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Comment by boredguy8 | Hacker News Reader

For what it's worth, I use Cardio Trainer for tracking + social sharing. Friends "cheer" me on via Facebook, and I can progress my workouts using a myriad of tools they have. It's unclear what this does beyond that.

For what it's worth, if there were an app that helped me know WTF to do when it comes to building muscle tone/size, I'd happily pay for that. To an averagely fit guy (5.5 miles in 60 minutes or so, 2-3 times a week), the weights side of thing is infinitely more complex than the cardio side of things (which amounts to "keep your heart rate within this range for a long time").

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I'm a similar type chap (running, biking, squash) but the weight side isn't too complex once you realise that a lot of the books over complicate things for the sake of getting the book published and the magazines regurgitate the same stuff on an annual basis.

Stick to the good old 3 sets of 8 reps 2 - 3 times a week and give each muscle group a 7 day rest. No more than 6 exercises per session (keep it under 1 hour)

If you just want to do one weights session a week stick to dead lifts, chest press, squats, overhead press and pull ups and you'll see improvements. Dan Shipper wrote a decent article on this recently, just keep it simple and build it up slow and don't worry about all the complex sounding regimes.

Where you should take advice is on how to do the movements but that's what the gym attendants are for ... and if you already have a membership then 5 minutes of their time a few times a week comes for free

Some possibilites to address this in the app could be:

- provide videos of workouts that users can look at.

- users can probably take videos of their workouts, post privately to youtube and maybe have an online trainer look at them?

- Have a 15 min webcam session with the trainer where the trainer looks at your technique and provides feedback.

- Have a trainer look at your weekly logs and provide direction.

All these could potentially be done with the app, some experienced trainers, and a small fee. Thoughts?

With respect, you're over simplifying it. Achieving and maintaining good proportions (the usual goal of those starting out) is going to take more than Olympic lifts + pullups. Similarly 3x8 on one muscle group once a week isn't a catch all; it's my opinion that a work out should tailor to your ability and goals.

That's before we even get into diet. Planning exercise without diet (or vice versa) is a recipe for no progress.

I can empathize with you. I run, walk and play racket sports, but for me and a lot of my friends, weights are kinda scary.

Since the dynamics of weightlifting are infinitely more complex(you need to do it right to not hurt yourself, you need to push yourself a certain amount etc), trainers are probably a better option than an algorithm.

One of the ideas we are considering is building a feature in the app that lets you hire an online trainer for say x dollars a month who'd guide you and oversee your progress. It'd obviously be much cheaper than hiring a trainer in the gym by an hour. Would such an option appeal to you?

Durga

>For what it's worth, if there were an app that helped me know WTF to do when it comes to building muscle tone/size

I'm working on an app to tackle this problem right now; I've just started development though.

If you get the time I'd love to hear what features you'd like to see in an app like this. You can respond here or my email is in my profile :-)

I guess this app so far cover the need for average folks like me who needs motivation to keep average health! For the kind of limited consumers who wants to build muscles, it has to be purely paid model as the market size is limited.

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