iFitness101

As you know, including cardiovascular exercise is an important part of your exercise routine, but if you’re like me, I have a hard time going 30-60 minutes unless I’m somehow entertained to keep from staring at the timer (which seems to move sloooower and slower the more I stare at it).

At home I have my treadmill and bike pointed right at the TV. By doing this I can effectively double or triple the amount of time I spend doing cardio and the time seems to fly by.

But lately I’ve recently been getting a few emails about iFit.com (No relation to this site).

iFit is a company that provides workouts that can be downloaded to your cardio equipment. However, so far, the only brands that I’ve found to support iFit are:

Proform – Low end Pricing

Nordictrack – Mid-range pricing

FreeMotion – High end

Personally I like this feature a lot. With iFit you can personalize your workouts to match your exercise goals, and with their new version, iFit Live you can now connect your cardio to WiFi, and download your workouts directly to your cardio machine.

I tried the iFit Live and found it pretty easy to set up. I played around with the Google maps for my neighborhood and was impressed.

iFit Live & Google Maps

iFit Live has Google Maps built in, so when the weather is dismal outside you can still run your favorite route using Google Maps. You can manage your entire fitness profile wirelessly. The iFit module makes communication between your fitness equipment, and your iFit.com profile automatic. As you work out, your progress is uploaded almost instantly. Plus, each of your new workouts can be downloaded directly to your fitness equipment.

Just know that iFit Live is in Beta mode right now.

You can use it to run, or ride any road in the world that Google has a map for. You’ll be able to join a pack of runner’s to run the Boston Marathon, or clime the hills in Paris if you want it might be my only chance to do so).

The different routes will chart all the geographical characteristics of your route, and adjust the difficulty on your machine to match the exact features of your route. Meaning; if the road goes up hill, the treadmill’s elevation will now increase automatically as well. Pretty cool.

You can also check for competitions happening within the iFit community that gives you a chance to race against other runners, or choose your own start times, and challenge your iFit friends on Facebook to do better.

With your own profile on iFit.com, you can track every workout, and watch virtually every calorie. And when you compare that against your fitness goals, iFit will automatically adjust your workouts to keep you on track (very nice).

How iFit Can Help With You Diet Program

iFit can record your daily meals via the Web, or through their new iPhone App. iFit will keep a running tally, tracking your dietary goals. Enter your snacks and meals, and you’ll instantly see their calories and nutrition value as well as see how they will affect your training progress, and fitness goals.

Want to know the impact of that bite of Snickers bar (which I hope is only occasional)? The expert mode will help you break down all of the types of food you’ll eat to give you specific caloric and nutritional information.

It also lets you add activities off the machine. Did you swim some laps at the community center? Play a pick up game of basket ball? Went for a hike? You can add all of these activities to your exercise goal for the week. You can choose from a pre-made list, or add your own activity.

Jillian Michaels
If you’re a fan of Jillian Michaels from The Biggest Loser she has endorsed this product as well, and has an extensive library of 100′s of workouts available for you to choose from.

Pricing
If you choose a machine that takes only the iFit cards, they seem to average about $29.95 each.

If you choose a machine with the iFit Live it runs $49.95 to set up, and $9.95 per month ($119.40 for 12 months up front). By purchasing the year up front you’ll save $79.95 for the year.

You can go to the ProForm, or Nordictrack website to make your purchase although I’ve found Sears to have better pricing. Plus, with Sears, if you find an ad for a lower price within 30-days they will match it and have 90-days to return/exchange it if you decide the progam wasn’t for you (plus you save on shipping costs).

I’ve found this Sears coupon to help you save even more (not sure if it expires or not):