Wednesday, February 6, 2013

First Attempt at Solo Strength Training (aka review of "iMuscle'" app)

So what's up with me and misleading titles lately?  This is absolutely not my FIRST solo attempt but rather first solo attempt in a long time. If you read the last post, you know that the trainer told me to get an iphone app to develop strength routines. I bought the following 4 (yes... 4... I'm indecisive)






And yes that's my super motivating ultrarunning desktop (no that's definitely not me running, just a nice picture that gets me out of bed in the morning...)

Right away I figured out that #1 (Fit Builder) costs money PER MONTH so skipping that one for now. Then, the 2nd two looked like they needed a bit of time to learn them and I didn't have that last night when I was planning my workout for this morning. So it led me to try #4 first  - 'iMuscle' which surprisingly is the one my trainer said he used (I thought it was something else- I was mistaken).

I'll try to make this as brief as possible;


Review - Setting up the Next Morning's Workout: 


First Screen is a 3D muscle man that you can turn by swiping your finger - pretty cool. When you click on a body part it zooms in and shows little 'pins' on each individual muscle that you can target - if you click an individual muscle part, it shows exercises that target that muscle....



I zoomed in on the Vastus Medalias since that's my "runners knee" muscle that I need to work or else I get the dreaded runners knee! Seriously, if I slack off for even 2 weeks the stupid knee starts to act up. Not surprisingly, a lot of the exercises they show are the same ones my physical therapist had me doing. I suppose this thing is pretty reliable. 


Next, once you pick an exercise it gives you a nifty little video showing how to do it (upper left pic up there is a screenshot of the video) and then it'll let you "add to workout" by clicking a button. Once you click that, it gives you options on reps/weight/sides/etc. You can also find out more about the primary and secondary muscles that are targeted with that exercise move, and find a detailed description of how to do it (see all above). Pretty neat, but no frills, easy to understand setup. I did NOT have to read any kind of manual here. 


Within 10 minutes I had set myself up a workout consisting of 13 exercises targeted my legs and core (I'll do upper body some other day :D). Pretty neat, easy to understand. 

The "Workout" Part

When you get to the gym, the actual "working out" part is pretty easy... remember the workout we set up earlier? 


The workout helps you keep track of what you need to do by showing the exercises (on the left) as either "to-be-done" or "done" or "active" (in red - see above). You can change the order of the exercises just like you'd change the layout of an iphone - by clicking and holding until they become moveable, and then dragging the exercise to the place you want it. 

Anyway, once you click on an exercise to actually perform it, you see this screen;


Pretty darn easy, just record your "actual" (note that what you set the workout up as will show as the default but you can change the weights/reps based on what you actual do). Afterward click "done" and that exercise becomes "done" in the workout list. Or.... you can skip the exercise ;-). 

Supposedly you can also click on "personal best" above and it'll somehow tell you if you beat your personal best. Obviously I haven't been using this long enough to see if that works but it seems like a pretty cool motivational tool. I know I'll always want to lift more/do more reps :D. 

Pretty neat!

Overall I like it. Not sure I'm going to move on to the others ones for a while until I get bored of this one. Which, knowing me will be in a month or so. 

Do you have a favorite fitness app? 



9 comments:

  1. Very cool. I like that it seems so easy to use. I may have to invest in this!

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    1. Thanks! I liked that too, and I like how "customized" you can get...

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  2. that's cool, but muscle man is kinda creeping me out!

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    1. Yeah just wait til you see him move! Super creepy

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  3. Thanks for this post, I may check this out. I am excited to hear what you think of some the others as well.

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    1. Will review those after I can use this one a few times :)

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  4. Nike Training Club is a great app (and free). It's different length routines based on different fitness levels and goals.

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    1. Nice! The only thing is though that I don't like "pre-set" routines, I like to be able to make my own routines, is the nike one pre-set or customizeable?

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  5. Going to check this out! Thanks :)

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