I don’t remember where I first heard about GymPact for the iPhone, but I was intrigued and waited patiently as they developed the app for Android.  Finally, just in time for all those New Year’s resolutions, the Android version was released on the first of this year and I downloaded it immediately. Now after a month of using the app, I thought I’d share my experiences with you, and how I envision making using of GymPact in the future.

What is GymPact?

GymPact is an app that aims to motivate you to workout, especially when you need a little added extrinsic motivation to get you going.  Each week you commit to going to the gym (or for a run) a certain number of times.  You also set your stakes level, which is the amount of money you pay each time that you don’t workout as often as you said you would.  At the end of the week, all the money paid by the non-exercisers is divided among those that did exercise the number of days they said they would.  Sounds interesting, right?

Putting GymPact to the test

Since I was in between training plans for the month of January, I decided to try out GymPact to make sure I hit my runs at least three times a week.  The first time I used the app, I had to register my gym’s location via the GPS on my smartphone, and it had to be approved by the GymPact staff.  Now whenever I hit the gym, I simply turn on the GPS, check-in via the app, and the clock starts counting my time.  Any workout longer than 30 minutes counts toward my pact.  I usually leave my phone in my locker while I workout, but I’ve heard that you can also use other apps at the same time if you want.

I’m first and foremost a runner, so while checking in at a gym is all well and good, what sold me on GymPact was its new partnership with the RunKeeper app, which tracks your outdoor runs via your phone’s GPS system.  This is an all-important feature for me, since during the winter at least one of my runs per week is outdoors (and when I spend time in Berlin, all of them are).  For the first couple of weeks, when all of my runs were either at the gym or outside in Berlin, I was able to get in my three runs per week and meet my pact.  After each run with RunKeeper (of longer than 30 minutes each), it would take about 24 hours for that activity to be synced with GymPact.  In those two weeks, I earned an average of $0.90 per week for meeting my pact.  (The amount varies according to the number of people who don’t meet their pact, and how many times you committed to working out).

However, these past two weeks, at least two of my outdoor runs have been in Bremen, and unfortunately the RunKeeper app is completely wonky here.  In both cases, RunKeeper calculated that I ran tens of thousands of miles.  These runs are, of course, not counted as valid by the GymPact team.  And in both cases, I didn’t have the opportunity to fit in another workout to meet my pact.  For both of the past two weeks, I’ve had to pay $5 for allegedly not meeting my pact.  Totally annoying since I’ve actually been running like clockwork this entire month!   I have no idea why I didn’t have any issues with my outdoor runs in Berlin, but there’s clearly something strange about the GPS satellite connection here in Bremen.

Granted, this is more of a bug with RunKeeper than with GymPact, but it’s a major issue for me, since come spring, I’m going to be doing most of my runs outdoors and in Bremen.  So right now I’m considering how best to make use of this app, especially because my training cycle for the half marathon starts in mid-February (more on that in another post!).  Since I have fewer issues motivating myself to get in my runs when I’m following a training plan, but am more likely to want to bag on my cross-training workouts at the gym, I might alter my pact to motivate me to fit those two cross-training workouts in during the week.  After testing out RunKeeper in Oslo, I’ll know more about how I want organize myself for the next few months.  In any case, I can change my pact from week to week, and I can also stop using it at any time.

The Good

It works great if you do the majority of your workouts at the gym. It offers good external motivation to workout, especially if you’re having a hard time getting going.  And you can earn some pocket change in the process!  But for me, the motivation comes more from the idea of having to pay than from the idea of being paid.

The Bad

If you primarily rely on outdoor runs for your workouts, try out the RunKeeper app a few times before making your pact to ensure there are no issues with your location.  Also, the current Android version of the app doesn’t count gyms located at your place of work or living, or workouts done at home.  But since the latest update for iPhone makes use of an acceleometer feature for this very purpose (measuring whether you’re moving your body or not), I imagine this is also on the horizon for the Android version as well.

Overall

While of course it’s important to develop intrinsic motivation for working out, especially if you want to develop a lifelong habit, this app could be a useful tool to help you get going on establishing your workouts as part of your weekly routine. Personally, I think GymPact is going to be most useful as an incentive to get my cross-training activities done — a key element of the 3Plus2 training plan I’ll be using — which I tend to want to slack on once I’ve hit my allotted training runs.  Despite some of the kinks, I think it’s a really intriguing tool!

Disclaimer: I was NOT asked by GymPact to review this app. These are purely my opinions based on my use of GymPact over the course of last month, which I thought could be interesting for a few of you!

Do you use any apps to help you workout?  What do you find most helpful to get you motivated?