Technology and fitness are a match made in heaven. From the Wii Fit, to Xbox Kinect, and now to fitness apps for your mobile phone such as Runkeeper and Nike+ - we're no longer tied to gym equipment to let us know how many calories we're burning, or how fast our pace is.
And now, NikeWomen has taken it a step further with their brand new Nike Training Club app that brings all of the exercises and body toning moves of the Nike Training Club into the palm of your hand, courtesy of your iPod Touch or iPhone.
The Nike Training Club app features four main objectives in it's main menu: Get Lean, Get Toned, Get Strong and Get Focused. Within each focus or goal, there are numerous 15, 30 and 45 minute workouts, organized into three levels: beginning, intermediate, and advanced. NTC has over 90 drill combinations across 60+ workouts, and you also have the ability to "unlock" more workouts from NikeWomen athletes such as tennis sensation Maria Sharapova and Olympic medalist Allyson Felix.
Each workout or "move" shows you a video on how to complete the move correctly, which is really useful if you're, say, not an Olympic athlete. The app also features a Nike Master Trainer that can guide you through drills and exercises. You can also configure the app so that your favourite music will play from your iTunes library, while "instructional and motivational messages" play over the top.
While it may sound like NikeWomen are just hopping on the fitness app bandwagon or are after a cheap buck (er, pound) - I can tell you first hand that this is not the case.
Firstly, the app is free, so this isn't about money. (Although I'm sure they'd like it if you bought one of their awesome new Free trainers. And that's Free as in "freedom" not as in free like the app.)
Secondly, NikeWomen want you to "make yourself" and your body into whatever it is you want it to be, or be like. The whole theme of the NTC app and the Nike Training Club is very, very positive and you can tell that Nike really do believe in empowering women to be more fit, and to achieve their fitness goals.
At the launch event for the NTC app, we were actually invited to try out a 45 minute Nike Training Club class, based around the moves and drills in the app. This, I can admit, I was not necessarily prepared for, and the class kicked my ass. There were evening female athletes (marathon runners, Olympic sprinters, etc) doing the class with us said it was hard.
From what I've experienced from the Nike Training Club is that it's serious and can really, truly whip your ass in to shape. And after doing drill after drill and move after move from the app, I 100% believe that doing the workouts on the NTC app will help you get fit.
Just make sure you stretch first. (Seriously.)