Tell me what you really think about Maintain Fit
Hey,
I’ve noticed that the response to the current MP3 giveaway on Maintain Fit has been less than what I expected. I’ll be honest that I’m a bit disappointed. I think that there’s a lot I could do to help you get what you want out of fitness.
I love exercise, but I’m an average guy, just like you, and I didn’t always enjoy it. I didn’t run track in high school. I wasn’t way into sports. In fact, I was 23 before I ever ran more than one mile at one time. When I finally did run more than a mile, I remember thinking that I would never do it again. But then something happened that changed my life. That’s right, the first run didn’t change my life, but finding a running partner did. I started running with my cousin a few times a week and my life absolutely changed!
That’s about the time that I built Maintain Fit. My grand idea was to build an online community where everyone could find that sense of obligation to show up and exercise (I don’t mean to say that everyone should be a runner, maybe you walk, jog, hike, bike, whatever). I also loved being able to see how much I accomplished.
With the current campaign for free MP3 workouts, I thought I wanted to build a sense of community. I also wanted to get feedback from you about what that community should become. Maybe I was a little too presumptuous. Since I’ve started the campaign, I feel like I need to finish it and there are a couple more weeks to go, but I’ll interject a little personal note here.
If you have an idea about what would take Maintain Fit over the top, send me an e-mail right now. I’ve been sharing my story with you, but I would love to hear yours. I have a lot of ideas to bring to you, but before I do, I need your input.
If you want to post a reply for everyone to see there, go ahead and leave a comment here. Help me know where to take the conversation next.
And a big thank you to you for having the motivation and interest in the first place to find Maintain Fit and join.
best regards,
Daniel
P.S. I’ve been building web applications on the internet for over 7 years. During that time I’ve built websites like intel.com, proform.com, zionsbank.com, and many more. I’ve even written internal software and intranet applications for companies like Novell and tons of small to medium businesses. The chances are pretty good that whatever idea you have that would be great for Maintain Fit is something that I could accomplish with ease. Give me a try.
P.P.S. If there is something that you think would be really motivating to you and help you live a more healthy lifestyle, tell me about it. I might be able to point you in the right direction. I may even want to know about it myself.
Thanks for your time, now post a comment and tell me what you want Maintain Fit to become next.
March 30th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
so far this site has been useless! I just want an online workout log, That is simple to use. why would anyone want to use an avatar? I just want a logbook!
March 31st, 2008 at 10:23 am
Mitch,
What is it that you want to do that Maintain Fit doesn’t provide. If you have some examples I might be able to show you how to do it or work it in to a future update.
Also keep in mind that you don’t need to use the forum (or post an avatar) in order to use the fitness/exercise log. Drop me a line if you don’t understand how to use the log.
Daniel
March 31st, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Daniel,
I am a new visitor to your site, whose opinion probably doesn’t have much sway nor relation to your concern. However, since you are asking for opinions from those visitors to your site, I figured I might throw it on the pile, for what it is worth.
Judging by the quality of the site, I highly doubt that the lack of participation is due to any shortcomings of your ability as a web programmer. Being a software engineer myself, I should know. I like what I have seen of the site. Rather, my guess is that the answer is human nature.
I have joined several online organizations similar to this, such as SparkPeople, Government-funded health sites, and others whose names elude me. It would usually begin with a desire to get in shape, and somewhere in that process I stumble upon a site, similar to this one.
With my wife I would keep faithful logs of my performance, and would be interested in the graphs and the performance scales, and would be motivated to do more exercise. However, once the novelty had gone, and schedules got busier, I slowly stopped. I suppose it was because I felt no obligation to continue with the site, and other things such as work and school became more of a priority. I still exercised (I admit more sporadically), but I did so without the help of the online monitoring tool.
Being a member of an online fitness site is obligation free, unless there is payment or a social pressure from other members. If there is no pressure or obligation, then once schedules complicate life, the visit to an Internet site becomes a low priority. The question is then how to help people feel obligated to come and enter their statistics here at your site.
Here are a few suggestions, from the point of view of someone who has had problems sticking with a fitness site in the past.
1) If people opt-in they can purchase the time of an online trainer, who will email them regularly, or communicate via the site exercise schedules, fitness options, etc.
2) Pair members up (via the Internet), if they opt-in, who do similar exercise. Offer promotions to the most active pairs, in terms of single performance and/or group communication.
Anyhow, you may already do some of these things, but I figured I would send you my ideas anyhow.
Keep up with the good work, and thank you for your hard work into this project.
Sincerely yours,
Brian Sanderson
April 1st, 2008 at 11:22 am
Brian,
Thanks for the comments. I agree with you on most points and I’ll keep trying to build that sense of community.
Daniel
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Daniel,
Like Brian, this is my first time at your site.
Unlike Brian, I have NO experience with web programming, however I agree that based upon my first look at the site, your design won’t be a problem.
I wish I could put something like this together.
Regarding content (keep in mind, I have just started playing with the site), I have a few suggestions.
In the weight log, you could add trackers for bodyfat (see tanita scales) and body measurements. BMI is a very discouraging tool for most people see http://dietsexplained.wordpress.com/2008/04/11/bmi-effectiveness-questioned/
In the lifting section, you could track time under tension, length of time per set, per workout (see Charles Staley - EDT), include a greater selection of exercises to choose, perhaps links to exercise videos/mp3s
All cardio exercises could include HIIT training (see http://fitnessmadesimple.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/energy-system-fitness/ )
Food could include a protein gm tracker, links to diet summaries http://dietsexplained.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/the-100-mile-diet/
I am going to work with the site over the next few days. I would definitely consider using your site to track my clients. I currently use my own spreadsheet & print out a report every 20 workouts or so, but this would be great if both myself & my client could look at their charts. They could enter their weight & I could enter the results of their workouts
Anyway,
Good luck & much respect