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GAIN Fitness (for iPhone)

The iPhone app GAIN Fitness acts as a total workout buddy, coaching you through a fully customized exercise routine as often (or seldom) as you want.

August 29, 2012

I'm a fan of using mobile apps for health and fitness because of the nature of the smartphone, the fact that it's never out of reach, eliminating many excuses to not diligently keep an eye on your own well being. Whether you're counting calories or tracking changes in your blood pressure, having the tools and resources you need at your fingertips is invaluable. A new iPhone app, called GAIN Fitness (free to download; exercise packs from $2.99), powers your workouts with portability, and is an Editors' Choice among health and fitness apps. GAIN Fitness is like a workout buddy, coaching you through an entire exercise regimen. Excellent options in the app let it remind you to work out and even customize the exercises you can do while on the go, at home, or at the gym. 

If time or circumstances prevent you from completing a thorough workout, the app offers a shorter and lighter "plan B" routine, on the premise that some exercise is better than no exercise. Workouts can take as little as five minutes or up to 90 minutes.

Because GAIN Fitness guides you through a workout, it's unlike some other popular fitness apps, such as MapMyRun or because it tells you what to do rather than measures what you are doing. Even the sophisticated app, which connects with a heart rate strap to measure your body's response to activity, relies on you picking the activity. Some of these other apps have coaching features, which tell you when to run faster or slower, for example, but they aren't focused on circuit training, yoga, or other mixed exercise activities, the way GAIN is. I recently saw a preview of an as-yet unreleased app called Vitness Rx, which is similar to GAIN in its training approach, but adds heart rate data to further guide the intensity of your workout, based on your daily stress level, fatigue, and overall heart health.

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GAIN Fitness comes preinstalled with some exercises that cover the entire body, but more are available as in-app purchases from $2.99. These add-ons can get expensive, as there are many that focus on specific areas of the body or are branded with a fitness personality, for example, Pattie Stafford's Butterfly Yoga ($6.99) and Nate Miyaki's The Road Warrior ($5.99). The included exercises with the free app, however, are comprehensive and should keep new users busy and not at all bored for several weeks at least.

During setup, you can select goals, such as how many days per week you want to work out, and whether you're exercising for health, fat loss, or muscle gain. You devise a series of workouts based on your needs, so you can have a 10-minute workout for when you're on the go, a 35-minute routine for when you're home, and a 60-minute session for the gym.

As you customize your various routines, the app provides a wealth of options, such as selection boxes where you can indicate what equipment you have on hand, such as kettle bells, pull-up bar, a or just a sturdy table and a door frame. You can also customize which parts of the body you want to work out, include or exclude warm-ups and cool downs, and set alarms and alerts to remind you to do your routines on the days you specify.

When you're ready to work out, the app shows you an overview of all the exercises you'll complete, in order. Start the workout, and the app will then walk you through each activity, showing proper form, outlining how many sets and reps you should complete, and showing a countdown clock that times the active session as well as rests between activities and reps. The app has ample audio cues and audible explanations, so you don't have to stare at the screen while you workout. I also liked that GAIN gives you the option to skip any exercise in your routine, which is important if you feel strained or have an injury that prevents you from stressing certain parts of the body. At the end of the routine, GAIN will ask if you want to now complete any exercises you skipped, in case you passed them over just because you were tired at the time. All these options really help keep the routines highly personalized.

GAIN Fitness for iPhone packs a wealth of features and options into a great app that can help you workout every day, if that's your aim, or when you have a few free minutes here and there. The included exercises cover the entire body and are enough to keep new users busy and satisfied for a while, but paid add-ons are available, too.

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