It’s fair to say that health and general well-being is something that many think of at this time of year. New Year, new start, right? Time can often be a factor though, what with work, education, family life, or a combination of all three. Abs Workout for iPad hopes to help, with quick and effective abdominal exercises.
An evolution of “8 Minutes Abs,” Abs Workout for iPad starts by generating a four week training program for the user. The calendar section of the app is easy to understand, and color coded to mark out exercise days, days done, days missed, and when the program ends. Those with a poor memory can set a reminder to sound on days when a session is due.
At the start the user is restricted to the “Level 1″ workout. Both Level 2 and 3 options are available for $0.99 each. The Level 1 workout consists of eight different abdominal exercises, lasting a minute each. At set periods there are recovery points of 30 seconds.
The basic user cannot edit the Level 1 workout, but paying $5 will unlock the “Pro” version, allowing background music, recovery times and number of repetitions to be changed.
Upon starting a workout the user is greeted by a CGI human who will perform all the relevant exercises on-screen, with the idea being that the user mimics these actions. Overall it’s ok, but I’d much prefer a video of an actual person. The reason for this is that the body parts on the CGI human don’t always react in a realistic manner.
An example of this would be the “4 Times Abs” exercise. The CGI human lifts his legs in the air one after the other, yet no other muscles in his body moves, or even flexes. It looks odd, and very mechanical. Of course, this is just personal preference and will probably not be an issue for most people.
As for the exercises themselves, they are certainly tough. Despite only lasting for a minute each, the app expects the user to do 30 repetitions of each, and by the time the final couple of exercises arrive fatigue has certainly set in. Abs Workout for iPad is definitely a good place for the user to start on their quest for a better body, although Levels 2 and 3 will need to be purchased after a while, as abs gets stronger, and exercises become easier.