Fitocracy: Fitness Made Fun

Last week I discussed Runkeeper, a mobile app that makes fitness easier for geeks. I dug a little deeper and found Fitocracy, an app by geeks for geeks. The app’s founders were a pair of body conscious gamers who wanted to get into shape. Brian Wang was skinny, while his co-founder, Dick Talen, was overweight.

The pair now have eight-pack abs, and a booming fitness startup. Fitocracy initially started as a social fitness website in late 2010. Users can follow other members, members’ workout routines and various fitness groups. Like many current social networks, Fitocracy also has a news feed to follow the events of the members and groups the user follows.

The one thing that sets Fitocracy apart, however, is the gamification of fitness. Users are awarded points for their workouts, and because it integrates with Runkeeper, users can also get points for their runs. Users accumulate points which allow them to level up, earn badges and rank on a leaderboard. Once your workouts are complete and you’ve been allocated points, you can share your progress on Twitter and Facebook.

Since I’ve only started going to the gym lately, I decided to give Fitocracy a try. I’m lucky in the sense that I have two gym partners who keep me accountable and motivated, but that also gives me a chance to log my workout between sets.

I personally think that turning fitness into a game, with points, levels and quests is a win. Hitting the gym can be particularly daunting, but Fitocracy brings the challenge to the gym and gives you the opportunity to earn points.

The app is only available on iOS at the time of writing and it has a beautifully clean interface making it a pleasure to use. When entering an exercise to track, the application also gives the user instructions on how to perform that exercise. This is especially helpful for beginners who have joined the gym, gotten a workout routine, but aren’t exactly sure how to perform the specific exercise.

Fitocracy is a free application on iTunes.