Fitness Assistant Reviewer's Comments
Fitness Assistant is characterized by a sound approach to fitness and conversational text to make it one of the best programs available for those new to fitness. In addition to the standard exercise and nutrition modules, Fitness Assistant includes a detailed Goal Setting module and a Recovery module to track psychological factors that may impact fitness routines. It is a well balanced, well priced option especially for new fitness enthusiasts.
Fitness Assistant starts up with a summary view including an alert that tells you exactly how many additional calories you must burn today to reach your overall goal. Convenient dictionaries are provided to establish eating patterns and workouts. All Fitness Assistant selections are searchable, editable and open to additions and deletions.
Exercise
Easily create and record both your training (strength) and Sports & Activities (cardio) workouts. Create templates for each workout choosing from six strength workouts and a long list of activities and sports. Fitness Assistant uses MET values to calculate energy expenditure. When you select an activity for a specified length of time, you can immediately see what the projected calorie expenditure is—a powerful motivator. It’s a solid approach to fitness, measuring only incremental activity over your normal level of activity.
To confirm that your workouts are not too rigorous, Fitness Assistant contains a Recovery module. Fill it in the day after your workout. You’ll record descriptions about your sleep appetite, energy, mental performance and desire to train, all on sliding scales. If your response to Desire to Train is “no way,” it’s time to rethink your workout. However, if your energy is “higher than usual” and your mental performance is “better than usual,” you know you’re on the right track.
Nutrition
From your food log entries, the program monitors calories several ways: total calories, calories burned, percentage of calories from fat, calories from carbohydrates, and calories from protein.
The recipe management section lets you edit or add recipes. Click on the open book icon and you’ll open the main recipe window. A few recipes are included, each with calories per serving and a simple pie chart of nutrient percentages. It’s a convenient way to record and access a new healthy recipe collection.
Bonus Feature
- A human approach to fitness: Fitness Assistant will ask you how accurately you have entered your foods and training. Respond three ways from “precisely” to “I totally misreported my food intake.” Fitness Assistant will recalculate accordingly.
Exercise & Nutrition:
Ease of Use:
Fitness Assistant is not as easy to navigate as higher ranked programs and there was a glitch when trying to access the recipes. However, the conversational tone, human approach and motivational features outweigh these small problems.
Help/Support:
Three choices are available for help:
- FAQs
- Specific help screen for each window (extremely brief)
The site does not provide additional resources.
Summary:
Fitness Assistant's friendly and realistic approach to fitness appeals to the beginner or someone coming back to fitness one more time with a commitment to both exercise and diet. You’ll have the tools you need to track your progress, publish your results for added motivation, and you’ll get the occasional reality check. It’s a program that will keep you honest and help achieve your goals. For the dedicated athlete, look to TopTenREVIEWS’ side-by-side chart for more sophisticated programs tailored to their training needs.
