Well, not really… But through the use of some very cool technology, her voice now coaches and encourages me through a huge variety of walking, and eventually running, workouts. And if you know me, you’ll know that nothing motivates me better than having a new toy to play with.
My treadmill is compatible with a device called iFit Live. I ordered it last week, and it arrived today. I signed up on the site and got the device configured, and now I can select from a huge variety of workouts, tours, and races. They’re uploaded automatically to the treadmill, I select the one I want, and go. I can even watch the scenery on my computer or TV as I walk, if I so choose.
Tonight, I started Level 1 of the Weight Loss program. Pretty easy stuff, but I can also adjust the difficulty of the workout if I so choose. This time around, I just stuck with the basic program, to get a feel for how the thing works. There are actually four of these programs – Weight Loss, Basic Walking, Fitness/Maintenance, and Performance. Each one has like 15 levels, each consisting of 24 different workouts.
The device works quite nicely with the treadmill, extending the number of programmed workouts pretty much infinitely, thanks to a feature that lets you map a route online anywhere in the world, upload to the treadmill, and take that walk – even including the passing scenery if you want, thanks to a nice integration with Google Maps. The website is pretty basic at this point – there is a fair bit of room for enhancements like better integration with the iFit workouts and the tracking tools and perhaps some social networking-type features like competing with friends and discussion forums. I like the calorie balance feature – it gives a graphic representation of how much is going in vs. how much you’re burning.
All in all, I’m pretty pleased with my purchase – I really think it will motivate me to be more active!
