Fitness + iPhone = iFitness?

What if spending $1.99 could save you hundreds of dollars a year? Would you pay it? According to medicalprod.com, that's the potential of iFitness.

iFitness is one of many iPhone / iPod Touch fitness applications available on iTunes. Among other things, iFitness is designed as a replacement for a personal trainer of which can cost you anywhere from $30 - $75+ per hour. That's a pretty bold statement, right? But it goes further, iFitness also works as a training log. Naturally I was pretty curious about the potential of the app so I bought it to test it out.

So how does iFitness measure up? So far, I'm pretty impressed.

An Overview

I have to admit, I stumbled upon iFitness after thinking of designing a similar app myself. Thinking of how great it would be to have an app that could link in with a computer database to track workout progress and the potential to it, I was naturally pretty pissed to learn that someone had already beat me to the punch. However, after my initial anger, rage and steardy fist shake, I realized testing out iFitness would make for a great post and give me the opportunity to experiment with an app that I had only begun to mentally conceive, all at a lost cost.

According to the iFitness website, the app has some pretty impressive features:

• Over 230 exercises and stretches
• Nearly 100 exercise video demonstrations
• Easy exercise logging and graphing capabilities
• 12 routines to achieve various goals
• Weight/bmi & body measurement monitor
• Ability to design your own custom workout
• Online backup and restore
• Frequent updates

What it doesn't say (and I think is worth mentioning) is:

• You can create your own custom exercises not already included
• The app has a built in, customizable timer (recently added) useful to time yourself between sets
• You can graph your results by reps, weight, etc
• You can email yourself your results to include in a database (though I haven't tried this

I can probably keep going but I think you get the point, this app packs a lot of punch for $1.99 and surprisingly, its all easy to use

Functionality

With all the features iFitness has, I thought it would have been easy for the designing company to forget the user interface. Not the case though. iFitness is designed the way all effective apps should be, with big buttons, no screen clutter and simple navigation.

When you start the app, you begin in the exercise "section" of the program. At the bottom is an easy and clear menu of 5 buttons to navigate through the major sections of the program. It's easy to switch between sections of the app like "my workouts", "routines", "logs", etc. Even the intricacies of creating a custom workout are considered - you simply go to "my workouts", hit the "add" button, name the workout and start adding exercises.

However, this isn't to say the functionality is perfect. I've noticed a few minor glitches here and there but in the 2 weeks that I've had it, I've also received 2 program updates fixing glitches - looks like medicalprod.com is pretty responsive to customer emails. However, while I do like the app, there is some obvious room for improvement.

The App as a Training Log - Some Room for Improvement

Admittedly, my main motivation to purchasing iFitness was for the training log. However, after using it for a few weeks, I think it's a bit of a let down because it doesn't really accommodate advanced training techniques; it's mostly for the beginner to intermediate weight trainer.

Issue #1: Advanced Training Techniques

For instance, while working out, I often use supersets, negatives, partials and drop sets to finish off muscle groups. However, to record these techniques in the iFitness training log, you would have to use the notes field. This becomes an issue when viewing the training logs and graphs.

As an example, if you were to record a set where you dropped the weight you were using in half to finish off a muscle group, iFitness records the set like any other set. So, for example, when viewing the graph of the average weight used on the bench press and you halved the weight on one set, the data would be skewed because it includes your dropset where you may not want it to.

The Fix

iFitness could incorporate some way of flagging advanced training techniques so they do not mess with your regular sets. Something like an exclude button.

Issue 2: Reordering exercises in the Training Logs

When looking up historical data in your training logs, iFitness doesn't keep the exercises in the same order as your workout under "my workout". So if you did Bench Press, Incline Dumbbell Presses and Chest Flyes, the order in the log would be Bench Press, Chest Flyes and Incline Dumbbell Presses. Again, this is an issue when considering how you are improving over time - if you always did chest flyes as the third exercise, of course you would have to be using less weight than if it was the second exercise. However, according to the iFitness logs, Chest Flyes was the second exercise so you may be misled by the amount of weight used.

The Fix

iFitness needs to find a way to ensure that the training logs accurately record the real order in which exercises were performed. This kind of information directly relates and helps to explain how much weight you used and why.

Issue 3: Leaving Your iPod Around the Gym

Okay, admittedly, this isn't a fault of iFitness programmers but it isn't something I considered when purchasing the app. When I purchased iFitness, I didn't realize how often I left my old paper notebook and pen around the gym to indicate I was using a machine. I often superset exercises and am sometime doing an exercise on one side of the gym and another exercise immediately after, on the other side of the gym. However, using iFitness, I have to remember to take my iTouch with me for every exercise so that I don't lose it or have it stolen. I know there is no solution to this issue, but it is something I would flag for possible buyers of iFitness.

Does iFitness Replace a Personal Trainer?

So, the million dollar question, does iFitness save you the hundreds or thousands of dollars you can spend on a personal trainer in one year? The short answer is, no. Yes, iFitness will show/teach you how to perform an exercise with videos and photos but it will not spot you, will not correct your form and will not motivate you to push out 1 or 2 more reps. In essence, it doesn't replace the human aspect of a personal trainer.

The Conclusion

In a nutshell, if you are looking to purchase iFitness to save on the costs of a trainer, I think you'll be disappointed. However, if you are looking to purchase iFitness to work as a versatile training log with suggested exercises to spice up your work, it's well worth the $1.99. It's got my stamp of approval.

Summary

• iFitness has some pretty versatile features including over 200 predefined exercises, predefined training programs, custom exercises and it's well supported
• The graphical interface of iFitness is user friend, clean and well thought out
• iFitness does need some improvement for recording advanced training techniques
• While iFitness does provide a wealth of workout information and functionality, it cannot fully replace a personal trainer
• Nonetheless, iFitness is worth the $1.99 for anyone looking to ditch the pen and paper training log