Health & Fitness Tools – Part 1: Bodybuilding.com & BodySpace
By Chandra Lynn
Getting fit and losing (or gaining…anyone?) weight is hard and to make it a little easier – and a lot more effective – I rely on technology as tools to support my journey. Here is an overview of what I use and why I like it, starting with Bodybuilding.com. It’s free to join their fitness community on their website, or more importantly, with a mobile app called BodySpace. Some people want to go it alone and that’s fine. You don’t have to participate in the community, but when you join, you get access to their free programs that are excellent.
I have completed several of their programs and the mobile app makes it easy to track the entire plan with a calendar that pops up your work for the day. It also allows you to track your weight and reps for every exercise. And if you don’t know how to do something, it gives you a step-by-step guide as well as a tutorial video. These programs are put together by experts and are highly effective. You can choose your program based on the type of results you want to achieve.
My Home Screen 
This shows me the number of workouts I’ve tracked and how many pounds I’ve lifted in total which is motivational. I set goals to celebrate different milestones. My next one is when I get to 300 workouts tracked…9 more to go as shown here. I can also add photos, managing friends, get inspiration and informational content, track workouts, change programs, and more.
My Saved Programs 
I can research all of the programs they offer and save them in the app for quick access. I choose different programs for different reasons. Sometimes it is to shred, sometimes to build muscle. Other times, my choice is based on the length of time or dependent on which trainer that put it together. Members can also create programs and make them available but I have started with the most popular ones by experts Jamie Eason, Dr. Jim Stoppani, Erin Stern, Ashley Cluth, etc.
Friends 
As mentioned, you can ignore the social networking part altogether, but if you want to explore it, you can connect with women and/or men who share their workouts, motivations, nutrition tips and experiences. Unlike other networks, you’ll see a lot of skin and muscles here, but so far no one has been inappropriate. You tell me, would this motivate you?
Program Overview 
This screen lets you see how your workouts are layed out for the entire duration of the program.
You ca
n click on any of the days and see the whole workout.
Once you decide to do one of them, you can track your weight and reps. This is helpful to remember where you are and what weight you used.
Workout Log 
Each workout shows you all of the exercises and allows you to track them, learn how to do them, look up previous stats and more.
In summary, I would be lost in the gym without following a program on Bodybuilding.com when I first got started. Now, I can go in a bang out a workout but the fine art of weight lifting requires you have a plan that rotates body parts and intensity over time. Having a program that is thought out by an expert makes your results more of a sure thing. If you really follow it and honestly give it your best effort, it will work and you’ll see results.