Opinions\Suggestion for An Idea

[Icy]

In my free time I've been making a program to just keep track of my workouts. At the point I've gotten to I've realized that I could expand it a bit and it'd be useful to many that want to keep track of their workouts.

I have some idea of where I want to go with this but nothing set in stone. I won't explain them (in this first post) so I don't set anyones mind in a certain direction. Really, I am curious of two things.

-What would you want to be able to achieve\see with it?
-Would you pay for a program like this? How much?

I have a few ideas but I decided to ask this while I am still on the "bottom" floor of making this so if there are great ideas I can implement them easier\better.

Thanks for any input!

[lightweight99]

I will agree it is a good idea. I workout 5 days a week with 3 days of cardio and I am a member of what I will call a "serious" weightlifting forum, just rather not give the name on here.

Among those members, some do the same thing and offer it to others for free. I would try to incorporate alternate workouts suited for what the individuals goals are, bulking, weight loss, lean bulk, competition and so on so that way they are getting a complete package rather then a form.

As for price depending on what the form consist of, I would pay between 10-50 dollars. 50 dollars imo is alot though and I would expect alot in return

[MrPink]

I used a small notebook (3 dollars, lasts about 9 months) to write out my workouts for years. I really liked being able to record the workout after I was done. I wouldn't want to keep them in my head until I got back to a computer.

I am not saying that this is a bad idea, but I would not purchase a program even if it was really good.

[Icy]

Among those members, some do the same thing and offer it to others for free. I would try to incorporate alternate workouts suited for what the individuals goals are, bulking, weight loss, lean bulk, competition and so on so that way they are getting a complete package rather then a form.

As for price depending on what the form consist of, I would pay between 10-50 dollars. 50 dollars imo is alot though and I would expect alot in return

Well, one current idea for it is allowing people to look through a database of workouts that other people can upload to it. Now, I'm not exactly sure how searching through it will work. Perhaps they choose if they're training for strength\conditioning whatever and then also put it an exercise or two they WANT to do? Idk

At the same time if it allows the uploading of workouts having it upload entire routines also will be a sinch. If this happens I can see many people using it. So many people care more about a routine that is laid out for them than thinking on their own. While personally I would prefer people make their own and adjust it (more beneficial) it is at the same time better than them doing nothing.

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I completely understand how you feel MrPink. Personally I think it might still be beneficial for you (not saying enough so to buy it though). If you don't mind me asking what do you specifically train for? Weight loss? Conditioning? Strength? Overall Health?

If you answer this I could probably explain a feature that would be beneficial to you.


Thanks for the input so far guys! I'm thinking about telling about a few of the features and getting feedback on them also after a few more opinions.

[lightweight99]

Precisely. When it comes to working out and doing the research as to what to eat, when to eat, proper workouts, cardio routine and so on, I have found that people are more then willing to pay to have the answers given or shown to them because they dont want to do it.

That's why I would have dedicated routines specific to certain goals for them to choose from, in addition to having it where they can interchange exercises for that routine.

[Icy]

Precisely. When it comes to working out and doing the research as to what to eat, when to eat, proper workouts, cardio routine and so on, I have found that people are more then willing to pay to have the answers given or shown to them because they dont want to do it.

That's why I would have dedicated routines specific to certain goals for them to choose from, in addition to having it where they can interchange exercises for that routine.

Yeah, the fact that people are willing to pay for routines kinds of makes me think I should release the program for free but charge for the routines. This way it will be beneficial to those that think about routines on their own (and benefit more). Like the main thing I want to achieve with the program is to allow people to look over the past couple months quickly to help see what lead to improvements (or stagnation) in their performance. Sure, this is posibble in a notebook but it takes time, and quite a bit of it for some of the useful information. Who knows though about charging for it, that's still up for discussion.

The idea of interchanging exercises is something else I was thinking about. Many times someone sees a routine, but the fact that it uses an exercise they cannot do or don't have the weights they forget about it. The plan is to allow people to click on each exercise name and then see information about each exercise and one part of the info is alternative exercises that accomplish a similar result.

-Thanks Lightweight

[MrPink]

Hey Icy,

I would say strength and conditioning. I was training for swims on the world marathon circuit or world championships.

[Icy]

I'm sorry MrPink I never saw your response! Adding a workout that you've done before a saved would quite litterally take 10 seconds to put into the program.

Let's say you do a 1km swim every Monday. You'd enter the name of whatever you name it (it gives suggestions to workouts you've saved). Then for a workout like that you would enter your time. The roughly 10 seconds it takes to transfer it from your notebook to the computer allows you to do many things with that information.

Check how you time has improved week by week or month by month. This data would be side by side and not make you have to go through a notebook looking for the right pages. Want to see what you did on July 24, 2009? Clicked the date and the will be displayed.

Have certain goals like weight loss or getting a specific time for the 3 mile? If you gained significant progress a month or two ago you can easily see what it was you did. If you want to do that exact thing again make a few clicks and instead of entering what you are going to do when you open the program each day it will already have the workout for the day displayed and you just have to enter times\weight.

Sorry for the sale pitch type talk. Now, I realize that it's not extremely clear, but I promise to make a video of it within the next two weeks. Even if I just have to make a quick mock up thing to show it.

Thanks!

[Gymjunkie]

Sounds a bit like workoutbox.com, check it out Icy! Might give you sone ideas, they are doing pretty nice.. I actually almost joined them...

[Caesarion]

My ideas,

track max reps to see how much I benched 6 mos up to now. Make it visual, So the user had to upload an image every month or so.

[Icy]

@Gymjunkie - Ahh thanks for posting that! I couldn't find anything that even looked remotely like it could be competition! Haven't had time to thoroughly look through it but I feel they are missing a few things that are vital (imo) for something to track workouts.

@Caesarion - Tracking 1 max reps is one thing I am trying to figure out how I want to implement! I truely want to key the logging of *any type* of workouts to under 15-20 seconds each so layout is very key to this. Implementing that or something time based and hit that goal is easy but when you have to switch between the two constantly have to figure out something quick!

Also, I like the idea of the pictures! Definitely toss the idea around in my head.

[Gymjunkie]

@Gymjunkie - Ahh thanks for posting that! I couldn't find anything that even looked remotely like it could be competition! Haven't had time to thoroughly look through it but I feel they are missing a few things that are vital (imo) for something to track workouts.

@Caesarion - Tracking 1 max reps is one thing I am trying to figure out how I want to implement! I truely want to key the logging of *any type* of workouts to under 15-20 seconds each so layout is very key to this. Implementing that or something time based and hit that goal is easy but when you have to switch between the two constantly have to figure out something quick!

Also, I like the idea of the pictures! Definitely toss the idea around in my head.

They are more about just giving people routines. Not that much into tracking... If I remember correctly..

Having visuals there would be very good, people love it.

[Rasmus]

I am located in Denmark - so my thoughts on this will probably not be that much of importance for you, but anyway:

I do workouts in a gym 4 times a week and have been doing so for several years so i suppose i would be in your range of expected customers?
However in my years of working out i have never paid for the kind of schemes or database that i think you are thinking about making.

Number one: Theres a whole lot of free advice on the web allready. Also lots of different schemes for both the cardio and bodybuilding people. In Denmark i have even experienced different bodybuilding-product websites do free advice from high-rank personal trainers in order to get more traffic to the site.

Number two: In Denmark - even the cheapest gyms will offer you a personal trainer who you can use for making up weekly schemes and routines for one to follow. And also weekly measurements of progress and bodyfat can be monitured if you wish it. In my gym - all of this is included in the 50$ monthly fee - that is beside the whole usage of the gym ofcourse.

Number three: My experience is that - most people are LAZY. They want everything about the workout to be dealt with and done by the time they leave the gym. I know for a fact that a lot of the trainers put a lot of effort into making people doing "homework" before comming to the gym, but many people underestimate the effect of this. Schemes and planning which is really the easy part is often being skipped by the average-workout-person.

Now all of this is just my personal thoughts on the subject but is not meant for you to skip the idea at all. I am just trying to write down some of the biggest obsticles that i can think of.
And also i need 5 posts before being able to make a topic myself.

Friendly regards,
Rasmus - apologise if any typos in the above text!

[Icy]

@Rasmus First, I'm not trying to debate on whether your opinions are correct, but I'm going to give a reason why it would be beneficial to each point (if there is one!). I figure perhaps there is something I just didn't mention or explain well enough. If this is not the case say so.

#1: Not much I can say here, this is true. Only thing is the ease of availability to reviews of different routines, but that might not be very significant (especially for someone like you who has years of training).

#2: Atleast here in America most personal trainers have no reason to be training. They give the same workout for everyone, everday. Granted I will admit this will also, but I know that with many different options people would choose what sounds fun and not something an inexperienced trainer gives everyone.

#3: It's true many people avoid any type of "homework" for this. We're all taught go for long distance runs for the best fat loss (which is incorrect to an extent). I think the idea of that is what turns a lot of people away from losing weight\working out. Personally I'm the most fit aerobically and anaerobically and I've cut long distance running down to a max of once a week.

#3 continued: By seeing that there are many options for losing fat (or whatever the goal) through workouts outside of just long distance running I know this will make more people interested. Now, this doesn't mean they will put in the necessary effort in their diet also, but it is a start. I know once I started working out I just kind of switched to eating healthier or else you just kind of feel bad.

I definitely look forward to what you think though! If we're still on complete opposite sides of the fence on this then we can end it here. If not though I wouldn't mind discussing it further.

P.S. Once I know danish better than you know English then I will say something about it. Plus it makes perfect sense.

[Rasmus]

Hi again Icy!
You definitly makes sense to me!
If you can give people some qualified and ofcourse some sort of realistic advice on how to optimice their workout then there is probably lots of opportunity out there!

Now - to specify my knowledge on this area. I am only 19 years old with a total of little under 4 years of working out with the aim of building muscle (no cardio programs at all). I have never been hired at a gym. Therefore i am really not very informed about this area beside all the talks i have had with the personal trainers and owners of the respective gyms. With all that said. All i have is oppinions and my own thoughts.

Back to you now! What i wanted to highlight with my post was that some of the obsticles an idea like yours, might come across, is that some gyms try to offer their customers more than just machines and dumbbells. When my brother joined his first gym many years ago - there was no sort of personal advice for him at all. He was lucky if some of the old guys would let him in on some ways to optimice his weekly routines.
Thing are different now and people are offered far more guidance and personal advice than they were before. Which might be a problem for a business like yours since i think it is going to be offered even more in the future than it is now. The development we see in Denmark is that - gyms are getting large! Most now offering everything from water aerobics to selfdefense courses which everyone can join from the gym-website. Beside assigning a personal trainer which can be consulted any time of the day. All of this while the monthly costs stays put at 50-70$.
In other words - the gyms are doing everything they can in order to make optimicing and results come as easy as possible.

I still see the potential your sort of idea has though! As i read it you are thinking of making peoples workouts a part of their daily/weekly doings on the laptop? Monituring progress and finding alternate ways of optimicing? It sounds good to me! Maybe if a friend of mine saw it as worthwhile i would even consider paying for it! But i cant tell you what i would pay though. Its hard to say.

Good luck with everything!

[Rasmus]

By the way! - A whole other obsticle:
I dont know if you have noticed this but theres an enormous increase in cheesy product sites. Offering everything from pills and alternate workout cycles with the "promise" that you get big in 1/4 the time. You know all of these "We promise you double the gain by halfing the effort" commercials(especially present at porn-sites for some reason) which gives people a bad impression of the online advice.
Now i promise this will be the last from my thoughts - who listens to a 19year old danish guy anyway?!?