I have also looked, but with no real results, for a program that would help me. I travel way to much and something like this could help to keep me motivated even when I am a bit jet-lagged. Something to nag me like the wife does at home...
Agree with another poster, that it would be nice to have a food intake tracker included. Used to have one on an old palm pilot that was a hassle to enter all the various foods, even after finding a database, still did not have the ability to remind me to do what is needed on a daily basis.
Like many others, I lack the motivation at times to do the right thing. However, if I knew there was someone/something actively tracking what I did and reporting back to me (and maybe the wife), I would have more desire to overcome the lack of motivation and get it done. Nothing would motivate me more than NOT having to listen to a lecture from the one I love while sitting in a room in Tokyo at 0'dark:30 wishing I had just done the right thing in the first place...
Can you imagine how this will rock the fitness world?
Even Bowflex's iTrainer software would be obsolete, and every fitness gym and home workout machine on the planet will be sporting an iPod-compatible logo by Christmas.
You've got to be kidding. People bring notebooks to the gym? Forget the notebook. Pump iron.
Yes, the people who are serious about weight lifting (perhaps too serious?) record their workouts in notebooks...how much weight for how many reps, etc. What's even more insane is paying $50/hour for a personal trainer. Do you know what they do? You guessed it! They write up your exercises ahead of time and check them off as you do them. And they don't even sing to you while you're working out like an iTrainer would!
So compared to that, a $2.99 pocket notebook is absolutely brilliant!
And triathletes are even worse (and I mean that in a good way!). They are probably the most obsessive-compulsive, gear-obsessed, atheletes you will ever meet. And they've got money to burn on $5,000 bikes, GPS watches, heart rate monitors, and $400 wetsuits. An iTrainer from Apple would be tops on all of their Christmas wish lists!
Sting is suing Apple, Inc. for using his name and song in a recent patent filing by Apple for a digital lifestyle fitness companion.
"First Apple fattens people up by making computers and the Apple TV to sit in front of all day and then shuts them off from the rest of the world with the iPod. Now they are using my name and music to get all these people off their fat asses without any compensation?
Seems interesting. The iPhone already has an accelerometer in it, so it COULD be used as a pedometer just like the Nike Plus bug. Heart rate monitors, GPS, and other biometric gathering thingies would be nice, too. Garmin is already doing this sort of thing with their exercise oriented GPSes. The things in the article look like a big software/social networking/massively multi-user online community framework.
Not bad stuff, but seems more like something a third-party should do with iPhone apps rather than Apple. Does Apple really want to get in the fitness community business? Maybe this is part of a bigger link-up with Nike and the two are strengthening their relationship.
I agree with another poster. It'd be wild to see fitness equipment manufacturers start including iPod docks.
I can see them incorporating GPS to calculate distance and speed etc. For me, though.. I'll need to run to Prudhoe Bay and back to throw some chairs off this deck.
What's even more insane is paying $50/hour for a personal trainer. Do you know what they do? You guessed it! They write up your exercises ahead of time and check them off as you do them. And they don't even sing to you while you're working out like an iTrainer would!
Do you know what *else* the personal trainers do? I mean the ones worth paying anything for.
Hey, we may be a bunch of imperialists that are looking for ways to invade more countries, pollute more and become even fatter, but you are still supposed to capitalize our nationality! "
Sting is suing Apple, Inc. for using his name and song in a recent patent filing by Apple for a digital lifestyle fitness companion.
"First Apple fattens people up by making computers and the Apple TV to sit in front of all day and then shuts them off from the rest of the world with the iPod. Now they are using my name and music to get all these people off their fat asses without any compensation?
Not on my watch. No sir, ain't gonna happen."
That's hilarious. Sting can't be compensated if he's used as a point of example in a patent filing. There's no infringement. His lawyer must've told him to do this. Stupid.
You've got to be kidding. People bring notebooks to the gym?
Absolutely. Tracking what you've done and charting that in contrast to your progress is critical if you really want to make a significant change. So many people just go to the gym day after day without tracking anything, and they don't understand why their bodies don't change. It's because they don't have a plan, and they don't keep records of what is working for them and what is not.
Right now, I use a pocket notebook to track not only all of my workouts, but all of my food and water intake. I actually made my own little books that integrate the food and exercise tracking with my day timer. That way my prioritized "to do" list contains items from my work priorities, my fitness priorities, and other personal things, all in one list.
The concept of being able to take everything I'm already doing with that notebook, and being able to integrate it into a database that's on my iPod, that also gives me direct feedback about how my body is responding to the plan throughout the day makes me very excited.
My only concern would be that the plans would have to be totally customizable. I need to be able to tell it what to track, not have it tell me what to do. This is a problem with most diet and fitness tracking software.
Do you know what *else* the personal trainers do? I mean the ones worth paying anything for.
Yeah, just like with lawyers, there are some good ones out there!
I am of course, kidding...to a degree. For the people who need the attention and motivation a personal training provides, it's great. But a lot of people just need a little organization for their workouts. And yes, I have seen, and know people who've had, personal trainers who do little else but sip their Starbucks while watching their clients work out. But thankfully those trainers are few and far between!
Somebody mentioned the Wii earlier in relation to sports. While I think there is a similarity, the broader comparison is how the Wii has massively expanded the market for gaming to casual gamers. Hell, my mum plays Wii. If Nike+ is hardcore, like an Xbox 360/PS3, then this is the Wii/NDS - a much broader market. And for Apple, they really only want to sell devices so even if you drop off the fitness program, you still bought an iPhone/Touch etc.
I think we will see a lot more "killer apps" to shift increasingly smart devices - they just need to work their way around lifestyle issues. Music was the first, mobile communications was the second, TV was third (jury still out) - now fitness. What's next? Ideas...
And in the meantime, the Mac will continue to pick up market share as Apple invades more parts of your life...
Yeah, just like with lawyers, there are some good ones out there!
I am of course, kidding...to a degree. For the people who need the attention and motivation a personal training provides, it's great.
I was really thinking about more concrete things like correcting the trainee's technique so they do not break themselves and perform well.
A person I know was in a gym when someone else there messed up and dropped ~100kg of barbell straight on their face because they had no idea what they were doing. If the aspiring lifter survived, he needed a mostly new face.
Now that was an extreme case of ignorance, a complete newb using relatively heavy weights, but even small weights will easily pull muscles and do real damage when you do some lifts wrong. And not even the stupid kind of wrong. The right technique is not always obvious. Some mistakes can be difficult to notice even if you have been corrected on them before and know you should be watching out for them - until they cause injury. In the long run, you make mistakes of a different scale. I think most people who have gone to the gym for a while have at least one story of personally, repeatedly, doing something seriously counterproductive until they finally somehow learned it's not a good idea. Often injury is the wake-up call.
Not just safety, but performance on many lifts stands to improve greatly with help, whether that help comes in form of a teacher or a book. Olympic lifts in particular are a waste of time and risky unless someone can teach them to you, IMO.
An iTrainer won't coach a weak female trainee to progress from a heavily assisted chinup to three unassisted chinups. It won't estimate whether an overweight elderly male trainee's knees can take a squat 1RM and if not, what should be substituted. Resistance training is repetitive, but it's also highly personal, chaotic, and at times risky. Software can't decide something like that.
... And for Apple, they really only want to sell devices so even if you drop off the fitness program, you still bought an iPhone/Touch etc.
Capnbob
That was my first thought.
Exploiting the same internal trap that makes us sign up for gym memberships when we know we won't actually go after the first week or two. Perfect justification to buy more toys - it's good for us!
It's brilliant marketing!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Capnbob
... And in the meantime, the Mac will continue to pick up market share as Apple invades more parts of your life...
Capnbob
next step, the apple implant: the iBorg - resistance is futile.
There was a segment on Science Friday a few weeks ago that said the opposite, the motivating factor is in keeping the user apprised of how much progress they are making.
I've always respected your opinions on this forum. Knowing now that you listen to Science Friday I respect you all the more!
I've actually been working on my own application for nutrition and workout tracking. It won't be something only that creates a workout for you, since personal goals by each person are different, but will allow you to keep track of whatever workouts you want and schedule them when you want. I'm keeping a running blog here: http://fitnessapp.wordpress.com/
It's in a pre-alpha at the moment, since my free time has been scarce lately, but if people want to input ideas for what they may want in an app like this, let me know. I'm open to hearing the community. The apps out there now (Muscle!, FitDay, Open Fitness) pretty much suck. With the iPhone SDK, the options are blown wide open.
Comments
Agree with another poster, that it would be nice to have a food intake tracker included. Used to have one on an old palm pilot that was a hassle to enter all the various foods, even after finding a database, still did not have the ability to remind me to do what is needed on a daily basis.
Like many others, I lack the motivation at times to do the right thing. However, if I knew there was someone/something actively tracking what I did and reporting back to me (and maybe the wife), I would have more desire to overcome the lack of motivation and get it done. Nothing would motivate me more than NOT having to listen to a lecture from the one I love while sitting in a room in Tokyo at 0'dark:30 wishing I had just done the right thing in the first place...
Wow, my first post after years of lurking...
Even Bowflex's iTrainer software would be obsolete, and every fitness gym and home workout machine on the planet will be sporting an iPod-compatible logo by Christmas.
Unbelievable.
You've got to be kidding. People bring notebooks to the gym? Forget the notebook. Pump iron.
Yes, the people who are serious about weight lifting (perhaps too serious?) record their workouts in notebooks...how much weight for how many reps, etc. What's even more insane is paying $50/hour for a personal trainer. Do you know what they do? You guessed it! They write up your exercises ahead of time and check them off as you do them. And they don't even sing to you while you're working out like an iTrainer would!
So compared to that, a $2.99 pocket notebook is absolutely brilliant!
And triathletes are even worse (and I mean that in a good way!). They are probably the most obsessive-compulsive, gear-obsessed, atheletes you will ever meet. And they've got money to burn on $5,000 bikes, GPS watches, heart rate monitors, and $400 wetsuits. An iTrainer from Apple would be tops on all of their Christmas wish lists!
Sting is suing Apple, Inc. for using his name and song in a recent patent filing by Apple for a digital lifestyle fitness companion.
"First Apple fattens people up by making computers and the Apple TV to sit in front of all day and then shuts them off from the rest of the world with the iPod. Now they are using my name and music to get all these people off their fat asses without any compensation?
Not on my watch. No sir, ain't gonna happen."
Not bad stuff, but seems more like something a third-party should do with iPhone apps rather than Apple. Does Apple really want to get in the fitness community business? Maybe this is part of a bigger link-up with Nike and the two are strengthening their relationship.
I agree with another poster. It'd be wild to see fitness equipment manufacturers start including iPod docks.
- Jasen.
What's even more insane is paying $50/hour for a personal trainer. Do you know what they do? You guessed it! They write up your exercises ahead of time and check them off as you do them. And they don't even sing to you while you're working out like an iTrainer would!
Do you know what *else* the personal trainers do? I mean the ones worth paying anything for.
Apple should make such a scale with a WiFi connection.
When a family member steps on the scales, it measures their body fat, bone density, hydration level, and total weight.
This information is synced wirelessly to a Mac or PC in the house.
The software could then produce a graph showing how your body composition is changing.
Hey, we may be a bunch of imperialists that are looking for ways to invade more countries, pollute more and become even fatter, but you are still supposed to capitalize our nationality!
This just in...
Sting is suing Apple, Inc. for using his name and song in a recent patent filing by Apple for a digital lifestyle fitness companion.
"First Apple fattens people up by making computers and the Apple TV to sit in front of all day and then shuts them off from the rest of the world with the iPod. Now they are using my name and music to get all these people off their fat asses without any compensation?
Not on my watch. No sir, ain't gonna happen."
That's hilarious. Sting can't be compensated if he's used as a point of example in a patent filing. There's no infringement. His lawyer must've told him to do this. Stupid.
You've got to be kidding. People bring notebooks to the gym?
Absolutely. Tracking what you've done and charting that in contrast to your progress is critical if you really want to make a significant change. So many people just go to the gym day after day without tracking anything, and they don't understand why their bodies don't change. It's because they don't have a plan, and they don't keep records of what is working for them and what is not.
Right now, I use a pocket notebook to track not only all of my workouts, but all of my food and water intake. I actually made my own little books that integrate the food and exercise tracking with my day timer. That way my prioritized "to do" list contains items from my work priorities, my fitness priorities, and other personal things, all in one list.
The concept of being able to take everything I'm already doing with that notebook, and being able to integrate it into a database that's on my iPod, that also gives me direct feedback about how my body is responding to the plan throughout the day makes me very excited.
My only concern would be that the plans would have to be totally customizable. I need to be able to tell it what to track, not have it tell me what to do. This is a problem with most diet and fitness tracking software.
Do you know what *else* the personal trainers do? I mean the ones worth paying anything for.
Yeah, just like with lawyers, there are some good ones out there!
I am of course, kidding...to a degree. For the people who need the attention and motivation a personal training provides, it's great. But a lot of people just need a little organization for their workouts. And yes, I have seen, and know people who've had, personal trainers who do little else but sip their Starbucks while watching their clients work out. But thankfully those trainers are few and far between!
I think we will see a lot more "killer apps" to shift increasingly smart devices - they just need to work their way around lifestyle issues. Music was the first, mobile communications was the second, TV was third (jury still out) - now fitness. What's next? Ideas...
And in the meantime, the Mac will continue to pick up market share as Apple invades more parts of your life...
Capnbob
Yeah, just like with lawyers, there are some good ones out there!
I am of course, kidding...to a degree. For the people who need the attention and motivation a personal training provides, it's great.
I was really thinking about more concrete things like correcting the trainee's technique so they do not break themselves and perform well.
A person I know was in a gym when someone else there messed up and dropped ~100kg of barbell straight on their face because they had no idea what they were doing. If the aspiring lifter survived, he needed a mostly new face.
Now that was an extreme case of ignorance, a complete newb using relatively heavy weights, but even small weights will easily pull muscles and do real damage when you do some lifts wrong. And not even the stupid kind of wrong. The right technique is not always obvious. Some mistakes can be difficult to notice even if you have been corrected on them before and know you should be watching out for them - until they cause injury. In the long run, you make mistakes of a different scale. I think most people who have gone to the gym for a while have at least one story of personally, repeatedly, doing something seriously counterproductive until they finally somehow learned it's not a good idea. Often injury is the wake-up call.
Not just safety, but performance on many lifts stands to improve greatly with help, whether that help comes in form of a teacher or a book. Olympic lifts in particular are a waste of time and risky unless someone can teach them to you, IMO.
An iTrainer won't coach a weak female trainee to progress from a heavily assisted chinup to three unassisted chinups. It won't estimate whether an overweight elderly male trainee's knees can take a squat 1RM and if not, what should be substituted. Resistance training is repetitive, but it's also highly personal, chaotic, and at times risky. Software can't decide something like that.
... And for Apple, they really only want to sell devices so even if you drop off the fitness program, you still bought an iPhone/Touch etc.
Capnbob
That was my first thought.
Exploiting the same internal trap that makes us sign up for gym memberships when we know we won't actually go after the first week or two. Perfect justification to buy more toys - it's good for us!
It's brilliant marketing!
... And in the meantime, the Mac will continue to pick up market share as Apple invades more parts of your life...
Capnbob
next step, the apple implant: the iBorg - resistance is futile.
There was a segment on Science Friday a few weeks ago that said the opposite, the motivating factor is in keeping the user apprised of how much progress they are making.
I've always respected your opinions on this forum. Knowing now that you listen to Science Friday I respect you all the more!
So compared to that, a $2.99 pocket notebook is absolutely brilliant!
Ok you're talking spiral bound paper type notebooks. I'm down with that, I thought they meant bringing actual laptop computers into the gym.
m
Ok you're talking spiral bound paper type notebooks. I'm down with that, I thought they meant bringing actual laptop computers into the gym.
m
when i first read it, i thought they were talking about notebook COMPUTERS too.
It's in a pre-alpha at the moment, since my free time has been scarce lately, but if people want to input ideas for what they may want in an app like this, let me know. I'm open to hearing the community. The apps out there now (Muscle!, FitDay, Open Fitness) pretty much suck. With the iPhone SDK, the options are blown wide open.
Cheers.