Tracking Workouts On Computer

[Icy]

Hey guys - a little while back I made a program for myself in order to track my workouts. It allowed me to see how much progress was made towards my goals and what the changes were that helped best. Instead of speading a lot of time going through notebooks I can now see in seconds with a few clicks of the mouse or key strokes. Not only that but, my workouts tend to not fit the generic format of <insert sets> <insert reps> and <insert one weight for all the sets>.

The other day I was realizing how a few other (fitness\sports) forums I go to the people would benefit greatly from it. Because of that I decided to tackle making it more "professional" rather than a thrown together mess that makes sense only to me.
Since I'm building it from the ground up I figure why not see if I can through in options that'd benefit those that aren't training for competition also.

So the questions:
1. What would someone who is more doing this for health rather than competition like to track?
2. Have any programs you currently use which you think are great(what is it?)? If you do, is there anything annoying about it?

I have some neat ideas that aren't in current programs that I intend to add in. I don't want to discuss them yet, merely because I'd be just another person spewing ideas with no action. So instead I'll show you these in a video once I start getting a good base to the new redesign. :smug2:

 

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[moop]

To get started, perform market research by communicating with your target customers. This shouldnt be a problem as you mentioned you are already engaged in fitness forums. Try to identify if they would use this service and if so, what features they are most interested in.

For execution of the idea, I would stick with an online interactive web application that performs the functions of your existing program. Perhaps a user interface which lists various muscle groups and then allows for users to input exercise and number of reps etc. You could also use some beta users to provide you feedback on how you should structure the interface and what features should be made available.

 

[Icy]

Thanks moop. Yup, definitely posting in 2 other message boards I frequent to see their opinions also. I feel I have a better understanding what they want than general fitness though. Heck, the type of workouts I do because of the nature of these workouts is what caused me to make it originally for myself. No other program\website would let me do it. haha

Yeah, building it through a website is definitely something I fully intend to do. First I plan to make it a program that will work offline though. It will allow me to build it rather quickly, see if there is interest (get feedback), and I just know much more about application programming rather than web programming. Incorporation of the FB api is an absolute essential thing which many workout logging programs are lacking (PumpOne has the idea though).

On a separate note if anyone cares to hear the "neat" ideas just send me a PM. I want to kind of leave my ideas out of it mostly to decrease my ideas from influencing your thoughts.

I'll check back tonight, back to programming the afternoon away though.

 

[darkjediii]

check fitday.c0m for ideas, I used to use this back in the day when I used to work out.

 

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[Icy]

Thanks DarkJedi

Looking over it it looks like key part of it is the reporting of how many calories each exercise burns. Is that is important reason to why you chose to use that over something else?

Like many of the other websites I've seen though it lacks a quick, easy way to put in your workouts. Not only that, but what you can it kind of limited. This was the biggest reason for me making my own program.

It's coming along well guys, but in about a week I'll have a lot more time to work on it. Hopefully in a week I can atleast have a video demonstrating it. I'll warn you now though, the GUI is a mess and don't see myself fixing that in a week. haha I'd rather have a working program and then experiment with different layouts or else I'll never get it done (too much of a perfectionist!)

 

[Nathan]

Not to be the party pooper, but are you thinking something like this? Burn Fat, Lose Weight, and Gain Muscle - DailyBurn

 

[moop]

Dailyburn certainly seems to be your competition. Perhaps you can explore their application to find which features can be improved, added etc. Also, you could develop a competitive advantage by creating a community around your product eg a forum. This would certainly help in feedback, customer loyalty/market share protection and user conversion.

 

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[Icy]

Yeah, Dailyburn (and PumpOne) would be the competition. In my opinion though DailyBurn tries to be too much at once and is mediocre at best for all. Now, to be fair to them I don't have their lite\pro membership, so this is only based on the free version.

On that note though, while I'd love to make money with it - my business intent is geared towards something else. This is just a project I made to help myself which is turning into something that I realized could help many others. The initial program will be a stand alone Windows application that I'll accept donations for. If there seems to be interest then I will turn it into a web app which no doubt would be more popular. I just don't have the programming knowledge for that, but I'd be willing to invest more time and learn (or hire someone) if there seems to be interest.

The intent for this though is for people who are training for competition\sports. Certainly would incorporate general health too if it doesn't cause the program to be "ok" at tracking both. Speaking from my vision of it currently it will probably not be the best thing to track something long distance runs. There are too many places would dedicate all their effort to that and they do it well. Even though it will be pretty good for seeing statistics for it over time.

Instead this is for people who are doing circuits like:

5 dumbell swings (each hand)
5 dumbbell snatchs (each hand)
10 burpees
repeat 5 times for time or weight

Then perhaps a finisher like a pyramid circuit of push up and squats up to 10 then back down

From what I've been able to find (so please post something if I'm wrong) there is nothing that can do this well and quickly. Doing it quickly is the biggest thing because there is no reason to spend 10 minutes inputting something as short as that.

Thanks guys! Sorry I still don't have much detail on where it's "different", but it's no doubt better to show something than to just talk about it. Idea's\Intent are worth nothing. :smug2:

 

[moop]

I recommend that you create an online web applications as they are more mainstream these days. However, creating the software yourself is an effective start. It would give you the opportunity to distribute beta copies to potential users. It would also act as a useful guide for your web designer eg it tells them exactly what you want and expect of the web application.