iPump Free Workout review

Mark Mackay

We review iPump Free Workout, a free fitness app that's a worthy companion to the paid version

Published on Sep 22, 2009

Many iPhone apps are free, or cost peanuts to buy. When you come across one like Fitness Builder, which costs just under £6 to buy, you can‘t help but raise an eyebrow.

However it turned out to be an incredibly well made app and provided solid value for money. iPump Free Workout is the free version of Fitness Builder and provides a taste of what the full app holds in store.

Firing up the app, we can see that the interface is Fitness Builder's particular brand of excellent design and ease of use. While the full version supplies you with just about every workout for every body part known - and previously unknown - to man, this free version provides you with just a small handful. Workouts are provided for full body, but not individual body parts. The app also has an interesting section that dispels fitness myths and facts, but the workout list is sparse.

While there are a lot fewer workouts than in Fitness Builder, the ones that are present are equally well described and backed up with quality photography and use plain-speaking text to help make sure you get it right. The models used are the expected super-fit, photogenic persons to help inspire you to get your behind into gear and break some sweat.

As the developers have several fitness products, it's taken this opportunity to advertise some of them to you while you're working your way through the illustrated routines. It can get a bit tiring when just about every other page is an advert but considering the production value you're getting for free it's just about excusable.

The app also holds the feature of logging the amount of time you've spent on your exercise so you can see a report and view your progress over time. The app logs the date, name and how long each workout took. The 'log' feature isn't as comprehensive as the full version, but again that's to be expected. If you're after a personal trainer for your iPhone then iPump Free Workout is definitely worth a shot especially as it shows a good example of the full version.