How to Use the Nike+ Training Club App on iPhone or Apple Watch
From the book
The Nike+ Running app for the iPhone and Apple Watch has been a pioneer when it comes to using mobile technology as a fitness tool. If your fitness activities extend beyond running and are more exercise or workout oriented, the Nike+ Training Club app will probably be better suited to your needs. This free app offers a guided collection of exercises and workout routines that display on your iPhone in live-action video (see Figure 12.9).
)
Figure 12.9 The Nike+ Training Club app features more than 100 professionally produced video workouts that are easy to follow.
Many of the more than 100 video-based workout routines available via this app are hosted by celebrity athletes and Nike Master Trainers. Beyond just providing workout videos to watch and follow along with, the app focuses on motivating you and serving as a virtual fitness coach that’s available to you whenever and wherever you can work out.
Whether you’re looking to tone up, lose weight, or enhance your strength, for example, the individual workouts offered by Nike+ Training Club can help you achieve specific goals. However, by grouping these workouts together into organized four-week programs, this single app can help you more systematically achieve your goals.
Nike+ Training Club is for people at all fitness levels, enabling users to design a fitness and workout routine that fits into their schedule and that’s for the home, outside, or at a gym. The app includes tools for gathering, tracking, and analyzing activity data, and for sharing the workout experience with others.
After you create a free online-based account, the Nike+ Training Club encourages you to select an initial workout based on a goal. Goal options include Get Lean, Get Toned, Get Strong, or Get Focused. Next, select an Experience Level.
Based on your overall goal and activity level, the app recommends various workouts, which range in length from 15 to 60 minutes each. After you select a workout, the iPhone downloads it from the Internet. The workout’s description lists its focus, duration, approximately how many calories you’ll burn, how much NikeFuel you’ll earn, and whether special equipment is required, such as a resistance band.
One nice feature of the app is that while you’re watching the workout videos, you can select your own music to play in the background. From any workout’s description screen, tap on the musical note icon, and then select a pre-created Playlist from the iPhone’s Music app, select an Album that’s stored on your iPhone, or choose songs from the Music app’s library.
Tap on the Customize icon to see an exercise-by-exercise list (see Figure 12.10) and how much time will be spent on each exercise during the selected workout. If you choose, from this screen, tap on the Edit icon to adjust this list and modify the workout by moving, adding, or removing exercises, or altering the amount of time you’ll spend on one or more of the listed exercises during that workout.
)
Figure 12.10 You can view an overview of each workout, and then customize it.
After the workout loads into your iPhone, either watch the video on your iPhone’s screen, or use the iPhone’s AirPlay feature (with an Apple TV device) to view the video on your television set. When you’re ready to begin, tap on the Do Workout button, followed by the Play button.
Now, follow along with the fitness trainer. At any time, tap on the Pause icon to take a break. To end the workout early, tap on the End Workout button. Because a real-life personal trainer isn’t on-hand to help you, pay careful attention to the onscreen trainer during new exercise demonstrations.
Out of all the general fitness apps available from the App Store, the Nike+ Training Club app is one of the very best. It offers you a comprehensive workout plan, top-notch instruction, flexibility, plenty of variety, and the ability to work out when and where it’s convenient, without your having to visit a gym.
)
Figure 12.11 For every exercise featured in the app, you can access step-by-step text, photos, and video-based instructions for how to perform it correctly.