Nike+ Move, First Introduced M7 Coprocessor-Integrated App, Launches in App Store

*sigh*

I guess it's for nerds trying to get into shape. I dunno, I don't check any stats, and I'm healthy and quite fit, at least compared to other Americans. Sounds like they're trying to turn an imprecise science into data on a spreadsheet.

Good for you. No, really: congratulations, it's great that you're in good physical condition. It's pretty important, and a lot of people have trouble doing it. Perhaps that fact has escaped your attention?

Or perhaps it has, quite reasonably, escaped your attention that when most people (you know, the ones who AREN'T as awesome as you) are given a way to quantify how much exercise they are getting and the progress they're making, they are much more likely to stick to an exercise regimen, becoming much more reliable about putting in the exercise and much more likely to continue it longer. I can see why you wouldn't have noticed, since you don't need it, but it turns out that there are some great recent studies that tell you this.

But I could have told them that. Fifteen years ago, I decided to get in shape. I started by walking, and then worked up to jogging. And it was a horrible slog and I hated it and I never felt like I was making any progress. And then I got a heart rate monitor and pedometer (they were a bit cruder back then, mind you), and suddenly I could actually see my progress. I could see that I was able to run farther than I had been a month ago, and that my resting heartbeat was, on average, a couple of beats per minute lower than it was a year before. I could get a count of the approximate number of calories I was burning in a day, and compare that with my food intake. I could chart my progress, albeit on a tiny little watch screen (since there wasn't one that would interface with Macs at the time).

Shortly thereafter, I got a Walkman (ye gods, I feel old), later replaced by an iPod. And a couple years after that I received a GPS watch as a gift. These days I'm using an iPhone and a heart rate monitor strap that connects to it via bluetooth 4.0, plus a fitbit (although I'll probably just ditch that, with the M4 thing).

Result? Fifteen years later, I'm still in shape. The reason I stick to it is because I know that I'm actually accomplishing something. I know that I'm in good physical condition. When I skip a day of jogging, I can look at my stats and say, 'Meh, I did five days of jogging last week, plus a seven mile hike last weekend… I can afford to take a day off this week' instead of stressing out about being a bad person because I didn't exercise that day, something that makes it more likely that you will just quit. (And as an added bonus, I can keep track of how many miles I put on my jogging shoes, so I can replace them at reasonable intervals.) I can chart out my rest heart rate (~55, currently… not QUITE the best it has ever been but surprisingly close, seeing as I'm probably twice your age). If I wanted to, I could sit down and chart out how only getting six hours of sleep in a night effects my exercise patterns the next day, or for that matter how my exercise patterns affect my sleep. I haven't, at this point, but if I started having serious sleep issues I probably would. Because it'd be really good to know.

Basically, these kind of metrics make it more likely that more people will stay in shape, and help people understand their own bodies better. And they don't help just a little bit: the studies have been quite striking, and very consistent. Seems to me that, instead of deriding these things as 'for nerds trying to get in shape', you should be, well, a little more tolerant of other people's imperfections. Shall we say.

Nice movement

I plan to get a copy of Nike+Move for my WoW avatar so I can keep track of how many miles he travels on a quest.

Argus has had M7 integration for weeks now... Nike isn't the first

Read the article.

While Nike+ Move isn't the first app to integrate the M7 coprocessor, it is the highest profile app to take advantage of the new processor onboard the iPhone 5s. Apple is planning to take advantage of the M7 in future software updates by leveraging it to improve iPhones' mapping and location services."

Can someone please explain to me why the average person would need to track this much data about their daily life? I understand exercise apps...but tracking how much I walk, sit, or stand...and then offering me incentive to do it again?

The M7 co-processor is awesome. But this (much like the "fit" bracelets that are coming out) seems to be just another thing that someone can obsess over, then post to Facebook.

Maybe I'm missing something. But this quote comes to mind when I see borderline excessive data tracking apps like this....

"We are drowning in information, but starved for knowledge."
--John Naisbitt

Argus has had M7 integration for weeks now... Nike isn't the first

I believe the article meant that Nike was the first to be shown at the Apple iPhone event in September :)

Doesn't work with iPad Air M7 coprocessor....already deleted it

You run with your iPad in your pocket? :O

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Can someone please explain to me why the average person would need to track this much data about their daily life? I understand exercise apps...but tracking how much I walk, sit, or stand...and then offering me incentive to do it again?

The M7 co-processor is awesome. But this (much like the "fit" bracelets that are coming out) seems to be just another thing that someone can obsess over, then post to Facebook.

Maybe I'm missing something. But this quote comes to mind when I see borderline excessive data tracking apps like this....

"We are drowning in information, but starved for knowledge."
--John Naisbitt

I guess it's for nerds trying to get into shape. I dunno, I don't check any stats, and I'm healthy and quite fit, at least compared to other Americans. Sounds like they're trying to turn an imprecise science into data on a spreadsheet.