To be fair, Gorilla Workout is an unusually good workout app. Here’s why I can say this:
I used to run a blog devoted to weird get-in-shape methods
I actually created/published a similar sort of workout app some years ago (mine was iOS-only and based on the (somewhat similar) Canadian “5BX” system.)
Between trying to get in shape myself (for both personal and professional reasons), blogging, and doing competitive research, I’ve tried out at least a dozen smartphone fitness apps and a lot of odd contraptions
Here’s what’s good about Gorilla:
it is UNUSUALLY CUTE. Cute name, adorable gorilla graphics.
the app is quite SIMPLE and SELF-CONTAINED and WELL-DESIGNED
the workout progression requires minimal equipment - it’s all bodyweight stuff.
the basic workout has a nice VARIETY of exercises so the user who just wants to get in shape may not get too bored.
If you want to accomplish some specific goal such as 100 pushups, there are modules for that so you don’t need to download and learn Yet Another App, and they’re cheap.
Did I mention SIMPLE? It manages to cover the 80% case really well.
Did I mention CUTE. I did, but it bears repeating. Cute really helps make an otherwise boring product addictive.
On the other hand:
it’s not quite AS simple as, say, “7 minute workout”.
In particular, keeping track of how many sets you’ve done can be kind of a pain (I use a stack of coins)
It’s not as comprehensive/customizable as, say, FitBuilder.
If you have access to weights or other specialized equipment, it won’t use them.
If you JUST want to do 100 pushups/squats, a “100 pushups” type-app might be a simpler way to do that.
-If you aren’t ALREADY in somewhat decent shape, this might not be the best place to start - the ramping is weird and not nearly as gentle as 5BX. You could easily get hurt/exhausted and give up.
if you don’t find exercise to some degree inherently fun - as the OP author does - you might get bored with this. In which case I’d recommend experimenting with videogame-based exercise. Smartphone games like “Ingress” to get you walking around the neighborhood, or console stuff like Wii Fit or Yourself!Fitness.
Still and all: Gorilla Workout is a fine exemplar of its genre. And it only costs a buck to try and it worked for Ms. Dieker. It’s definitely worth a shot.
Of the four pieces I’ve written for Boing Boing, two of them fall under the category of “let me tell you about this thing I LOVE SO MUCH.” The Amtrak one is by far the stronger piece to begin with, but it’s good for me to think about why that one landed and this one tripped the “displeasing” trigger.
It’s also interesting because two of the pieces I’ve written for Boing Boing also include “I’m going to interview this person who’s created something really cool” (this one and the Slash: Romance Without Boundaries one).
So THING I LOVE is okay, and INTERVIEW CREATOR is okay, but THING I LOVE+INTERVIEW CREATOR hits the “eeew is this sponsored content” portion of the Venn diagram.
(Also, I suspect, the fact that the topic dealt with fitness, weight loss, and apps. It’s like I wrote a perfect storm of a wet fart.)
It’s great that you love it, what was missing was details about the product, screen shots, pricing, context and comparisons to other apps - stuff I expect to find in reviews. The post was more fawning than informative.
Also, the 3d person intro contributed to the infomercial vibe. Did you write that, too?
There’s something scary about the automated directive from a digital device that bypasses apathetic noncompliance with one’s own directive to pursue fitness.
What I’m trying to say is, this just adds more proof to the theory that humans will fall in line, with little resistance, when the computers finally decide to take over.
This may be a rather more dystopian suggestion than the author writing ad copy but I think it’s relevant.
ummmm… Nobody, personally actually does anything without some external motivating factor infecting their memetic, behavior-activating complexes.
Further! There are no people and no actions are ever actually motivated. The illusion of temporal differentiation is caused by the entanglement of particular distortions of an internally mapped and self consistent entrainment of process which lends itself to high level interpretation as a casually connected spacetime.
Machines will not suddenly “decide” to take over. The option will be programmed into them. Regardless, Skynet is a real possibility, and we will sow the seeds of our own destruction.
also given Nietzsche’s final predicament an irony too far but perhaps the word ‘us’ is most important in that phrase. Back to Cory’s gut bacteria analogy methinks.
edit: also, I was going to make a comment about the evolution toward rather than the programming of hyper intelligence but realised I might be feeding a troll so went with the enigmatic encapsulation instead.
