Feel the burn, the iPhone-way

Not to disclose too much personal information, but I have a body built for journalism, which is a polite way of saying the folks from Muscle & Fitness won’t be asking me to grace their cover anytime soon (well, unless they need a good “before” shot…). And I’ve been meaning to get to the gym, honestly I have, just as soon as I finish this last crueller.

The folks at PumpOne, however, have had it with my pitiful excuses. The maker of video workouts for mobile devices announced Monday that they’ve developed Pump10, a Web site specifically for the iPhone (well, and the iPod touch, too, obviously) where you can find a free, weekly workout video.

I roused myself from my comfortable chair to give this week’s video a try. It downloads much like a YouTube clip, and when you press the play arrow on your touchscreen, the chipper voice of a trainer comes on to walk you through the workout. You’re then treated to a quick demonstration of the exercise at hand — squats, say — and then the trainer invites you to press pause while you do three reps of your own. Then it’s on to the next exercise. (There was a total of three exercises on the video I watched.)

From my brief trial, there are some limitations to using the iPhone as a workout assistant. First, you’ll need a place to prop up or at least set down the iPhone, so that you can have both hands free for the workout. Second, pausing the video so that you can do the recommended reps can be a hassle, especially if you’ve set your iPhone to go to sleep after one or two minutes of inactivity. All that mid-exercise interface with the touch screen will probably require a toweling off for your iPhone’s screen as well as your exercise equipment. Besides, one of the things that I enjoy when I can be bothered to work out is doing so to the music of my choice — you can’t do that with Pump10.

Still, it’s tough to beat free. And if a little visual cue is what motivates you to get in some exercise each day, then it might be worth a visit to Pump10 on your iPhone’s browser. (PumpOne offers lengthier, downloadable workout videos for all of Apple’s mobile devices as well.)

Category: Software

Posted by Philip Michaels on Jan 14 2008, 7:43 PM ET

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iPhone illustration by Joe Zeff Design Inc. // Design by Jason Brightman