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Apple Digital Fitness Companion System?

It's about time. Using my mobile computer to track exercise is a no-brainer. It would be great to have it tie into things like heart rate, running pace, cycling power, etc if the user has the requisite sensors. That could make for a pretty smart fitness coach.
 
kingtj said:
Sorry to disagree, but in general, America is currently full of people who have been harassed and scolded by doctors to "lose some weight". They're looking for solutions, and wasting a lot of money on bogus fitness products that don't deliver the promised results.

Anyone remember the "Ab Lounge" they kept hawking on late-night television infomercials? That contraption was little more than a modified folding lawn chair! And despite knowing dozens of people who blew hundreds of dollars on supplements and other pills at their local GNC store or the like, I haven't seen any of them get the results those bottles promised them.

Even a basic "gym membership" has typically become a scam. You can't just pay as you go most of the time. Instead, you're pressured to sign up for some 1 year term or more. They know full-well, half the people are going to wind up moving or going through other life changes, so they stop showing up - and then they've essentially paid for nothing.

At some point, this "huge and lucrative market" has to get saturated. People decide their basement full of exercise machines and gadgetry has let them down, and they simply don't need ANOTHER device in their collection.

I daresay that besides the "niche" market of people making a lifestyle out of fitness, most people could really accomplish their "lose some weight" goals without ANY of this equipment/gear. Go to your local park and jog, or use their free fitness courses (made from simple chains, ropes, and planks of wood, no less!). Make an effort to eat healthier.
Click to expand...

This is your opinion: The economic facts and marketing metrics do not support your opinion, FYI.

By the way, most GYM's now have what is called a Monthly Membership. They cost a lot more than Monthly EFT memberships and rightfully so.

You are correct when you point out that one can maintain fitness without a lot of costly equipment. Although to maintain muscle mass and bone density resistance bearing exercise -- such as weight training, or plain old hard work -- is required. Jogging, ropes, planks are not going to cut it.

Tracking progress is also important to achieve true fitness conditioning, especially as we age. This is where the iPod fits in.

This is way more than a Niche.

It is unfair, and ill-informed, to compare this iPod and true fitness memberships or routines to late night "Fad" exercise equipment. Smart consumers know this.
 
More cool stuff on the way!

I think this is an example of the kind of ground breaking stuff you will see from developers on this platform!

Wow!
 
When???!!!

Ok - We've got more than enough reasons to want the iPhone ... now unleash it on the rest of the world!
 
internal accelerometer for use as pedometer???

Couldn't the iPhone & iPod touch's internal accelerometer be used in conjunction with the new fitness software... as a pedometer?
 
This could be very cool if done right. Although I don't know if I would like to bring my iPhone to the gym. If they did a nano with these options that would be cool...
 
Supermacguy said:
This won't do a damn bit of good if all us fatties in the US don't ALSO watch what we eat. You can exercise and then go pig out and negate the exercise you just did. I'm on the watchers of weight system, and I almost never exercise but i'm losing weight because I keep track of what i eat, or don't eat now. I just sit at a desk all day. So being active won't help folks shed pounds without shedding the ice cream, fried chicken, and french fries.
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Imagine what you could eat if you actually DID incorporate exercise into your routine.

I'm not saying someone who exercises can eat McDonalds every day, but the 'math' for weight loss is pretty easy; take in less calories than you burn in a day = lose weight. Add exercise to burn even MORE calories and you can increase your daily intake.

I know people that are exercise nuts and don't watch what they eat at all. They stay perfectly healthy and trim. Throw in a knee injury or some other reason for stopping the exercise for a month or two, and the weight starts piling on.

YMMV
 
Gravity said:
Couldn't the iPhone & iPod touch's internal accelerometer be used in conjunction with the new fitness software... as a pedometer?
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Maybe if you put your iPhone in your shoe!:eek:

If the phone/touch could be secured to a thigh then the accelerometer would work, but the way that most pedometers work are by strike counter (which has no way to keep track of pace) or by acceleration. To most accurately judge acceleration, the accelerometer should be in the shoe for running, as this is the part of the body that accelerates and moves the most.

Not a bad idea, but most likely extra add-ons will be needed. Plus from a buisiness standpoint, why not sell a $30 add-on like the current Nike+ kit? Not too expensive to shy people away, and very much worth the money.
 
Adokimus said:
I don't know if you were being serious, but this is a good idea. The problem is that the iPod touch doesn't have bluetooth like the iPhone. Hopefully there would be an attachment that came with it.
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I didn't realize that iPod touch doesn't have bluetooth. I agree with those posters who say a heart rate monitor is essential. I've heard of two bluetooth heart monitors, but I don't know how available they are.

http://www.blatand.net/brustgurt+M52087573ab0.html

http://www.alivetec.com/products.htm
 
Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

gadgetdad said:
Very cool, especially if I can strap it to my arm and it uses the accelerometer to count my reps!
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That would be pretty cool.
 
lazyrighteye said:
I have been wondering now Nike & Apple would evolve their + system.
When you start talking suggested workouts, possible diet recommendations... this has a lot of potential*.


* to rub personal trainers the wrong way. :p
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on the contrary a PT could use this to their advantage

if you could like "check in" when you arrived at the gym, the PT could actually keep and eye on a couple of people all at once, chiming in with info n stuff when needed

you could also send in your work out at the end and the PT could see how you've been doing and suggest improvements by mailing changes to your work out back to u and if you like them you just accept the changes and it updates your work out.
 
MhzDoesMatter said:
I agree. I'd definitely work out with my iphone in some protective workout strap. But I don't think it would be too far fetched for them to add some type of add on hardware like the shoe one to either track reps, steps or heart rate. Granted the current Nike device can do steps and the iphone could mimic it with its accelerometer, neither of them could monitor heart rate which I think would be an incredible added bonus for performance and safety, especially with the potential for real time audio/visual feedback on the touch screen...
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You may be interested to know that Nike already has a heart rate monitoring device in the Nike+ ecosystem.
http://tinyurl.com/32kb2p

Been out for almost a year now.
It's a watch.
A control for your iPod.
A heart rate monitor.
Not to mention it is way better looking, offers more functionality and is $20 CHEAPER (and I notice THAT'S even after a $20 price drop since i last checked - about 2 months ago when it was $120) than Timex's goofy iControl.
http://tinyurl.com/3382kr
 
lazyrighteye said:
You may be interested to know that Nike already has a heart rate monitoring device in the Nike+ ecosystem.
http://tinyurl.com/32kb2p

Been out for almost a year now.
It's a watch.
A control for your iPod.
A heart rate monitor.
Not to mention it is way better looking, offers more functionality and is $20 CHEAPER (and I notice THAT'S even after a $20 price drop since i last checked - about 2 months ago when it was $120) than Timex's goofy iControl.
http://tinyurl.com/3382kr
Click to expand...

I can't find where it says in your references that either the Nike or the Timex is a heart rate monitor, though both can control an iPod.
 
Another tool to help be antisocial at the gym. I can't help but think that this is a bad idea and a potentially dangerous distractor for a gym setting.

Disclaimer: I own a Nike+, but I don't listen to music while I use it.
 
If they got this to work well with swimmers I would definately buy, I currently have a horrendous waterproof ipod case for my 5g ipod and it just doesnt work! I just want a spray proof case so I can keep it on the side and it will count my laps, suggested sprint vs. endurance etc...

With the proper implimentation I think there is a big market here!
 
acearchie said:
If they got this to work well with swimmers I would definately buy, I currently have a horrendous waterproof ipod case for my 5g ipod and it just doesnt work! I just want a spray proof case so I can keep it on the side and it will count my laps, suggested sprint vs. endurance etc...

With the proper implimentation I think there is a big market here!
Click to expand...

That will never happen because water + iPod = very bad :(
 
This is super. Nike+ and me lost 80 lbs. I love running now, want to get to the gym and work on bulking up. This looks like it could be the motivation.

Don't like the idea of sweating on a $300-500 device though. Hope they get this working on the nano too.
 
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