I was recently asked to try out a new app, Jonple. On first glance, Jonple appeared to me to be just fitness app- which it certainly is, but it’s also so much more than that. The principles behind it are fairly simple: to help and guide users towards a better understanding of their emotional and physical fitness, and how the choices they make each day can affect their health. With its promises to be more than a short-term fix, rather a ‘service built upon three distinct but linked areas; nutrition, fitness and psychology’ I have to admit I was really intrigued to find out more. Read on to see how I got on!
Note: before I start, I just want to say straight away that I haven’t yet been able to fully put all of the features of Jonple to the test. Earlier this month I managed to injure my knee, which seems to be taking a lot longer to heal than I assumed it would! Therefore I’ll focus this review on the nutrition and psychology elements of Jonple, and I’ll post another update soon on the fitness side, once my knee has fully healed. Fingers crossed it won’t be long!
First impressions
I don’t know why, but I’m often a little daunted by new apps. Some of them seem quite involved and I don’t always feel I have the time to learn how to navigate them properly. Having four kids, a job and a side-line in homeschooling, getting to grips with a complicated app isn’t always top of my priority list! That said though, my first thoughts when I opened the Jonple app was that the layout actually makes it really simple to find your way around.
Once you’ve created an account and entered your personal details, the app takes you for a virtual tour around the features: how to edit your account, where to find the nutrition section, how to record meals or ‘motivation hijacks’, how to access the psychology section. You get guidance on how to navigate the nutrition log (each day, meals and snacks are recommended for you as part of a daily plan, tailored according to the goals you set when you create your account, eg: fat loss, muscle gain etc). So far, so good.
Nutrition
Locate the nutrition dashboard via the apple icon at the bottom of the screen. Here you ‘swipe between your set meals and snacks for the day’- any you don’t fancy, you can swap. Each meal has a calorie count, with macros set out and full recipe with a video so that you can easily make the dish at home. I love this feature- especially if you’re stuck for meal ideas or you don’t have the first clue where to start. You can see ahead to the whole week’s meal plan (makes it easy to do the grocery shop) and you can access news articles on nutrition too.
When you set up your account, you can indicate if you want a vegetarian menu and soon there will be the option to really dial in on your dietary requirements/ preferences. The updates will allow you to get really specific about the foods you want to eat, which I cannot wait for. Personally, I tend to function better on a low carb menu, which isn’t at the moment isn’t always catered for in the Jonple app. That said, I do love the inspiration the meal plans provide, and I often use them to plan my week’s meals- even if I don’t stick to the recipe 100%. They’re a great guide and a good way to get used to tracking calories and macros if you’re not used to doing that.
Psychology
This section is pin-protected (a feature I think is just brilliant) and this is where you can record your thoughts and feelings as you embark on your fitness journey. There’s a short psychology questionnaire to complete, and then you can explore exercises and articles on motivation, choices, and obstacles that can crop up when you least expect them. I find this element of the Jonple app so interesting! It’s really useful to be able to look back on things like how sleep can affect your performance and mood, how certain triggers can ‘derail’ your best intentions, and how you can ultimately learn to overcome them, and be a little kinder to yourself when you do stumble. There’s a journal feature which is lovely- you can record a few sentences a day on how you’re feeling, what you’re proud of, what you’ve achieved… so great to read back on when you need a little boost, or a reminder of how far you’ve come.
Motivation Hijacks:
“Sometimes things in life, even our own thoughts, can cause us to react in ways that on reflection we’d rather not. This could impact plans we set out around nutrition and exercise.’- this is a motivation hijack, and there’s a specific section within the psychology dashboard to record these. What an eye-opener. Understanding the things that hamper our own progress is powerful because the control comes back to us to ultimately make changes to obstruct the obstacles. I love that!
Fitness
Like I said, sadly I can’t tell you too much about the fitness aspect to the jonple app right now- but I’m working on it! Before you start, you’re given a short fitness test that assesses your overall fitness level, and after that a programme is designed for you. Once you have your schedule, you’re good to go. I chose my initial goal as ‘lose weight’ (other options are ‘stay healthy and ‘improve fitness’.
My first impressions of the routine I was sent… very different to how I normally work out! I’ve been strength training with heavy weights for around 4 years now, and since the first lockdown I’ve ditched the gym in favour of my own set up at home. I’ve worked my way up to some pretty impressive lifts and I love how strong and powerful those workouts make me feel. I have to say, that the routines the Jonple app presented to me at first had me doubting my abilities!
The first routine I was set was a tabata style workout- 20 seconds of intense work followed by 10 seconds rest, then move on to the next workout. Six rounds, with 6 exercises in each round. Six rounds! A fairly challenging routine, especially for someone not used to so much cardio! That said, I was up for the challenge… until my knee injury. I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into this side of the app really soon- but for now, I’m still able to access lots of really interesting articles and there are some cool challenges I hope to tackle soon too. Mount Snowdon 19008 steps challenge anyone?
Conclusion
Jonple is a really nice, easy to use app. It’s bursting with articles and information related to emotional, physical and mental wellbeing and the people behind it really know their stuff. There’s a real emphasis on the science and psychology behind fitness and nutrition and it uses proper scientific calculations to formulate specific meal plans and workout routines for each individual user. I love this aspect, and I think it has real potential as pocket-trainers for fitness lovers, especially during lockdown, or in place of expensive gym memberships. I love the psychology section and I’m literally devouring the news articles right now, as understanding my overall health better has always been a priority for me.
The Jonple app does have a couple of drawbacks for me, personally. As already mentioned, I ‘m looking forward to being able to tailor my nutrition a little more precisely to incorporate a more lower carb way of eating. I also practise intermittent fasting, which again is not really mentioned within the app- perhaps some more articles on the pros and cons on that way of eating, plus the scientific research behind how fasting can affect weight loss/ muscle gain etc. There is a great article that debates fasted workouts, so I’d love to see more like that! That said, there is the option to skip meals within the app, so I am still able to record my meals.
Initially, my thoughts on the fitness side of the app was that I would like to see a more rounded fitness program- some resistance training in place of cardio perhaps. Then I discovered how to make those adjustments- simply by changing my goal. Duh! By choosing ‘stay healthy’ the app generates more resistance training exercises, and you can even toggle to a gym-based workout by clicking the small barbel icon. If you have access to a gym, or some equipment at home, you can choose these workouts- can’t wait to get stuck in! Choosing the ‘improve fitness’ goal will bring up more HIIT (high intensity interval training) workouts, which are great to add in to your usual routine if you want to up your game a little. I like that you can switch up your goal depending on your progress, although it would be good to be able to have perhaps one or two HIIT sessions in between traditional resistance sessions too.
All in all, the Jonple app is very impressive. It’s backed up by the latest research and it’s so easy to use- all your health and fitness data in one place, which is really handy. It’s great to track progress and to set and achieve goals. I can’t wait to see how 2021 shapes up for me with Jonple!
Find out more about Jonple here, register your details, download the app and go!
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