Need a Workout? There's an App for That

It's been an expensive year. Between restocking freezers after each power outage and having to remodel basements due to flooding, most area residents don't have a lot of spare cash lying around. Add to that the financial woes brought on by the Dow [stock indices] bucking like a bronco, and it's safe to say everyone's on a budget.

So, in this spirit of frugality, I decided to check out some online exercise options. Don't get me wrong, I value working with a personal trainer. But for everyday toning, I knew there had to be some easy-to-use free or inexpensive web-based programs.

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However, I also know that working without professional supervision can lead to injuries if the exercises aren't done correctly. Therefore, I decided to search for some basic, run-of-the-mill workouts that weren't too complex.

There are a lot of exercise-related websites out there, some offering programs for no charge, some requiring a subscription for a modest price, and all more economical than going to a one-on-one fitness studio.

But what are the drawbacks to web-based routines? First of all, I discovered that it's easy to spend more time searching for workouts than actually doing them. I surfed for hours through dozens of web pages, and yet the only exercise I got was from moving my fingers over the keyboard.

On top of that, some websites didn't look very trustworthy. How could I be sure I wasn't stumbling onto a fake, malicious site?

After searching the web for days to no avail, I decided to find a program the old-fashioned way: based on recommendations from friends.

I surfed on over to hundredpushups.com, a site that several people I know on Twitter and Facebook have used. The goal, as the name suggests, is to work your way up, over the course of six weeks, to being able to do 100 consecutive push-ups.

I needed to build upper body strength, the site was free, and push-ups don't require professional assistance or special equipment. It seemed to be the perfect program to try out.

First, of course, the procrastinator in me decided I should spend a little time browsing around the website. I learned that the program has grown to far more than just push-ups; they now offer plans for sit-ups, squats, dips and pullups. I decided I'd do push-ups, sit-ups and squats--all easy, basic exercises that require no special equipment.

The problem, of course, was getting started. The first day of the program called for doing an Exhaustion Test to see how many push-ups, sit-ups and squats I was capable of doing as a baseline measure. I decided to wait for a “good day” to do the test. That day never seemed to come.

And so I learned about another drawback to online exercise programs: It's easy to skip workouts. No more calling the personal trainer to make up some lame excuse about the car not starting. No more arriving late to an exercise class, hoping it would already be full. All I had to do was simply not go anywhere near the hundredpushups.com site, and exercise avoidance was a done deal.

It was so easy to skip, in fact, that I began to wonder if I'd ever start.

But then I saw they had an iPhone app. Turns out, it was just the trick I needed. Having an app made the workout into a sort of game. While everyone else in my family was busy with Angry Birds on their phones, I could be busy with squats, sit-ups and push-ups on mine.

Granted, the apps weren't free. However, I figured it was better to pay $1.99 per app than to spend nothing, but likewise do nothing. Thanks to the apps, I finally did the Exhaustion Test for each exercise. Based on those results, my three-times-a-week workouts were formulated for me.

The app tells me how many reps to do and how long to rest in between. It keeps track of my completed workouts, and I can look ahead to see what's coming next week. The app even has a reminder alarm, making it that much harder to skip a day.

I am pleased to say I'm on my third week and have yet to miss a workout. I tried telling the app that I had to skip because my car wouldn't start, but there wasn't a “log your excuse here” section.

Will I stick with it? I'll check back in a few weeks. In the meantime, if I could just find an app to help me stop snacking at night, I'd be all set.

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