iFitness - Review

By: Hooman Zohoor Version # : 1.01 Date Released: 09/16/2008 Type: Healthcare  Price: $2.99 Our Rating User Rating: Average: Select ratingPoorOkayGoodGreatAwesome Your rating: None Average: 3.8 (46 votes)   Get App From App Store

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been trying to use iPhone/iPod Touch apps to get in better shape.  Imagine my surprise when the iFitness application from Medical Productions became available for $1.99, which is one to two dollars cheaper than most of its competition.  At that price, I had to try the application out and was pretty impressed with the result.

Basically, the application is a database of exercises for certain parts of the body, and that database is huge.  I’ve never seen so many exercises described in one place.  Whether it is abdominals, arms, back, chest, legs or shoulders, iFitness has a section to which you can navigate that would show you exercises that buff up that body part.  For the more anatomically erudite, they even provide a list of scientific names for the muscles that one would be exercising.  You can also add your own custom exercises, like smoking and eating pizza (obviously, not everyone has the same idea of a healthy lifestyle.  Seriously, there is only so much a computer program can do).

When an exercise is selected, it is shown as a series of pictures of a person doing the exercises (as opposed to a cartoon or computer animation which I have felt was like instructional cheating).  The previous app I worked with also showed videos, but a wireless or data connection was necessary to watch them (not to mention that watching them is somewhat intrusive in ones exercise regime).  iFitness has a more complete and compact style.  It’s a bit like having an instruction manual at the gym.  If further explanation of a particular exercise is necessary, one only has to tap the double-quotes in the top right corner to get a detailed text description of the exercise.

The program does come with a log and the ability to create custom workouts.  You can even access the log from an icon on the top right to immediate track your workout (although I find it unlikely that someone would interrupt the flow of a workout to take notes).  On the “Logs” tab at the bottom, you can view running list of your completed exercises from previous days or weeks of exercise, so you can calculate how much you’ve been slacking off and use it as incentive.
Finally, there is my favorite section of the application: the routine listings.  In this section, iFitness recommends a certain set of exercises depending on your goal.  The program options are beginner, abdominal defining, weight loss, muscle building, strength building, complete body workout and business travel workout.  As mentioned, you can even create a custom workout that contains any variation of the available ones.

iFitness bills itself as the #1 application worldwide for keeping fit and it’s not hard to see why.  From the volume and breadth of the available exercise descriptions to the ease of use, it could actually serve as a useful tool without actually getting in the way of actual exercise (provided you’re not annoyed by stopping and punching some numbers into the log like I am).  Recommended.