It was love at first workout. Recommended in early December by my colleague and friend, Eddie, Fitstar got to me so fast, it's growing to be part of my daily commute. It's the Fitness App I was looking for - it motivates you and keeps you coming back on a regular basis; also I have a weakness for Gamified systems. It was not easy to declare this my app of the year (trust me - I use all three major mobile operating systems: Android, WindowsPhone and iOS), but the way they integrated the video playback features with the workout lists makes this a true companion to your healthy life.
What's Fitstar?
Fitstar it's a free app (available for iPhone/iPad - I tested it with my iPod Touch) dedicated to make you take care of yourself and your fitness habits and from where I'm standing... it succeeds; since I've started to use it, I am trying to dedicate 7 minutes in the morning and 7 in the evening doing exercises that don't require special gym equipment or a fitness coach near you. It's hard, but not impossible. The funny thing is that Fitstar even manages to make me feel bad for skipping a workout.
The core of this app is the set of workout programs available based on your input (age, height, weight) that are designed to freshen you up and escape you from your own couch potatoing.
Each workout motivates and rewards you with a set of badges or recently with more real benefits such as Amazon MP3s - so keep those muscles flexing. Also, you can team up or compete with a friend, so you can show your progress even when the other is slacking off.
Smart use of video
The videos are the pièce de résistance that convince you to try this app. They are well crafted and presented in High Definition, so that you feel like someone is actually coaching you while you work. Tony Gonzalez's voice guides you all the way giving you tips and info about your body at the precise moment (you start saying to yourself: Yes! I do feel my legs trembling and my back supporting the weight - My God, He is right!)
You can choose to pause, rewind or skip the exercises, but it's most important to be honest with yourself, especially when rating the workout (if it was too easy, ok or hard). Based on your feedback the app gives you recommendations so marking all of them easy just to impress doesn't help you much. I must admit the introductions to each videos get boring after you learn them by your own, but that doesn't make you stop the workout.
Free is not enough
The amount of free workouts can keep you going, but not that long. My plan is to keep it as close as I can get with the freestyle sessions (kudos again to the 7 minute workout); I'm interested in going premium, but not now. I've started a lot of things in the past and never ended them and with Fitstar, I want to take it slow to see if it is worth it.
Fitstar Premium contains:
- Unlimited access to all our Sessions
- HD video instruction
- Nutritional guidance emails
- Priority email support
- Exclusive Programs and unlocked Freestyle Session access
The website
The Fitstar website does a great job introducing you to the app and nothing more. It follows the current trends and practices of a presentation site: parallax effects, large professional images with blurred effects from time to time, lightweight fonts to go along with the overall look-and-feel. The blog is a nice asset to keep in touch with any updates.
Conclusions
I truly recommend this app for everyone who seeks a quick and motivational workout. It doesn't replace the gym, but it sure does a great job keeping you fit, especially now, during the Holidays, when temptation is at every corner.