Tuesday, October 14, 2014

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The Fitness Games App Review

2014 has truly been the year of fitness for me. I got new PRs (personal records) in the 5K and half marathon distances and I completed my first marathon (Chicago! Post coming soon). My yoga practice has improved and, in general, my commitment to fitness has changed my whole outlook on life. Yoga has taught me how to live in the moment and running has taught me that, when times get tough, all I can do is keep moving forward by putting one foot in front of the other. 

With fitness on my mind, I jumped at the chance to review The Fitness Games, an app that aims at creating a social fitness community where you can connect with "workout partners" from around the world, share workout pictures and videos, and challenge your partners to workouts. I love the idea of this app as I'm one of those people who will randomly text people with "workout commands" of 10 squats or push-ups or other moves that can be done almost anywhere. 

The app has four categories: strength, cardiovascular, full body, and cross training. Within each category, there are workouts at the beginner, intermediate, and expert level. Once you select a workout, you can challenge yourself, a friend, nearby, or worldwide. You can also create a workout, which might be the coolest part of this app. In this part of the app you can select pre-existing exercises based on the body part and, for those exercises, there are pictures and video tutorials. Taking it a step further, you can create custom exercises and upload your own pictures and video tutorials. Other features of this app are the feed section, where you can see the pictures and workout summaries (similar to Instagram) of your workout partners, the workout tracker calendar, and rankings (couch potato, gym rat, athlete, and rookie to name a few).

What I didn't like about the app was that I didn't know how to use it at first in terms of finding workout partners and challenging them. That was honestly the only complaint I had about the app and, once I played around with the app some more and actually paid attention to the video tutorial all was good. I love the motivation and the way you can create your own workout. One of the biggest challenges of working out and sticking to that lifestyle is motivation and accountability and this app is looking to address those shortfalls by connecting you to others, allowing you to challenge yourself, awarding points for workouts, and giving you positive messages after each submitted workout.
I still have more toying around to do with the app as my review for it came at the peak of my marathon training and my brain was only registering running. The Fitness Games app has varying versions and you can buy workouts for $0.99.


This post was sponsored by The Fitness Games through my partnership with Fit Approach as a Sweat Pink Ambassador. I was not compensated monetarily, but was provided the Platinum Version of the application for review. As always, all opinions are my own.

For more on my approach to fitness follow me on Facebook and Instagram @thecookierunner 
Stephanie

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