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Comment by Orelus | Hacker News Reader

I do calisthenics 3×/week plus Ironman 70.3 prep, which means my training lives across Garmin, Polar, Withings + FIT files and front-lever sessions that no mainstream app models. So I built one that does both (and have been using for the past 4 years+): logs custom strength moves (front lever, FLAC, ¾ pull-ups), aggregates the connected devices (Polar, Garmin, Suunto, Withings, Apple Health) into one weekly view. Currently trying to see if can integrate some AI insights to my training routines. App is free for now as it does not cost me much (only servers for now), comment / use cases welcome: https://obitrain.com/

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I had my problem in the calisthenic app space as well. Rowing, cycling, biking, calisthenics. Each sport has such specifics I wish there was an open standard on the data for better interop.

Which platform have you found is most hackable? I have Garmin atm and like it but there’s no easy way to pipe my data into my agent or server for offline analysis.

I’ve only really had trouble integrating Withings.

Working with Apple was also challenging because I had to purchase an Apple Watch or iPhone (the data is stored locally only, with no server or API to call, which is great from a privacy perspective) and then deploy specific code on the device.

I’m not sure if this helps your use case, but I was planning to make the API public and create a CLI (similar to Sentry or Grafana’s gcx) to access it. But if you want a local first option, not the best solution

working in adjacent space for tracking more visual sports http://ballers.gg

Why so many different devices? (Assuming this is the only reason there could be this much sprawl)

Device based strength tracking is still so weird to me.

Have you seen that meme template, where the midwit wants to use a thousand complicated things to optimize their experience, but the grug and the genius both keep it simple?

I think this is a perfect example... somewhere out there a genius and a grug are happily exercising together for the simple joy of doing so and feeling good in their bodies, and nearby is a midwit with the GDP of a small village worth of wearable electronics wondering where the joy has gone as he laments the 0.1% of VO2MAX he's dropped since his last gadget-run.

I haven’t trained for an Ironman but have for a marathon. I do think some metric oriented work is helpful! But I laughed at your post. Happy to see both sides.

In this case it might not be as complicated as it seems, they might be using a Polar device for workout tracking, Suunto for marathon training/hiking, a Garmin as daily watch (payments, music etc). Add to that a Withings scale and an iPhone, and you're dealing with a melting pot of apps.

Yeah that's exactly that: - Polar watch + Verity Sense for workouts / running - Garmin pedals / monitor for cycling - Withings for the scale And I had to integrate .fit file upload for Zwift / Trainerroad trainings.

Turns out you actually don't even need shoes

I'm a Polar fan, but unfortunately for cycling it's missing devices like the pedals power meter. Withings, only the scale with body measurements.

Then you have friends and family that don't have the same devices than you and are nice enough to want / try your app.

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