Langara bookstore to sell activity trackers to improve fitness

The Langara bookstore started selling the Fitbit Zip and Flex health activity trackers as a way to help improve the college’s general health and fitness.

Fitbits actively monitor personal health statistics that can be tracked on computers and supported mobile devices. According to Amelia Lau, a bookstore manager, they were initially brought in as part of a program started through the Langara human resources department called WellnessFits. WellnessFits is a Canadian Cancer Society supported program that helps businesses and organizations keep their employees healthy and productive by encouraging physical activity

“We wanted to be part of the larger college initiative with regards to health and fitness,” said Mark Adams, director of ancillary services at the bookstore.

Staff and employees at Langara were the main reason for the Fitbits, but Adams hopes that students buy them too.

“We hope they sell well, as that might mean that employees and students are taking fitness seriously,” Adams said.

Langara employee’s Fitbit success story 

Adams won his Fitbit in a golf tournament and has lost 15 pounds since he started using it. Of all of its functions, Adams takes advantage of the calorie tracker the most.

“The calorie tracker on the app is amazing. You can enter on the fly and see exactly where you are at.”

Even though Fitbit Inc. has been gaining momentum in the past few years, their activity trackers aren’t as popular among Vancouver’s young adults as fitness trackers like the Nike+FuelBand.

Sebastian Kovacs, a Langara arts and sciences student, has never heard of Fitbit activity trackers but is open to the idea.

“I might buy one if I ever got around to exercising,” Kovacs said.

Whether you’re a fitness enthusiast looking for a better way to track personal health or just a regretful student trying to justify that second cheddar bacon burger you had for lunch, a Fitbit activity tracker from the Langara bookstore might be just what you need.

Reported by David La Riviere