Very cool! I like the simplicity of it. Right now I'm working on something similar for myself (and some of my family), but maybe other people find it potentially interesting too? Essentially I'm building a webapp that each time I use it will arrange random ~5-7 lower back exercises from a list of ~25 for a total of 10 minutes session. Then it will guide me (only time and name of exercise) through the workout session (counting down the exercise time, and pause/break time). The problem I'm solving is to not have to think too much about what exercise I should/want to do next, make it a little bit more fun/interesting (due to randomness aspect) and free my hands from operating a timer to time myself (also less likely to drift to social media or youtube videos).
Thoguhts?
Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
11–20 of 40 posts
Re: Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
#12Congrats. How did you decide the amount of exercises and when do you log it? How much do your exercise file grow?
I can't count how many times I have thought about something like this and have decided to build one for myself which includes my liquid, meals, workout, and fun cardio habits. I will be using indexDB for when I'm offline and just a small database.
Re: Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
#13There's something beautiful about creating software in the absolute simplest possible way there is, html. Good job, will definitely try it. But I know myself, will end up looking for something just a little more advanced. And before I know it I end up staring at graphs trying to figure out what my hours/day solving JS bugs has to do with my weight...
It does have JavaScript, it's not just HTML.
Re: Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
#14Re: Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
#15https://www.amazon.com/Five-Star-Notebook-Amethyst-840029CF1... ?
Haha, I unironically considered this as well, but prefer the "always today, only today" clean automatic view and lack of a physical artifact to lose/forget.
I travel for work often enough that being able to get to it on my phone consistently is also an advantage.
Re: Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
#16Very cool! I like the simplicity of it. Right now I'm working on something similar for myself (and some of my family), but maybe other people find it potentially interesting too? Essentially I'm building a webapp that each time I use it will arrange random ~5-7 lower back exercises from a list of ~25 for a total of 10 minutes session. Then it will guide me (only time and name of exercise) through the workout session…
I had a spreadsheet set up much like that in the past: it would bubble up the exercises I'd done the longest ago for a particular muscle group so I'd always get variety. It worked pretty good, but I found myself often avoiding unpleasant exercises when given choices and eventually the whole arrangement fell apart due to too many moving pieces. I also didn't see the kind of extra benefit that I thought I'd gain from performing so many variations.
I also used to set up fully scheduled on/off timers for specific exercises in an app, but found that any interruption would throw the whole thing off, annoying me to no end.
However, your last point was also my biggest enemy. If I get distracted online for long enough to cool down to the point that I'm worried about injury, the whole session tends to just blow straight out. That's the main driver I had for putting the simple timer in the footer: keep my device on one screen from beginning to end!
Re: Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
#17As someone who exercised for the long time but never made much progress (even under IFBB pro coaches in bayarea)
When i started taking growth hormone (10IUs a day), I got bulked and cut in a few months
I suggest not to follow influencers, most of them are not really natural and even if they are, they are probably genetic luck draw (which most like you'll not be)
My uncle is one such genetic freak, he barely works out still he's more buff than you average gym guy without even setting foot anywhere in the gym.
Re: Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
#18https://www.strong.app/
For folks looking for something more robust to track their workouts.
Re: Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
#19https://www.strong.app/ For folks looking for something more robust to track their workouts.
I was a strong user for years but I would now suggest https://www.hevyapp.com/. It has everything strong does but also a web app where you can create your programs on.
Most importantly for this crowd, you get a rest api to your data if you spring for the cheap premium plan. Csv export is free though I’m pretty sure
Re: Show HN: Minimal, self-hosted exercise tracker
#20Thanks for making it, I love the idea of more and more apps being built using web technologies. I currently use Caliber app (IOS), and it’s robust enough for me, while not too overwhelming and limiting as Strong and Hevy.
Since Minimal is a static website maybe it can be a PWA?