With the launch of Gym Technik's new BlackBerry Storm interface, the Muscle Couple here, offering a step by step approach of using Gym Technik on a BlackBerry Storm. 

The first thing you will want to do once you're a Gym Technik member, is to make sure you play around with Gym Technik Online using your computer's web-browser. It allows you to build a workout library by creating your own workouts or pre-selecting from the already designed ones in the “Find a Workout/Routine” section.
 
The beauty of the Gym Technik platform is the ability to track all your stats “on the fly” on your BlackBerry while at the gym in a very simple but intuitive fashion. That's perfect for Anh and I as we can listen to our music and track our workouts on the same device.
 
To get to your mobile site, you first need to point your Storm browser to http://m.gymtechnik.com and log into the site as shown in the screen shot below.

If it is your first time using the platform, you will get a prompt telling you to enable Javascripts. This is quite simple. Hit your BlackBerry menu (paw) button and go to Options, then Browser Configuration. You need to check off Support Javascript and Use Background Image to make sure you get the best results in your Storm browser.
 
The site will set a cookie so you don't have to log in agan. You might want to bookmark the login screen. I have set up my Storm with a shortcut to GT (using Quicklaunch) which takes me to the Start screen as shown in the next screen shot:
 

 
GT is so much more than just a “Workout Log/Tracker”.  It also allows you to keep track of your cardio and upload pictures of your personal body progress as well.  It’s also entirely customizeable allowing you to change your mobile settings whenever necessary to optimize usability on the Storm to suit your perspective, interests or connection speed.

Make sure you look at your settings. Scroll down to the bottom and hit Settings. With the Storm, your default should be set to Pick A Value From A List so you can quickly touch and select value, instead of typing it in.
 

 
It’s probably best when first using the site to enter your “Body Stats” so GT can track your changes over time.  You don’t have to get this dialed in, but it really helps if you’re serious about your Fitness and want to track and record all of your progress over the years.   The start page to enter your body stats is below.  The Muscle Couple has been using GT for about 7 months now and we’re excited to think our workout logs will be stored for years down the road.  What could be better in designing future workouts when you have a resource to immediately harness your lifting data from years of previous tracking? I'm using a preview edition of a GT Premium account, so I am able to track my full body stats.

 
So assuming you’ve created a log in and password for the site and entered your Body Stats, it’s time to “Start a Workout”.  The Muscle Couple is incredibly anal about building and creating our own workouts and changing them up about every 6-8 weeks.  For the less anal, the pre-constructed workouts GT has in their GT Library are great.  Feel free to pick one and enter it and then log in on the fly and go.  Let’s analyze by viewing The Muscle Couple’s current Full Body routine-Day 1.
 

 
As you can see GT displays all of the exercises to perform in large buttons for the current workout.  This is intuitive because you can choose to perform exercises in any manner or order that you want.  All you do is choose by clicking the button for each one.  I find with the Storm, aim and press over the text is the most intuitive way to navigate into an exercise. Once I click on the button I’m taken into the “Sets-Reps and Weight” screen as shown below from the first exercise - Incline Hammer Press:
 

 
GT allows you to determine how many sets you are going to perform upon first creation of the workout on the web. They leave nothing to chance however by allowing you to augment on the fly by adding additional sets directly from the Storm from the drop down menu below the last set of the exercise.  Notice the previous stats pop-up with each stat, so you can't really slack off and know exactly where to pick up from! Once you are done with this exercise you’ll then hit “Save My Exercise” or “Next”. Hit "Next" to progress to the next exercise. By hitting "Save My Exercise", it will take you back to your Workout view to select another exercise, so you can continue from exercise to exercise recording the “weight lifted, and sets and reps performed.
 

 
Once you’ve finished all of your sets you have the ability to jot down notes.  You can also do this between sets as shown in the “Add Notes” section in the previous screen shot.
 

 
After adding your notes, you’ll then go to the bottom and hit “Finish Workout”.  You’ll then be taken to a summary screen.  It’s here where you will see the performance improvements you made from the previous workout.  This can be seen in multiple permutations.  From an increase or decrease in weight lifted, to the same for reps and sets.
 

 
A couple of other cool features to be aware of.  GT also allows you to upload photos of your performance or even “Body Shots” to track the aesthetic improvements to your physique.  Or maybe you just want to add some “photos of a pumped” bodypart?  All of these things are possible as the below screen reveals by sending an email to photo@gymtechnik.com.  This is a very cool feature that truly separates GT from most of it’s competition. Just attach the photos directly from your Media Card and off you go. Make sure you send it from the e-mail address you registered with GT, so it knows who the photos belong to.

 

 
You can also track your cardio.  This is a BIG PLUS in The Muscle Couple’s book especially when we are dieting and trying to keep track of kcals burned versus consumed.  Once again, this is from my preview editon of my Premium account. Here is a sample screen shot from the tracking of Jay’s stationary bike workout:
 

 
Once you’ve entered all your data from all of your exercise activities on GT, when you return to your Home screen, you can see what is done for you nicely laid out. Each day when the Muscle Couple goes to the gym, the BlackBerry just automatically shows the current day. As part of the Premium edition as well, I find I can schedule my workouts on the web calendar, so my Storm conveniently shows me exactly what I need to do when I hit the gym. We found out you can also add past workouts or correct any stats by logging into your calendar on the web.

 

 
The Muscle Couple believes all people serious about their fitness should be tracking their progress while training.  We can’t think of a better BlackBerry fitness app than Gym Technik for fast, efficient, easy to use exercise charting and progress tracking on a smartphone. Another quick tip is your Storm might get all gunky from sweat and getting dropped at the gym. I've found the silicone cases and the screen protector essential to prevent your precious Storm from getting all scratched up. The LCD screen can be prone to scratches.

The Muscle Couple were just regular Gym Technik users before becoming Featured Authors on this site. We hope our walk-through of Gym Technik will help you understand how we track our fitness using our BlackBerry Storm.

I love my BlackBerry Storm and coupled with Gym Technik as one of my favorite Storm apps on it, I just cannot live without it!

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