Just log it: Nike+ unveils in-home training

Redmond, Washington – Nike+, originally launched as a service to help runners to track their workouts, is teaming up with Xbox 360 to launch Nike+ Kinect Training, an interactive at-home personal training service.

Users can log initial benchmarks, set training goals and choose an avatar trainer from among Nike’s real-life professional athletics coaches. Kinect sensors then track users’ exercise movements, logging them automatically and detecting problems with form or posture, which are then corrected by the avatar trainers.

At-home athletes can also link up with other users from around the world to compare data and achievements. ‘I think this will appeal to a wide group of people, including those who feel more comfortable working out in their living room than at the gym,’ says Stacey Law, a developer at Microsoft who worked on the project.

This kind of intuitive approach to collecting personal health data could be a game-changer that takes the labour-intensive methods of the Self-Quants to a wider mainstream demographic.