What makes a application for the iPhone worth dropping twenty dollars on?
For some, it might be a game that will be entertainment for hours. Others might find a productivity program that keeps a person on schedule and clients happy well worth dollars spent. Another reason might be because it saves your life. Wha?! Seriously, can you spent 20 dollars and live longer? If you talk to any healthy person, they will say yes… money well spent.
I was never into sports in school. More the athletic department assistance, making sure the lights were one and games started/ended on plan. Still don’t know why they trusted me with that, but they did and I delivered. What I did enjoy from elementary school long into my late 30s was bike riding. Road my bike to school from second grade till I got my car as a Jr in High School. To stay fit for auto racing and then later as I ran my companies, I continued to peddle along the hills of Oregon.
Then… business took off and went global. I tried working with a running coach, but weather limited my ability to stay on track, particularly in towns I didn’t know. Most hotels I stayed at had gyms, or they were within a few blocks. But, not having done the gym thing, what do I do. Books gave limited success as you thumb back and forth to find your workout for the day and record progress in a dog eared note binder.
Then, I found iPump FitnessBuilder (link opens iTunes) for the iPhone. A application that covers training for Strength, Weight Loss, Endurance, Flexibility and Heart Health. It breaks workouts down by gender, body part to be stressed, type of workout, location work will happen and goals.
For me, I have a stretch group I always start with. Then I roll into a different group depending on where I am and what I have available to me. If I’m at home and I have weights available, I choose and rotate through different upper body parts per day. There is multi day scheduled plans set up too, like the 3 day Bodybuilding set but I can’t guarantee I will have the same equipment available for three days in a row. There are different levels of working body parts as well, whether your working for health and general strength vs what I would think of as ‘for show’ – they have you covered.
When I hit a hotel, I check out the equipment available and choose the workout offering that matches what I have available. The perfect workout routine would be to stick with certain weights and plans but mixing it up a bit rounds the body out and it is much better than not working out while you wait for the perfect scenario to be available. Many times I just do the routine called ‘Hotel’ where I have no equipment other than a couple water bottles and a chair… yes, you can feel it when your done.
Each workout takes you through a series of images and text that explains what you are attempting to do as well the number or times you need to do that set. At the end you can record your progress for later reference. Which is important if your workouts are going to tie into a end goal you set at the beginning.
Video (requires a Internet connection) is offered for most workouts by choosing to view the video. No upsell, the feature is built in. These give you much more detail to your workouts and offer a bit of encouragement.
iPump FitnessBuilder (opens iTunes) is as good as it gets! The application should be on your first screen of the launcher – you CAN do something every day. Just open the app every day and choose to do what you can with what you have available. If you have a gym and want to do a full end-to-end aggressive workout plan, you will have it with iPump. If all you have is a empty living room, you can still get the circulation going and the muscles working… years from now you will be thankful… really, it’s only 20 bucks!
iPump offers workout apps for each body group or workout equipment if you prefer only doing one part. FitnessBuilder offers all of the packages for the amount you would pay if you bought a couple individual apps.
