Our smart phones have become gateways to getting us healthy by exploring the world. For example, Pokemon Go recently came out and people are gaining calf muscles walking 6+ miles per day to catch a Pikachu.
I want to shed some light on an old Apple app that is perfect for geek fitness. “Zombies, Run!” is an app that takes you on a long journey of the zombie apocalypse. Let me just tell you why this app should be on every geek’s fitness routine.
Great Story Line
The app actually has 3 seasons for free to play, and then season 4 and 5 you have to upgrade to pro membership. Each season is about 23 “episodes” or missions, which is pretty darn cool.
The story line starts with you being a runner on a helicopter, and you’re about to do a supply drop when a rocket shoots you down. You’re the only one to survive the crash, and you got to make it to your new shelter Able Township.
Through the game you are now their top runner, and you go out to do mission runs to pick up supplies, progress with the story, and get chased by zombies.
Zombie Chases
That’s right, you can enable zombie chases. When you do, you got to run faster and get away or the zombies will get on your tail, and you’ll start to lose important supplies you just collected.
True story: the first time I used this app while running on the track at the gym, I wasn’t expecting the zombie chases to freak me out, but the zombies will groan in your ear and combine that with the intense music I put on my playlist, I started running like a mad woman.
Custom Playlist
As a music nerd, you best believe my playlist is the most cinematic experience when running on these missions. You can create a custom playlist that will play songs in-between story dialogue and such. Of course, when I usually run or do my normal boring workouts, I put on some up beat music. With Zombies, Run I actually load up my playlist with a lot of instrumental scores, video game scores, and even some music from the World War Z soundtrack, because I like to torture myself.
Not only do you have a playlist, but it has this cool thing called Radio Abel where the British guy who’s usually talking to you through your headset, actually hosts a radio show with his buddy. They’ll play your songs and make comments about the music and day to day activity. I’ve giggled at some of the dialogue, because everything is funnier when said in a British accent.
Creating Your Base
When you go on runs, you pick up supplies. The supplies are actually not completely useless! Those supplies go towards your base that you get to create and expand. You increase the population by adding more housing, hospitals, and farming.
You can even increase the morale of the place by adding bicycle racks, mailboxes, you know…cute things to remember when zombies are trying to eat you. You can actually do just supply runs, which can be like 5k training.
Gym or Outside
If you go running outside, you can use the app to track you by satellite for an Airdrop mission. You can place a supply drop anywhere on the map, and it’ll have you run to your music while dodging zombies to get to the location. Playing outside is fun because it kind of makes the story atmosphere a bit more believable, but it actually can be really disorienting for someone who works out with noise canceling headphones, aka me.
I will use the app when I’m running on the treadmill at the gym. I turn off the TV monitor in front of me, and zone out into the black screen picturing the story and environment around me. I’m an imaginative person, it works!
I had this app forever ago, loved it, then took a break from it. This summer got back to using the app. It makes me workout almost 5 days a week just because I want to know more of the story and take care of my base. Overall, the story aspect of it is so incredibly believable and well done.
I feel like I can actually run a 5k at ease now because of working with this app. If you’re a huge fan of zombies or just geeky story based workouts, “Zombies, Run!” absolutely perfect for you!
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