November 3, 2009
I'm not one to recommend that every time you go exercise, you take eight pounds of heart rate monitors, GPS devices, foot pods and fancy cell phone applications with you. Neither do I endorse being so “caught-up” in writing down everything you eat and every workout you do that you forget to enjoy yourself.
It is true that when it comes to your health and fitness, too much technology can bog you down.
But for simple logging of your nutrition and exercise, there can be enormous benefits to going beyond the mere “chicken-scratch” on a notepad approach…for example, what if it was 100% FREE for you to:
-Monitor fitness and health trends over time so you could compare last month's workout to this month's workout…(incredibly motivating to get you off the couch and into the gym!)
-Track exercise, nutrition, weight, stress & more, even down to how many hours of sleep you get every night…(you'd be surprised at how the stress/sleep correlates with the quality of your exercise sessions)
-Search and record your favorite running and cycling routes or map your own (i.e. you're on vacation in Denver and you want to find a good 5 mile run, so you just type Denver, and do a search for 5 mile run routes)…
-After your exercise session, use your cell phone, Facebook, or Twitter to share workouts and routes with friends (i.e. check out this run I just went on!)…
-Upload heart rate, power meter & GPS workouts so you can save all your workouts (it actually makes using a heart rate monitor or GPS device easy and fun)…
-Apply exercise programs and meal plans (there is a big store inside the software where you can shop for anything from a 5K running plan to a gluten-free meal plan for triathletes)…
-Plan and schedule your own exercise & meals (the software will automatically send you e-mails that remind you about workouts and meals!)…
-Be able to seamlessly share all this data with your coach or your personal trainer (makes accountability WAY easier)…
Probably the best part is that the entire software program that allows you to do everything listed above is ONLINE (so you still have all your data if your computer crashes) and is FREE (sure, they put ads on your workout calendar, but who cares?).
It's called TrainingPeaks, and you can check it out by clicking here.
Now what about if you're a coach or a personal trainer? You ever notice that “client log-in” window on the right sidebar of BenGreenfieldFitness.com? That is where many of the clients who I work with for fitness, nutrition or triathlon log-in and use the very same software I mention above: TrainingPeaks. It allows them to view all their planned workouts for the week, write whatever they want about their workout or their nutrition, upload data from their heart rate monitors (if they have one), then send everything to me in one simple click. So this works very well for your fitness business as well! Click here to check out the “coaches version”.
I'd love to hear what you think. Would you rather just go to the gym with a notebook, or do you like to use technology to train? Leave a comment!
Peter,
I’m in the process of adding the Dominator Plan to TrainingPeaks, and it’s not too painful at all. All the workouts are saved as templates, so the next time I need to reuse a workout, I just drag it into the calendar. I’m putting the meals from Holistic Training in to, so I can easily track the fuel I’m using with the workouts I’m doing on that day.
It’s a bit of manual work, but it will help you learn all the nuances of TrainingPeaks. The help and support section is quite good, and included video on how do the most common tasks.
Good luck!
Hi Peter,
The Triathlon Dominator is not a TrainingPeaks plan per se, but you can manually copy and paste the workouts into your training plan calendar. Probably the best equivalent of Tri Dominator for TrainingPeaks would be the 36 Week Ironman Plan combined with Holistic Nutrition Plan at http://www.trainingpeaks.com/pacificfit
Ben,
I’ve already purchased your online version of the Tri Dominator Plan. Does that mean I’m easily able to upload this, straight to Training Peaks?
Thanks for the post. I have used powerade’s website for similar reasons, but it sounds that this one is worth a shot.
Hey Ben et. al, I definitely lean towards the use of technology for race planning and the use of a training log. As a self-coached athlete, it keeps me honest, and gives me a central place to store all my data.
Full disclosure: I’ve been a TrainingPeaks user since 2005, and in my opinion there is no better electronic logging system anywhere. It is online so I can access it from anywhere, it allows me to track my training AND meals, and it provides me access to additional tools like the Virtual Coach and Lactate Threshold/Threshold Power calculations that are so easy to use. Susan, Ben is right – the meal planning and tracking is so sophisticated, that you can set-up your ‘favorite’ or typical meals and then tracking is as simple as clicking once to add each meal and snack throughout the day.
I have access to all my data from 2005-2009 and can track my progress from year to year, or month to month with incredible ease. Plus, you can buy plans from great coaches (like Ben), and they seamless integrate into your training log. How cool is that?
The best part is that TrainingPeaks is as simple or as complicated as you make it, which makes it perfect for everyone. Give it a try; you’ll never go back.
Yes, I’ve written several. It’s pretty slick because it automatically creates a grocery shopping list based on the meals you input…
Hey Ben, is there the ability to develop meal plans within the Training Peaks program?
Thanks.