatment of illnesses and diseases: The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
If you’re not so keen on embarking on your fitness adventure solo, the app allows you to create teams and work collaboratively in an effort to donate to charity. The app then calculates your total score as a team, boosting the idea of community--based fitness whilst helping you and your mates burn those calories off one pace at a time. The designers of the app have created a component of Charity Miles whereby you can monitor your fitness history to make sure you know when to start the sweat again and remind you of the incredible cause you’re pumping that heart for.
Image credit: Apple Itunes
If you’d like to suggest a charity to support that is not already listed by the app, contact Charity Miles about the requirements and take a look at the application form : https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1GeBLk6moOwybUMEc9whJevyEHrEppCxWo2NXIOF6NJA/viewform
I suggest you start tracking those miles because those sweat beads, tired trainers and healthy hearts are all that is needed to stand up for a greater cause.
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