fitness Archive

We initially covered Fitbit when they provided a look at their technology last month. The Fitbit Tracker looks like a large paperclip and tracks a variety of physical activities as you move around with the device attached to your clothing. Today the company is announcing they have raised $2 million in venture capital funding.

Fitbit notes that True Ventures led the funding round with additional investment by Jeff Clavier’s SoftTech VC and a group of angel investors. As part of the funding round, Jon Callaghan from True Ventures joined Fitbit’s board of directors. Fitbit previously raised $425,000 in angel funding.

The company plans to use the funding to push towards a launch in early 2009. The Fitbit Tracker will retail for $99 and you can pre-order one now. I wish they made it work with wifi; currently you are required to go "home" with the device for it to update itself. Otherwise it’s a device I would be interested in because it could just open my eyes to exactly what I am doing wrong. Maybe they could offer a 2.0 version that includes a stunner – eat the donut, get zapped, walk too few steps, get zapped. I’d also like to see them partner with other fitness services including Traineo so that data can be exported to the customer’s fitness site of choice.

Here’s what the Fitbit device looks like:

iTrainHarder is a pretty robust site in the areas of nutrition/fitness tracking and planning. The site iTrainHarder defines themselves as:

iTrainHarder is an online nutrition and fitness tracking and planning system that allows you to see your results as well as plan for new ones. Our software will allow you to track your progress using the most advanced web tools available for personal fitness.

When I decided to add iTrainHarder to the Web Apps Fat-Off, I spent some time with the tool. Overall I think it really has a great depth to it.

One of the best parts of iTrainHarder is that every feature has a tutorial video. I am sure that these videos took a bit of time to create and they are well worth it. The site is very robust in its technology. Everything seems to have a good feel to it, the usability is high. I would say that if they put some more “feminine” touches on the design, that would help the overall design a lot. I am not saying the site should be only for women, but right now the design feels a bit “rough.”

One note – there is no community on the iTrainHarder site. If you are looking for that, you will need to look elsewhere. For me, I am not sure this matters. My workouts are my own.

The site has 5 major components:

• Nutrition – You can create your meal plans and enter the foods you ate for the day. They have thousands of foods. For me, food is my weakness and being able to see what I ate and how good or bad the makeup of the food is really helps motivate me. I am not sure how the shopping list generator works – need to check with the staff to find out.
• Training – Just like the Nutrition section, you can add your exercises, both cardio and muscle, to your plan. Again, the site has hundreds of exercises which allows for easy addition. And everything works with the weight you set so that the right calories burned show up. I know many sites that don’t do this and when you are heavy you burn more than a normal weight person.
• Measurements – Track your weight and body measurements such as:
• Blog – Keep a blog of your workouts and nutrition and technically you can write about whatever you want. What I like about this is that it is right there so as I post my nutrition and workouts, I can easily post my thoughts for the day. I can allow comments from registered members and I can keep the post private.
• Personal Trainer – I really like this feature. I used to have a trainer and she kept all of her records on paper and there was no tie into online. This way, she/he can see what I am eating, what I am doing in terms of workout, my blog, etc. which will help the trainer to provide a better workout the next time. And keep better track of what I am doing when I am away from them.

Couple areas for improvement:

• Explain the pricing – “as low as” – what does the pricing look like?
• Make the design more relaxed with colors that make people feel more relaxed
• Add some line height to the text – there is tons of (good) text on the site but it is a little hard to read with the lines being so tight

Screenshots – click to enlarge

Final thoughts:

I think iTrainHarder really is an excellent comprehensive tool. I think it is worth the $3.75/month. Especially if you have a fitness trainer because it really rounds out what they do with you. If they could work on some of my suggestions above, then I think they could have a very powerful market leader with iTrainHarder. As with most of the other sites, having some backing from a doctor, nutritionist and fitness trainer will help add credibility and “certification” to iTrainHarder. iTrainHarder offers a free week trial. I suggest you give it a try when you are ready to manage your weight and fitness routine.