iFit

Fitness programs for use with your home gear

By Stephen Schleicher

With the holiday season nearing its end it's time to get back in shape (thank you, holiday parties with all of your great, fattening food).  Your home treadmill has been sitting in the corner for some time, but it can find new life, thanks to the iFit system.

Let?s face it, exercise is not much fun.  The endless hours walking or biking in a stationary position gets boring after a while.  Some of the monotony is broken up if you have programmed routines on your machine, but even those get old quickly.  Personal trainers are expensive, and gym memberships defeat the purpose of having home fitness equipment.  This is where the iFit.com program comes in to play.

In order for the iFit system to work, you need to make sure your home gear is iFit-compliant.  All you need to do is look for the iFit logo on fitness equipment.  Currently the iFit system supports treadmills, bikes, elliptical, and incline trainers, which pretty much covers all the home training gear.  Certain models of ProForm, Reebok, NordicTrack, Image, and HealthRider will work with the iFit system.  The stores I visited, and online merchants I researched, all sold solid equipment that was iFit-compliant. 

iFit.com has many different training programs that range from light (level 1) all the way to marathon training programs.  The programs come in a variety of forms: CD, videotape, MP3, and online through your computer.  Each device connects to your iFit-compatible equipment via a common 1/8" audio cable.  You run the cable from the audio-out jack of your CD player, computer, MP3 player, or from the RCA port on your VCR (you need an adapter) to the audio in port on the home equipment.  What makes these programs different from the programmed workouts that come with your fitness gear is they include upbeat music, an encouraging voice trainer, and best of all, a workout designed specifically for you.  Encoded in the programmed workout is an audio signal that controls the pace or incline of your equipment. 

If music and a motivational speaker don?t do it for you, then the videotape and online programs might be right up your alley.  The videotape and online programs include images of a specific location to match your workout.  For example, one workout for the treadmill has you walking along the beaches of Hawaii, then as the incline increases, you find yourself walking through the foothills, until finally reaching the peak at Hanakapiai Falls.  As the workout winds down you end up back at the beach ? all of this in 30 minutes.  While it isn?t a true virtual reality system, it is a change of pace compared to staring at a blank wall.  Of all the delivery methods, I like the online workouts best because they offer a greater variety of programs and keeps things fresh.

Selecting your own workout is great, but if you really need a set workout routine, check out the eight-week training programs.  All you do is answer a few questions about your height, weight, age, injuries, and what type of change you want to go through (weight loss, endurance, strengthening, and so on), and iFit.com builds a program to meet your needs.  During the 8 weeks, there are very few workouts that are repeats.  For example, in my current eight-week bike program (four times a week), there are 20 different workouts with repeats thrown in at random.  Again, it doesn?t get boring.  The music is your typical canned instrumental rock, country, or world music.  You get to select your host from two men or three women, and each has their own unique delivery ? but all definitely have that motivational-speaker style.

There are some problems I have with the iFit program.  The first is in the encoded audio signal.  The ?chirp?, as I call it, only activates one of the controls.  For a treadmill it will automatically change the incline, but it is up to the user to change the speed when the host tells you to.  On the bike it will change the pace you need to peddle, but doesn?t change the resistance.  Not that big of a deal, as it allows the user to set the speed or resistance to meet his or her skill level. 

The MP3s and CD audio work great, but I did have a problem getting the equipment to change at the correct time.  A quick once-over revealed the answer ? the audio level needed to be turned up.  It was a bit loud to listen to the music with earbuds, but on speakers it was just right.

The biggest problem is found with the online programs.  You are probably not going to drag a desktop computer to your equipment, and you certainly are not going to move your heavy workout equipment to your home office.  That means the best option for using a computer with your iFit system is to use a wireless-equipped, networked laptop.  Even if you use a desktop, you need to pay special attention to your audio setup.  Due to the ?special? nature of the iFit programs, you can only use analog-out from your speaker jack.  If you have your audio card set to digital, it's a no-go.  My laptop only gives me the option of digital output, so I?m pretty much out of luck.  My wife?s laptop does have analog audio out, but it means I have to schedule my online workouts around her laptop down time.

The other problem with the online system is it requires the user to use Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player.  If you are on a Mac, you are out of luck, and it's also not going to work if you try to use an alternative Web browser like Firefox or Netscape.  I don?t know exactly how the audio signal is encoded to control the home equipment, but since it is an audible audio signal, I think the program could be encoded in Flash, QuickTime, or any file type that could be embedded in a Web page.

Even with these problems, I really like the iFit.com workout system.  I get a sense of accomplishment when I use it, it certainly isn?t a bore to exercise, plus it is healthy. 

All of this comes with a price tag.  Registration and a few online workouts are free, but prices for other packages range from $7.99 for MP3s, $12.99 for CDs, and all the way up to $9.99 a month for a one-year membership.  So, if you have home exercise equipment that supports the iFit system and you need a little motivation,  or if you're looking for a complete workout to get in shape for the spring, then iFit is for you.