Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Workout Layout
Tuesday
October 11, 2011
Last month, my girlfriend Stacy bought an iPad 2. I've never been an "Apple guy", not caring for its closed-source approach and insistence on selling only DRM-restricted music through iTunes and the almost snobbish attitude that many Apple/Mac types have about their equipment. I realize that the last point is outside of Apple's control, but it's nonetheless off-putting.
But, from the first time I saw the iPad 2 (a few months back when my brother Matt bought one soon after its release), I was impressed. Sleek, easy to use, and extremely portable, Apple's latest offering on the tablet market impressed me.
Don't mistake this lead-in as me jumping ship from the PC side. I have disdain for Microsoft with their attempt to force people to buy supposedly "improved" versions of its core software (Excel, Word, etc.) that are actually downgrades in many ways but, more importantly, which has tried to force people to needlessly adopt new file formats (.docx instead of .doc, .xlsx instead of .xls, etc.) that prove to be incompatable with the older/better versions of their programs. But I've used the PC format long enough to grow comfortable with it and to have purchased enough programs and peripherals to go with it that making the jump to Apple is not of interest to me.
But what I've found that works VERY well is to use the iPad 2 during workouts upstairs on the Precor machine that Stacy and I bought last year. Precor has been my favorite elliptical machine company dating back to my college days in Evansville where they had multiple Precor machines available for student use in the workout center there.
|  | This Precor/iPad setup is working out quite well for me.
|
What's more is that we have two televisions upstairs, allowing for all kinds of entertainment options. That's great, but still I found myself lacking the proper motivation to work out on a regular basis, as I had hoped I would do when we made the purchase. But, with the iPad 2, I've been able to play the game Ticket To Ride while I work out. NFL games are good for helping to make time pass, but they don't hold a candle to Ticket To Ride.
If you're not familiar with the game, the idea is connecting cities across North America via train tracks, with scoring rewards for creating paths between distant cities. This might not sound like a particularly compelling game, but with several players attempting to connect cities, sometimes needing to use the same route you might also have in mind, all kinds of strategy can come into play.
The four player variety of the game is ideal for workout situations: enough time to plot your next move and survey the situation but also with the game moving quickly enough to where you don't become bored -- an important factor since, after all, the idea is to make time during the workout pass quickly.
The result for me has been nothing short of amazing. I've found myself up there nearly every day that I haven't been out of town, and I've found that I can usually fit a pair of four-person games into a 50 minute window. The iPad 2 is sleek enough to fit on the ledge area of the Precor, right at eye level, without bouncing around or being unstable.
This past Sunday was particularly great: I had the FOX late NFL game on the nice RCA TV that Stacy purchased for upstairs not too long ago (which we have connected to an antenna for OTA digital broadcasts) and then the smaller TV broadcasting the CBS late NFL game, all going on while I worked out and put in a solid 55 minutes on the Precor while playing two games of Ticket To Ride.
If that isn't an ideal workout setup, I don't know what else would need to be added to make it so. Stacy purchased a premium account on Spotify, and it's possible to listen to music via Spotify and also play Ticket To Ride at the same time, a rarity with the iPad and its one-at-a-time type setup (which I don't like at all and which is also one of the downsides of it).
We'll see if it lasts, but for now it's working out phenomenally well for me. It's hard to make an excuse for not working out when the Precor is literally upstairs and available 24/7/365 (save for when Stacy is using it), the iPad 2 helps time to fly by, and it's something that is overall positive both for my health and for my well-being.
Again, I'm not jumping to Team Apple, but the iPad 2 is helping me to overcome the "I don't feel like it today" workout excuse, which is a major positive. Plus, I only allow myself to play Ticket To Ride when I work out, avoiding potential burnout from playing so much that I grow tired of it. Perhaps I will reach that point on down the line, but for now it's working out about as well as I could hope -- and there's something to be said for that.
|
