Well, I was HOPING this was my new gym considering that the mobile app GymPactallows you to tag any building as a gym. From there on out, whenever you “check in” to the gym with your mobile phone and stay in that geo-monitored location for more than thirty minutes, you get paid.

That’s right, you get paid to “workout.”

Unfortunately (or fortunately), GymPact didn’t fall for my ruse of making my local diner my gym. Just like I had imagined in my habit building article:

Wouldn’t it be cool if a gym paid YOU to workout. We would all be super-sculpted athletes and gyms would be bankrupt. Alas, we aren’t and they aren’t.

Alright. So the thought experiment is a reality. Why aren’t we hearing more about this phenomenal startup that recently teamed up with my favorite running app, Runkeeper? Lets take a look at why the app works, and why it doesn’t.

How GymPact Works

GymPact’s sign up process is pretty efficient. I opted for the online sign up, as opposed to the mobile version since I still find typing on a smartphone tedious. GymPact on the other hand, REALLY wants you to go mobile. So much so, that they made their desktop signup look like an iPhone interface.

You begin by setting your pact or, how many days you will be committing to going to the gym. The default 3 days a week will earn you $2.10 a week if you fulfill your pact. Rewards range from $0.50 to $0.75 per workout.

On the next page, you setup your wager. Missing a workout dings you a default $5. That’s a lot more than $.50 isn’t it? Not fair you say? Well, as my fifth grade teacher used to say, “Life’s a bitch and then you die.” Public schooling is awesome and so is this reward punishment ratio. More on that later.

The following steps consists of connecting your Facebook account, and entering your credit card info so you can get rewarded or dinged. If you’re concerned about giving your credit card info to a startup, you’re smart about having pause. However the service is PCI (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) compliantso I wouldn’t sweat it. You’ll becharged a penny to verify your credit card.

The Proof’s In the Database

Your first task as a GymPact participant is to tag your gym. They claim that their gym database consists of 40,000 gyms. My local diner wasn’t in the database, despite calling it “Mau’s Crossfit.” There’s an idiot and a CrossFit gym born everyday, but GymPact is no idiot and a diner is no gym. At least not without some verification. I really thought I had found a crack in their system until I received this email about twenty minutes after checking in:

Hi Mauricio Balvanera,

We’re sorry – we took a look at your gym Mau’s Crossfit could not yet verify it.

Because of GPS verification, we cannot count home, apartment or office gyms. It is also difficult for us to verify new facilities, smaller/niche facilities and facilities with less web presence.

If you think there’s been a mistake, simply send the name, website, address and phone number of your gym to corrections@gym-pact.com for us to take a second look! Until then, the workouts you’ve done here will not count toward your Pact.

Cheers,

The GymPact Team

My cheese danish wasn’t as tasty anymore. I wasn’t alone in my subversive approach. Their now removed youtube demo video was chalk full of commenters attempting to game the system.

Why GymPact Works

Game designers frequently study the delicate balance of reward/punishment systems. As do economists. As do sports psychologists. There is a human nature incentive system that makes GymPact’s concept a no brainer. But just as Game designers and economists tweak the system on an ongoing basis in order to balance the game, you may need to do a bit of your own rebalancing as well.

But don’t tweak it too much. Try that $5 to $.50 combination. The one step forward, ten steps back system will make you fight hard to take those tiny steps. I actually find it analogous to how our own bodies reacts to inconsistent or inefficient training.

GymPact claims to have a ninety-percent effective rate. This may or may not be an inflated marketing marker, but the fact that the app forces you to at the very least be at the gym, will more than likely make you, well, workout.

Why GymPact Doesn’t Work

After my cheese danish incident, I figured out an alternative way to game the system with thehelp of friends in low places. There’s no need to publish the hack, but the point is, the system is flawed in a manner that impacts the whole system. The successful payout pool effectively comes from a unsuccessful dinged pool.

I don’t want to imply that people’s first reaction will be to attempt to hack the system, but anyone who relies on monetary compensation as their primary reward for workout, will probably fall into that category. And this bring us to the most important flaw in the system.

Why do you workout? I immediately thought of Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk, How Great Leaders Inspire. Watch it later because it’s a rabbit hole of awesome. But the basic premise is that great people have success because the “Why” of their goal, overshadows the “What” and “How.” If you workout because you’re looking forward to the monetary payout, you WILL fail. Not might. You will. If you workout because you want to be healthy and happier, well now we’re getting somewhere.

Monetary payouts could act as a secondary motivational tool, but it shouldn’t be your primary drive, and thus, GymPact needs to be more than a payout machine to succeed.

So Should I Use GymPact?

Yes. It’s not a perfect system, but the social checkins help tremendously and RunKeeper integration is a huge update.All runs, (as well as walks and bike rides) that are tracked by RunKeeper’s GPS will count as a workout. That is as long as you do:

• Minimum ½ miles distance.
• Minimum of 30 minutes of activity in which your pace is above two miles per hour (but slower than driving!). If in doubt, an extra 5 minutes of walking, running, or biking never hurts.
• Maximum 3 hours long.

The app is currently free on iOS only but there’s an Android version coming soon. The cheese danish is sold separately.

The post Gympact Review- The Benefits and Pitfalls of Getting Paid to Workout appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

No pain, no gain. Right? I’d like to think most Breaking Muscle readers are already aware of the dangers of overtraining. There’s no better way to be completely counterproductive to one’s fitness goals, and knowing when to have a rest day is just as important as tracking your progress. Hell, progress and rest days are technically one in the same since rest is when your muscles rebuild. Yet despite the number of tools we have to scientifically track and measure how to workout, we still decide when to workout primarily with a calendar, completely unrelated to what our body is saying.

Your body, and more specifically, your heart, has a lot to say about your workout schedule. The ithlete ECG Receiver claims to accurately monitor and track you HRV (heart rate variability), in turn telling you exactly when it’s time to take a break or get back to the gym.

Drum Machines Have No Soul

(How Heart Rate Variability Tells Us if We’re Ready to Rock)

Drummers detest drum machines for various, often amusing reasons, but primarily because it’s steady beat is too “perfect.” Well it turns out, our hearts have a little soul. A healthy athlete with a resting pulse of 40 beats per minute is actually drumming at a variation of that oversimplified number, a variation that is now becoming easier to measure thanks to advances in technology. This perfect little imperfection gives us insight into critical information about the function of our autonomic nervous system. Information such as our current physical, chemical, and psychological condition.

Normal HRV values range from 50-100 – the higher the number, or the more variability, the better. When your variability drops, it means you could be overtrained. It should be noted this number is highly dependent on the individual, so you won’t find much value out of comparing numbers with others. Your baseline is your personal point of reference.

How Does the ithlete ECG Receiver Work?

In order to record your HRV, you’ll need to purchase and download the ithlete software onto your iOS or Android device. Plug the ithlete ECG Receiver into your device’s headphone port. Strap on a compatible 5.4 KHz analog standard pulse reading chest strap. Hit start while in the “Measure” tab and begin to breath deeply, keeping pace with the lung animation on screen. Do this every morning as you wake up, before you have coffee. After a few days, you’ll have yourself a baseline sample. (Note: there are no directions in the software or hardware in regards to exercise during these first days, so my advice is take it easy activity-wise so your baseline is actually a proper baseline.)

Once you have a baseline, the app begins to give you advice. A common HRV for a fit 40-50 year old male, for example, could land in the 82 range. If that range begins to drop significantly after a few days of working out, the ithlete software will indicate it’s time to take a break by a falling red line. If the falling line is amber, you might want to do a lighter workout that day. Once your HRV recovers to a variation closer to your baseline with a climbing blue or green line, it’s time to get back to work. You’ll also have a trending blue line that averages the day-to-day changes.

Pros

The overall accuracy of the chart is stunning. I’m not talking about the individual HRV values, since I don’t have any other device to confirm reading. I’m talking about the feeling of an overstressed body on days when my baseline value had dropped. I have, unfortunately, been victim to overtraining in the past and have a good sense of when it’s time to take time off. I attempted to overdo it for a week in order to see if I could move the needle down. FOR SCIENCE!!!

I typically left the receiver and chest strap on my nightstand so I would get in the habit of recording a daily reading. By far, the best part about the ECG is its price point relative to what it would cost to measure these values in a clinic. A complete kit will run you $100. And yet…

Cons

The price point is indeed relative. Relative to metrics I personally wouldn’t pay for in the first place. So to most athletes, this is an expensive software/hardware purchase that does one thing. Morning ECG measurements. The software and receiver do not (currently) act as a more common heart rate monitor.

The software interface doesn’t fall into the intuitive pool of iOS and Android apps. For example the first few days of recording your HRV don’t track any information. The software is actually in the process of collecting your baseline, but it doesn’t let you know. It took quite a bit of research to understand how to go about collecting HRV data. While learning how it feels to be overtrained could be a useful exercise for novice athletes, this device is just not user friendly enough for me to recommend it for that purpose.

By far, the biggest con to using HRV data to dictate workouts is the fact the HRV, as mentioned earlier, measures more than physical stress. It’s also capable of measuring physiological stress, among many other things, which could lower your HRV. Thus, in theory, your stress level can tell ECG you shouldn’t workout, when a good workout might just do you some good.

Final Thoughts

The ithlete ECG Receiver is a powerful little tool for advanced athletes. This niche information however feels a bit overpriced. The hardware price point is quite fair, but at $9.99 the software needs some help from an experienced user interface designer. My personal reservations about using HRV as a physical health indicator are pretty much nullified by the thousands of peer reviewed articles on the subject. I recommend the device to top tier athletes who have money to spare, otherwise I recommend holding off until we see future iterations of the software.

Reviewed Software Version

Android 2.0 on Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Product Info

ithlete Heart Rate Variability App – $9.99

ithlete ECG Receiver – $59.99

Chest Strap Monitor and ECG Receiver Combo – $94.99

The post Product Review: ithlete HRV Monitor appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Google Now is slowly becoming the core information hub for many Android phone users. It consists of a series of “cards” that give the user passive and active information pertinent to time and geo location. For example, at it’s most basic level, it’ll show you the day’s local weather forcast. At it’s most complex level, automatic traffic and navigation reports around your typical commute time, or UPS tracking info around delivery dates.

Google announced a few enhancements to the system last week, but they let us core users discover a neat new monthly review card on our own. Pedometer reports telling you how many miles you walked or biked. This new card is such a surprise easter egg, the “Learn More” link doesn’t even have info on it. Nor do the settings.

I took a look at some smart pedometers a while ago, but if Google, Apple, and Microsoft (Windows Phone 8) can consolidate all our “smart” function into a single device, forget about the silly status bracelets.

It stands to reason that you should keep your accelerometer and GPS equipped phone on you at all times for this feature to work properly. Not doing so will just anger Skynet that much more.

The post Google Is Keeping Count – Of Your Walking and Biking appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I’d like to think that I follow, and stick with, people and brands on Twitter who keep me positive, healthy, informed and passionate. I took a look at my Twitter stream a few months ago and found a whole lot of noise, negativity, and excuses. So I cleaned house and distilled the best of the best fitness accounts, compared notes with other coaches and athletes, and created the best damn fitness Twitter list you could possible ask for, broken up into eight categories.

You can subscribe to each account individually by clicking on their Twitter handle, or subscribe to the entire list here. Do you know of Twitter account that should have made the cut? Comment below!

CrossFit

1. The CrossFit Games – @CrossFitGames

The ultimate proving grounds of the fittest athletes on earth. Home Depot Center

File this one under, “duh”

2. CrossFit Journal – @crossfitjournal

The CrossFit Journal is the largest high-quality fitness and lifestyle resource on the net. It’s based strictly upon performance and results.

The color commentary to your athletic life.

3. CrossFit WOD Feed – @cfwod

A simple daily feed of the CFWOD. Will also be working on some new projects – so stay tuned!

For all of you CrossFitters who are home schooled.

4. Andy Petranek – @andypetranek

Owner of CrossFit Los Angeles

My first CrossFit coach and one of the first to “get” social media and the power of GIVING you valuable information. Is your coach on Twitter? Sound off in the comments below!

CrossFit Games 2012 Winners

5. Annie Thorisdottir – @IcelandAnnie

2012 CrossFit Games Individual Woman’s winner.

6. Julie Foucher – @Julie_Foucher

“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease” ~ Edison

2012 CrossFit Games Individual Woman’s runner up.

7. Rich Froning – @richfroning

2012 CrossFit Games Individual Men’s winner.

8. Matt Chan – @Matt1Chan

2012 CrossFit Games Individual Men’s runner up.

Yoga

9. Tara Stiles – @TaraStiles

wherever you go there you are.

A no BS approach to yoga and a Twitter conversationalist.

10. Daily Cup of Yoga – @DailyCupofYoga

tips, tools, and wisdom on yoga, books, and technology

A huge online influencer of all thing yoga, with a very personable approach to Twitter.

11. Rebecca Pacheco – @omgal

Creator, OmGal.com, Best Yoga & Fitness Blog, 2010 Intent.com web awards. Yoga teacher, writer, Boston Marathon finisher, sports lover & creative gal.

A yoga teacher, and seasoned blogger showing you how yoga is more than just poses.

Running

12. USATF – @USATrack_Field

Official twitter account of USA Track & Field. This is Katie Branham behind the tweets, working in our mkt/com dept. & tweeting about the sport I love!

USATF has been a source of awesome info throughout the Olympics, but don’t forget that they tweet year round!

13. Scott iRunnerBlog

Runner. Blogger. Co-Moderator of #runchat. Social Media and Sales professional. Mets fan. Giants fan. I get stuff done.

Scott lives and breathes running. You won’t be disappointed with his steady stream of knowledge.

14. Heather Gannoe – @runfastermommy

Runner. Triathlete. Mom on zone defense. ACSM Health Fitness Specialist. Adventurer. Dreamer. #FitFluential. Convinced exercise will save the world!

It’s difficult to pigeon hole Heather under the running category. She’s an all around athlete. But you can’t blame me with a twitter handle like that!

15. Ryan Hall – @ryanhall3

If we have thankful hearts we are untouchable.

THE legendary long distance runner and record smasher. His charming and info packed tweets constantly stand out.

Triathlon

16. USA Triathlon – @usatriathlon

USA Triathlon is proud to serve as the National Governing Body for triathlon – the fastest growing sport in the U.S. Olympic Movement.

Great info from the American governing body.

17. EverymanTri

news, views, and interviews of great endurance

The pulse of the Tri world in one Twitter stream.

18. Triathlon Week – @triathlonweek

Free Triathlon training community featuring triathlon forums, articles, race calendars and more. Join thousands of Triathletes, updated daily.

They don’t tweet as often as they should, but when they do, it’s always a great reminder to check into their community.

19. Terra Castro – @terracastro

Professional Triathlete, Elite Sports Massage Therapist, Wife of a Super Triathlon Coach, Fueled by my faith and family.

An intimate look into the mind, process, and training of a humble pro.

20. Lance Armstrong – @lancearmstrong

Father of 5 amazing kids, 7-time Tour de France winner, full time cancer fighter, part time triathlete – LIVESTRONG!

Great info from the legendary cyclist and triathlete. Even despite his recent USADA drama.

Swimming

21. USA Swimming – @USA_Swimming

The Official Twitter Page of USA Swimming

Another American governing body who knows a thing or two about social networking.

22. Cullen Jones – @Cullen_Jones

Olympic Gold Medalist (4×100 Freestyle Relay) American Record holder, World Champion, Philanthropist, Motivational speaker, Aspiring fashion designer

Cullen works hard, and plays hard. Expect a whole lot of personality out of this stream.

23. Jessica Hardy – @swimhardy

Team USA Olympic Medalist & World Record Swimmer, Motivational Speaker, Clinician, Model, Philanthropist. Always looking at life as glass half full!

Smart, funny, AND an olympian? She had me at “Gold Medal”

24. Masters Swimming – @MastersSwimming

U.S. Masters Swimming offers health, fitness, social and competitive opportunites through aquatics for anyone 18 and up.

I saved the best swimming twitter account for last. This stream has been my go to source of info, as I slowly but surely, learn to swim more effectively.

General Fitness

25. Lindsey Smith – @LinzBSmith

I trust God, love @web, and adore @alexisleesmith. Proud to be a member of Team Rogue, ambassador for Reebok, and Stronger Faster Healthier sponsored athlete.

Beautiful, strong and a sponsored athlete. Lindsey is living the dream.

26. Robert MacDonald – @BobbyMaximus

Is currently the GM and ‘Diversity Director’ of Gym Jones in Salt Lake City, Utah. Leader, Coach, Father, Fighter, Friend and AirDyne Aficionado.

Robert is going to out train you, pretty much every day. All you can do is attempt to keep up.

27. Concept2 – @concept2

Leading manufacturer of indoor rowers, racing oars, and the Concept2 SkiErg.

A brand that doesn’t abuse it’s followers with “BUY NOW!” messaging. They’re in it for the love of the sport.

28. Tim Ferriss – @tferriss

Author of #1 NY Times bestsellers, The 4-Hour Body and The 4-Hour Workweek, Japanophile, tea drinker, tango world record holder, language learning fanatic.

Mr. 4-hour body himself. Let Tim do crazy experiments with his own body so you don’t have to, then reap the benefits.

Fitness Apps

29. DailyBurn – @dailyburn

Personalized Fitness, Evolved. DailyBurn offers the BEST way to get fit. Access home-based video workouts from your phone, iPad, computer, and more!

One of the first and finest in the web 2.0 fitness world. Tim Ferriss, listed above, sits on the advisory board.

30. RunKeeper – @RunKeeper

Track, measure, and improve your fitness.

After 3 years of testing running gps apps, RunKeeper is still a keeper.

31. Skimble – @skimble

Skimble powers the mobile fitness movement with fun & dynamic coaching apps like Workout Trainer, a top free Health & Fitness app! Cofounders @marialy @vanrenen

The new kids on the block here in SF. I’m a fan of their free workout of the week tweets.

Bonus!

I can’t leave out some of the most knowledgeable writers I have ever met – our very own Breaking Muscle crew!

The Entire Breaking Muscle Staff – @BreakingMuscle

Breaking Muscle is a team of experienced professionals dedicated to providing fitness news and daily exercise programming. New articles & workouts every day! Subscribe to the Breaking Muscle Authors list here

The post 31 Twitter Accounts That Will Make You Stronger appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

So when the fitness and health analytics site Science Behind Sweat entered my radar, I wanted to look under the hood of the Durham, North Carolina startup RxAnalytics. Founder and CEO Deepak Gopalakrishna let me do just that.

The Scientists Behind the Science Behind Sweat

If you think the site is being run by opportunist with some coding experience, consider this: Deepak has a masters degree in biology, a doctorate in genetics and molecular biology, and has founded previous companies specializing in making chemotherapies safer, as well as understanding the etiology of schizophrenia. The site’s chief data scientist, Dan Samarov has a PhD in statistics.

Yep, I had to look up etiology, too.

If book smarts aren’t your cup of tea, both Deepak and Dan have been CrossFitting since 2005 and both competed in the 2010 Crossfit Games. Don’t worry, their gym cred checks out.

Deepak explained their inspiration for the analytics startup:

What drives my fitness and my performance is very different from what drives yours. Even though my partner Dan and I would do the same WOD [workout of the day], our responses were different , and we wanted to figure out why. So, being the science nerds that we are, we decided to build something that would answer this question for us.

Logging Workouts

So the two began building the site about a year and a half ago using traditional databasing techniques, as well as a whole lot of machine learning algorithms. Deepak explained that workout analysis works a lot like Netflix. On the movie streaming site a predictive analytics engine looks at what you’ve watched and what you’ve favorited in order to make smarter movie recommendations in the future. Said Deepak:

We can predict how you should perform on a workout, and if you don’t achieve that level of performance, or you deviant from that level of performance we can figure out why.

They do this by breaking complex movements down into muscle groups. If you were to break down a squat, you’re primarily targeting quadriceps. But you’re also getting assistance from the gluteus maximus, adductor magnus, soleus, and being stabilized by countless other muscles. If you log a few movements that also happen to include the adductor magnus, and you happen to be underperforming in workouts using said muscle, Science Behind Sweat will hone in on the now obvious deficiency and recommend you watch Breaking Bad season one on Netflix. You might also want to look into that adductor.

When it pinpoints inefficiencies, it shows you videos that improve pinpointed muscle groups or movements. Said Deepak, “One workout entered does more than just keep track of how many front squats you did, it has now populated a variety of metrics, and we can compare workouts you did yesterday to today, even though they’re not the same workout.”

Traditional workout logging compares your current workout time to the same workout time in the past. This may tell you whether or not you got better, but it won’t tell you why, and worse yet, it won’t answer why your time may have decreased. According to Deepak, “We take it a step further. We say, hey, this is why you’ve changed, and now you’ve learned from it and can incorporate behaviors in the future, in order to have positive outcomes.”

Who Benefits from Science Behind Sweat?

Deepak sees many parallels to his previous career in the health care system. Doctors are trained professionals who can make phenomenal educated guesses based on symptoms and tests. Experienced coaches can do the same kind of on the spot performance analysis, sourcing from their training and years of experience. But the breakdown occurs when the doctor or the trainer has to keep track of 100 people. That’s a whole lot of data to parse on your own.

Science Behind Sweat allows affiliates managers to create a gym account so they can enter that day’s workout. Members can then login with their own accounts and simply enter workout times. Coaches can then clearly see who’s responding to their programming, or more importantly, who isn’t responding. Coaches can even create groups based on member’s work capacity, muscle group deficiencies, age, height, and weight.

So does Science Behind Sweat only work if your affiliate as a whole signs up? Not necessarily.

There’s a push to get affiliates involved in order to get trained coaches to look at this data with the athlete, but that’s not to say that individual athletes can’t analyze the data themselves. CrossFitters are smart people. They’re adept enough to do self analysis and self measurement. As in-depth as the data can be, it’s simple enough for anyone to understand. The parallels to the health care system ring true again. How many times have you self diagnosed yourself before heading out to see your short attention span doctor?

The Future of Science Behind Sweat

RxAnalytics has polled it’s current user base and asked how they could improve the site. They’ve since added a larger movement database, and an improved user dashboard that clearly tells you whether you are “winning or losing.”

They also plan on setting up a Google circles-style grouping functionality where you can compare yourself to your own curated groups whether they’re elite athletes, affiliate members, friends, or enemies. Affiliates can see how they’re doing against other affiliates, all though anonymized information. You can even opt into private workout posts in order to keep other affiliate from aping your program.

OK, strap yourself in because this is the exciting part for you gadget geeks: Deepak tell me that the company is working on incorporating a biometric sensor into it’s data collection:

I’ve been testing a prototype for three months now. They’re earbuds connected to a bluetooth device which you can clip onto your collar. It’ll measure heat rate, body temperature, distance, and speed. It’ll even tell you if you’re doing a full squat or a half squat based on accelerometer data…One of the key components of fitness is, how steady can you keep your heart rate while you’re doing high level activity. If you can keep a low heart rate while crushing a two minute and thirty second Fran, then you’re probably pretty fit. We can measure you heart rate in real time to see what movement have the biggest effect on your heart rate, and body temperature.

Deepak sees this biosensor as an important component in rounding out self analysis. It become the third layer of understanding an individual’s performance:

• Layer One: How you eat, how you sleep, and how you feel on a daily basis
• Layer Two: How you’re performing in your workouts over time.
• Layer Three: The physiological data provided by the biosensor (Heartrate, body temperature, V02 max, etc.)

A fourth layer of long term heath care data would eventually factor in. That is, as soon as the health care systems get their technology poop in a scoop. They anticipate introducing the device in about six months assuming continued testing and manufacturing go as planned.

Android and iOS apps are in the works allowing you to log your workouts at the gym as soon as you’re done.

What Does it Cost?

Starting next week, the basic site membership which including workout analytics will run $20 a year. A beefed up analytics package which will dig deeper into your data and return insights and more complex analytics will run you $10 a month, or $100 a year.

When the biometric devices are ready to go, a third tier will be be available that includes the hardware for free. Deepak and crew are also working on affiliate level products, as well. You can keep up with all Science Behind Sweat development on their blog.

Sign up for Science Behind Sweat at https://sciencebehindsweat.wordpress.com/

You can view Breaking Bad on Netflix, but it still hasn’t improved my squats. Don’t worry, I’m submitting a bug report today.

The post The Science Behind the “Science Behind Sweat” appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

It may be my personal hang-up, but resolving my issue by making it a daily habit, will actually make me feel complete, even near perfect. Sure, I can also do this with mastering my muscle-up, running a sub thirty-minute 5k, logging my food everyday, cooking strictly paleo everyday, limiting time spent on Reddit to five minutes, learning all twelve major scales on the piano, calling my mom more often, and being the nicest, most charming, smartest version of me. But I want to start with my dark secret. I‘m pretty sure I’m the only person in the world that feels like I could be perfect if only I got into a daily habit of sorts, but nonetheless, l want to show you a couple of habit making and creating aids.

21habit – Website, $21/Free

My dark secret is fixable with a little attention everyday. It’ll be tough, but I just have to grin and bare it. 21habit is a website that works on the theory habits take 21 days to make or break. Wouldn’t it be cool if a gym paid YOU to workout. We would all be super-sculpted athletes and gyms would be bankrupt. Alas, we aren’t and they aren’t.

21habit almost works this way. You pay $21 in what they call “committed mode,” and you check in every day to let them know you either did (or didn’t) do a habit. If your day has been a success, you get a dollar back. If you failed that day’s resolution, that dollar gets donated to charity.

I was just a few days into successfully brushing off my dark secret, when I suddenly had questions. What if I just…cheat? It’s my money and I just didn’t have time to, say, do 100 sit-ups today. I’ll just do the sit-ups tomorrow and get my dollar back today. 21habit’s retort:

Yes, you can cheat (i.e. lie to yourself). 21habit works on the honor system. If you cheat to avoid forfeiting funds then you’re also cheating a worthwhile charity. Your choice.

Touché 21habit. You’re good at habit AND guilt manipulation. So I didn’t cheat and continued getting a dollar back here, losing a dollar there. Until the sting of losing a dollar faded, much like the sting of paying three dollars for a daily cup of coffee. Much like the sting of paying three hundred dollars in gym fees on January 1st, resolving to be perfect by the end of March, and slowly growing numb to a broken promise. I’m certain I’m the only person in the world who has done this, so you may not be familiar with the feeling.

$21 is the highest investment possible in 21habit and there are other sites that will accept higher money-where-your-mouth-is investments, but getting my own money back wasn’t working. Don’t get me wrong, 21habit is fantastic. The site is easy to use, works for a great cause (on multiple levels), and is currently working for me as a “swear” jar. Every time I say “um” on camera, charity gets a dollar. Charities, um…love me.

Way of Life – The Ultimate Habit Maker & Breaker – iOS, Free

So I took my dark secret mobile. Way of Life, an iOS mobile app by Lars Arendt was my last thread of hope. If positive reinforcement wasn’t going to cut it, perhaps push notifications and awesome graphs would.

Think of Way of Life as a specialized to-do list that asks if you’ve done predetermined habits on a daily basis via your phone’s push notifications system. It’s up to you to set up whether yes or no is a positive answer. Did you smoke a cigarette today? No? Good job, you get a green bar for the day. Did you go on your run this morning? No? Tsk, tsk, you get a red bar for the day. Did you do yoga today? Oh, it’s ok that you didn’t because it’s a once a week goal? You get a blue skip day option.

You also get a healthy dosage of trend lines, pie charts, note writing, and password protection. Perfect to hide my secret. Perfect for my perfection process, no matter how shameful my habits may be.

The benefits of the above apps rely almost entirely on how you approach your habits. I, personally, want to have control, I want a perfect body, I want a perfect soul. I’m pretty sure I’m the only one that feels this way, but boy, those would make great lyrics. Way of Life worked for me, because my phone is the perfect ubiquitous reminder, always in my pocket as opposed to 21habit’s web only interface. As a matter of fact, checking into 21habit became a habit in itself within the Way of Life app.

Way of Life’s only flaw is in the ability to create unlimited habits (with an in-app purchase). I found myself attempting to create an unattainable me. Even if I were able to sustain my stack of habits for a day, I’d most likely be an unlikable shell of the real me. Appreciating a flawed me is about as perfect as I can get. So I’m keeping it simple, one habit, with my dark secret.

My friends, I’ve been consistently flossing my teeth everyday for the past ten days. Yes, thank you, but please don’t tell my wife. I’ve led her to believe that I’m perfect.

21habit is available for either $21.00 or free at 21habit.com.

Way of Life is available on iOS for free.

The post How to Be Perfect: Tech Review of 2 Habit Tools appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Nerdy and OCD? Yes. Effective? I stayed within my $250 a week food budget and gained 15lbs of lean muscle mass with regular exercise, so… yes. Would I DIY a food database again? Absolutely not. Mobile and web apps today will help you track what you eat easily, effectively, and specifically to your dietary needs, without having to spend weeks building your own database. Here are three solutions to help you track what you eat without having to earn a computer science degree.

Calorie Tracker – Livestrong.com: Achieve Your Diet and Fitness Goals – iOS, $2.99

That’s the full name of Livestrong’s diet tracking application, but don’t judge it by its awful search engine optimization title. The app is actually one of the most satisfying food tracking experiences I’ve had.

The first thing you do is setup your profile, which includes your age, height, gender, activity level, and weight goals. I’m perfectly happy with my weight despite the BMI index calling me borderline obese, but don’t sweat that pesky index too much. At 5’8 and 33 years of age, and “Moderately Active”, Livestrong suggested I stick to 2205 calories a day.

Meals are divided into your traditional breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack categories. This isn’t ideal if you divide your meals into five to six blocks, as is more common amongst athletes, however you’ll find the snack category is flexible enough to act as a between meal bin.

As you log your meals throughout the day, the diary page will indicate how many calories are left to meet your daily goal. More importantly (to me), the progress nutrient tab will give you a pie chart indicating your current macronutrient ratio. I’m purposely omitting my ratio as to not confuse it for a recommendation. After all, we’re all pretty unique in our needs.

What makes the Livestrong app truly stand out from the competition is their dense database of existing foods with all major macronutrient information included. I have yet to encounter any situation where I had to enter a custom food item, due to the large Livestrong community adding items to the database everyday. This does, however, make for a few duplicate entries, and you have to lookout when adding food with glaring mistakes, such as a hard boiled egg supplying a whopping zero grams of protein.

Super Diet Genius – iOS, $3.99

One thing you learn quickly after a few weeks of tracking your meals, is that reporting your meals after you eat them often feels like putting the cart before the horse. You’ll eventually begin using the tracker more like a planner, building the day’s meal in order to stay within specific caloric or ratio needs. Once you’re in that mindset, your entrepreneur mind might kick in and think, “There should be an app that builds your meals based on your food preferences and goals.”

There’s an app for that.

Super Diet Genius works off the same profile setup Livestrong uses – current weight, goal weight, gender, height, age, and activity level. What Super Diet Genius brings to the table is a food preferences tab where you’re presented with a list of common proteins, carbs, fats, fruits, and veggies. Turn the tab off for any food you don’t want included in the meal plans. Paleo people, I’ll save you some time, turn off pretty much everything in the carbs tab, you’ll be covered in the fruits and veggies tabs.

Super Diet Genius will then automatically construct a simple meal plan that’s easy to follow. Don’t expect recipes and fancy dinners, this is a bare bones meal plan with an emphasis on whole foods. As you eat each item on the meal plan, you check them off, and are able to even add any additional fruits and veggies to any meal without affecting your weight goal.

My only critique of the app is that, just like the Livestrong app, it’s relying on the BMI index, which lumps large groups of people into the same meal plan. Check in after a week to see if you need to modify your proposed caloric expenditure. Don’t expect to have the app recalculate after you eat that slice of pizza either. You can’t enter food not already in the database, so the occasional moments of sin will completely throw off the day.

Tumblr – iOS/Android – Free

I’d like to offer a final, non-traditional alternative to meticulous food tracking apps. The idea behind food tracking, and dieting in general, is to learn how to eat. After a while, you get it. You’ve learned your lesson, see the errors or your nutritional ways, and become the proverbial “man that was taught to fish in order to eat for a lifetime.” Meticulous food tracking, just like meticulous diets, won’t last long. So I’ve turned to the free blogging service Tumblr to act as my weekly tune-up.

Before you begin to eat, simply open the Tumblr app, select a photo post, snap a picture of your meal, and hit publish. Done. This is your photo journal, so no need to write a post, the photo is there with a timestamp. At the end of the week, I look at my eating trends and adjust the next week accordingly, if needed. This is not a compelling blog, so don’t bother sharing this Tumblr stream with anyone. Food really isn’t pretty sometimes and even if you created beautiful still life before chowing down, nobody cares. This is YOUR nutritional journal.

What’s really interesting about this process is that it actually forces you to assemble your meal into a plated, sit down, experience and then have an almost grace-like moment before eating. It was also shocking to see how often a computer keyboard was in the photo. Photo logging has become the missing link in my nutritional education; slow down and enjoy your meal, Mr. OCD.

Calorie Tracker – Livestrong.com is available on iOS for $2.99

Super Diet Genius is available on iOS for $3.99

Tumblr is available on Android, iOS, Blackberry, and Windows Phone for Free

The post What’s In Your Mouth? 3 Food Tracking Apps for Rookies And Pros appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Which is why I was more than happy to put my dumb pedometer up against the new kids on the block: The Nike+ Fuelband and Fitbit Ultra. I argued, why would you buy an expensive smart pedometer if you were never interested in the data a cheaper mechanical pedometer provided? I smelled tech, in vogue consumerism. I imagined users in front of a mirror, practicing their perfectly posed device check while monologuing, “Who me? I just hit 3000 Nike fuel points” ala Robert Di Nero in Taxi Driver. They are the urban datasexuals I have tried to avoid becoming.

And yet, here I am now, surprised by the “winner” of my research, and even more surprised as to how I choose the winner.

The Devices

The Fitbit Ultra is October ’11’s upgrade to the original Fitbit device. It uses a three-dimensional accelerometer and altimeter to sense and record movement. It then uses that data to automatically give you a full report on the number of steps you’ve taken throughout the day, how far you’ve walked, number of calories burned (based on height and weight), how many flights of stairs you’ve climbed, and even how efficiently you slept.

A slick, barely there screen displays a simplified set of info, but the website is where the data really shines. Your Fitbit syncs wireless and automatically to your Mac or PC when you’re within fifteen feet of the base station, making for instant access to activity dashboard, accomplishment badges, and leaderboards in all their beautiful data visualization glory.

“Leaderboards?” you ask, “To motivate you like you wrote about in your last gamified apps article? Yes, leaderboards that turn out to be more important than you think. More on that in a sec.

The device clips onto your pocket or waist making for a much more subtle approach to data collection in comparison to the wrist worn Nike+ FuelBand, but beware of bumping the tiny clip out of your pocket as you reach for your pocket’s contents. I’ve already picked the Fitbit off the floor twice in the two weeks I’ve been using it. Die hard Fitbitters have found this to be a common way to lose their device.

The Nike+ FuelBand is the latest fashion accessory of choice amongst the San Francisco techies. I recommend sporting it with a spring time, light weight denim and a pastel colored, organic cotton t-shirt, but I’ve seen it pulled off successfully in a well fitted suit, as long as the cocktail in hand is whiskey based. No seriously, the band is really that cool. Just the LED presentation on the device itself makes the Fitbit feel like you’re wearing mom jeans.

If you want to check the data on your mobile device or desktop, you can use bluetooth or usb to sync. Ironically, the first FuelBand I ordered from Nike, was dead on arrival, plagued with USB firmware update issues, resurrecting Jawbone night terrors. That is, until Nike overnighted me a new one.

FuelBand does everything the Fitbit does, except analyze your sleep patterns. I’m completely fine with that as the Fitbit requires you to attach the device to a wrist band and start the “sleep timer.” My go-to-bed ceremonies don’t typically have space for lucid procedural steps like that, so sleep tracking has fallen to the wayside anyway.

The unique thing about the FuelBand however is that it relies heavily on an abstracted unit of activity measure it calls NikeFuel, as opposed to your step or calorie count. Fitbit also uses an abstracted system but their leaderboards are all about steps. These Fuel points are Nike’s algorithmic way of leveling the playing field and allowing people to compete against each other regardless of their activity of choice.

You laughed at my $17 mechanical pedometer, the Sportline 340. I laughed when you lost your $100 Fitbit. Oh snap. Need your steps counted? You’re covered. Need sleep tracking? You’re not looking for a pedometer, you’re looking an INACTIVITY monitor, you dirty hipster.

This was cynical, defensive me before clipping two additional smart devices onto myself. Here’s the only defense I can muster up now: Nobody I know with a Fitbit or Nike+ FuelBand would ever use a pedometer before the advent of personal smart accelerometers. This is a testament to marketing and the power of well designed data visualization.

Here’s the truth of the matter. The Sportline 340 is extremely inaccurate. A well known 5k (3.1 miles) course I run was accurately clocked by both the FuelBand and Fitbit (to within a 1/10 of a mile). My trusty Sportline was over a mile off (clocking the run as 1.94 miles or 4147 steps). A device that does one thing and one thing only, needs to be pretty damn good at it, and the Sportline 340, unfortunately, fails the only task it sets to accomplish.

If you want your dumb pedometer to truly work for you, you’ll have to step up to pricier models and at that point, you might as well toss in a few more dollars for the real “killer feature” of the FuelBand and Fitbit.

These aren’t smart pedometers. They’re social network powered motivators first, and pedometers second. The same way your smartphone is a mobile computer first and phone second. The smartest thing Nike did to promote the FuelBand, was setting up a pop up store in Austin, Texas at the South By Southwest Interactive conference this year. SXSW is where Twitter made it’s mark on early adopters back in 2007. All the SXSW attendees I know came home flashing their Nike LED scores at me. This gave the Nike+ FuelBand the social critical mass needed to edge over the Fitbit, because what I, and every single FuelBand user talks about, is who they beat that day on the leader boards.

And So The Winner Is…

Well that depends. Worst. Journalism. Ever. Right?

I’m the reviewer, the decider, three pedometers enter the arena, one emerges victor. The problem is the device is only as good as the social network on it.

The Fitbit Ultra is the superior device on it’s own. The battery lasts longer, the sleep data is fascinating, the mobile app is snappier, the website plays nice(r) with other fitness services, and the hidden from view hip clip design is much classier.

However, since most of my social network is using the Nike+ FuelBand, it has emerged as the de facto winner by being the device that motivated me the most to one up the competition, and therefore make me more active. Your friends, however, might lean toward the Fitbit Ultra and if that’s the case by all means, use that device.

If your friends lean toward the Sportline 340, awesome. Your data is inaccurate but you have successfully avoided becoming a datasexual.

Nike+ FuelBand is available for $149.00 at Nike.com/fuelband.

Fitbit is available for $99.95 at Fitbit.com.

Sportline 340 is available for $8.99.

The post Is Your Smart Pedometer Dumber Than My Dumb Pedometer? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

One of the recent trends in mobile applications has been the “gamification” of content, which means to literally add competitive or play mechanics and context to things such as: todo lists, health tracking, learning to make cocktails, and even reading a column.

Now I don’t know about you, but I hate to lose games, and I’ve learned to leverage this pride in all physical activity. The guy next to me burning through pull ups makes me kip faster in CrossFit. My 60-something, 90-pound jiu-jitsu instructor makes me improve my technique after she mops the floor with me. The 9-year-old boy ahead of me, running the 5k in loose-laced skater shoes makes my pace faster.

Which is why I’ve taken a liking to gamification in workout apps. If I don’t have anyone around to help harness my pride, I might as well leverage social networks or play against myself! So here are three awesome apps that are either gamified or good for gamifying your workouts.

Fleetly, Fleetly Corporation, Free

The free app Fleetly, accomplishes gamification by using a point system to help you achieve your goals. The app functions both as a workout logging system, as well as a coach if you need one. Now, another person’s goals may not necessarily be your goals. Olympic weightlifting, bodybuilding, tempo running, and a 400-yard swim sprint are all very unique activities with special logging needs. Many logging apps fail to meet diverse activity needs by fencing you into too narrow of a template. This is why until recently my logbook has always been a blank page moleskin. I guarantee, all of you multi-sporters are going to be pretty impressed with Fleetly’s attention to logging detail.

Fleetly offers a list of challenges to join such as 100 Workouts in 2012, 100-Mile Running Challenge, Six Pack 2012, 500 Miles (Bike), and more. The people tab allows you to check in on your fleetly friends activities and – here’s the pride part – monthly leaderboards! As you log your workouts Fleetly assigns a point value based on exertion. It turns out this 1-to-50 scale isn’t exactly arbitrary either. If you take your fitness score and multiply it by your body weight, you’ll have yourself a good indication of the calories burned that week.

It’s Fleetly’s simple competitive point value system that had me and my weekend warrior buddies hooked.

RunKeeper, FitnessKeeper Inc, Free

There are certain activities, such as running, cycling, hiking, and skiing, that have the benefit of being logged automatically based on time and GPS locations. RunKeeper is one of the first apps to utilize the iPhone’s GPS and network to accurately map outdoor runs (as well as cycling and even swimming with proper water proofing). If you upgrade to Elite, you can update an online map with your live, current location in order to let friends and family know exactly where you are. This was a godsend for my cheerleaders when I ran my first marathon last year. They even made a game out of having a margarita between every five miles I ran. I’m not sure who looked worse at the end of the run: me or my inebriated cheerleaders.

RunKeeper has privacy settings if you want to keep your live view limited to your “street team.” The app also includes challenges and coaching from professional athletes. These tips will run you $10 or, if you subscribe to their Elite service ($20/year or $5/month), they’ll only cost you $5. Want more detailed data? Attach a compatible heart rate monitor to hit your desired exertion zones.

There’s another big brand GPS running app out there from a company with a swooshy logo, but after months of testing, I found the coaching and run history a tad more reliable with RunKeeper. The best thing about RunKeeper? You can transfer data directly into Fleetly to keep all your logs consolidated!

Hundred PushUps, SoftwareX, $1.99

What better way to reflect the popularity of casual games than to get a little casual workout in. Pushups are a simple compound exercise you can do just about anywhere, and they’re a good reflection of general fitness. The goal of the Hundred PushUps app is to train you to successfully pull off 100 pushups in a row with no rest. Yep, 100. In a row. Like a boss.

When you first open the app you’re going to enter your baseline, an initial pushup test to properly place you into a training regimen. If you need a refresher on good form, 100 Pushups offers you an animation demonstrating a great planked body position, as well as a few other tips.

Once you’re placed into an appropriate training week, you’ll begin your daily pushups with a timed rest between each set. The specific rest time is going to assure these sets tap into endurance building, by limiting your ability to recover. As the weeks progress you’ll find yourself easily pumping out 30 in a row, 50 in a row, 80, and eventually, all 100 pushups without stopping to hug the floor for a spell.

When you’re done with each day’s set, you can share you performance over Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, Tumblr, even email and SMS. This makes for great “Beat That!” competitions amongst friends.

The range of gamification varies in all these apps. Fleetly is going to track your logs directly into a point system game, RunKeeper uses “everyone is watching you” live updating to motivate you into moving, and 100 Pushups acts as a friendly game of “lets see you top that.”

Some of you may not need to leverage pride to get the best out of your workouts. For those of you who do – game on, my friends.

The post Tech Review: 3 Apps to Gamify Your Workouts appeared first on Breaking Muscle.