Fitocracy

Today I'm writing about my favorite fitness tool. If you're my friend on facebook, I have probably sent you at least one invite to fitocracy, an online fitness game and social network. The concept is pretty simple, log your workouts, level up, meet other fitocrats. It was created by two computer nerds and gamers, Richard Talens, and Brian Wang, who got hooked on fitness (1).  Fitocracy launched in Feb 2011 (2) and now has approx.420,000 users according to the leader boards.

The websites utilizes the same features that make RPG video games so fun and addictive. You can log almost any kind of exercise to gain "XP" or experience points, and level up. You can also complete quests and earn badges. For a small fee a month you can even become a "hero," and gain access to extra features and get an epic hero title based on your accomplishments. 

But the site doesn't stop there. It uses social networking to make tracking your workouts more rewarding. You view other users' workouts and give props by clicking a button, just as you would "like" something on facebook. You can choose to follow other users and join groups of people with similar interests or goals. There are leaderboards to help you keep track of how you compare with other fitocrats, and a forum for discussing just about anything fitness or fitocracy, or even nutrition related.

The site aims to make being fit more rewarding. One of the reasons it is so successful at this, is that the reward is immediate. Co-founder Wang says:  

The guy who calculates your points

"We see it in the fitness space, one of the top problems people face is that they don't get immediate feedback on their workout progress, It'll take a few weeks before results start showing up. So people have to get in the gym, maybe they're intimidated by being there around all these other fit people; they work out, they're sore, and they're feeling like what do they have to show for it other than that pain and a demotivation to even come back."  (3)

But with fitocracy, as soon as you finish a workout you can pull out your laptop or smartphone, log in to fitocracy, and record what you did. Voile! points, leveling up, props, and a cute robot dude named Fred. Eventually, real world results will begin to show, hence more motivation, more workouts, more points and props, etc. Its a beautiful cycle.

If you join fitocracy, look for me, mythrin, Level 8, and follow me! 

1. http://betabeat.com/2011/09/the-body-hackers-behind-the-scenes-at-fitocracy-the-addictive-fitness-game-that-will-make-you-want-to-work-out/
2. Wikipedia "Fitocracy"
3. http://kotaku.com/5804310/my-workout-partner-is-a-role+playing-game